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I've installed Windows 8 RTM (available to MSDN subscrbers) on my Core 2 Duo 13" Mac Book Pro.

I've been trying to install Visual Studio 2012 on my MBP and it keeps freezing up during install. Given that I've successfully installed VS2012 through Parallels on the same box, I can't help but think it's specific to an interaction with MBP and Windows 8 through Boot camp.

What can I use to diagnose this problem and fix it? Is there a known issue with MBP and Windows 8 freezing up during installs?

As I've been using it more, it seems to freeze up after about 15-20 minutes of usage, without regard to what program is running. I have to restart the Mac to get it to work again.

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    I've been seeing this behavior on my late 2010 white MacBook in the pre-release builds of Windows 8, and I'm quite disappointed to see the RTM is still exhibiting such issues. Considering that Apple hasn't yet updated the Boot Camp Assistant or drivers to support Windows 8, it is very likely a Boot Camp issue.
    – BoltClock
    Sep 23, 2012 at 18:46
  • OK, I've gotten it to work on my white MacBook by disabling dynamic ticks and changing my power plan. Not sure if I should post this as a new answer...
    – BoltClock
    Oct 19, 2012 at 15:33

3 Answers 3

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I encountered a similar issue on my MBP when I installed the Windows 8 RTM (also a Core 2 Duo 13" MBP). Reading around, I found the following discussion on the Apple forums that mentions a bcdedit fix, along with updating NVidia drivers. I followed the key "fix" steps on the second post at that link, and they have fixed the issue for me.

To summarise:

  1. Run a command prompt as administrator and enter the following command: bcdedit /set disabledynamictick yes
  2. (This step is only relevant if your MBP has NVidia graphics instead of the Intel HD / ATI graphics on more recent models) Download the latest NVidia graphics drivers

If you're interested, this article theorises about the dynamic ticking issue, and why turning it off should fix the freezing.

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I've found that changing my power plan from Balanced to High Performance on my 2011 MacBook Air addresses the random freezing I'd see during install or normal use.

Also, during install of Windows 8 RTM, I also found that not having my power adapter plugged in allowed me to avoid freezing too. So, the general rule of thumb is don't run Windows 8 RP or RTM with your power adapter plugged in with the Balanced power plan -- switch to High Performance if possible.

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As an extension to the answer by Bogie, I can confirm that (at least on a MacBook Air 2011) changing the power profile to either of:

  • Power Saver
  • High Performance

rather than using "Balanced" results in an entirely stable crash free laptop.

NOTE: I'm making the, perhaps erroneous, assumption that the innards / firmware of a MacBook Air and MacBook Pro are sufficiently similar that this information is useful

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