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Does anyone have any experience trying to get an Apple Cinema HD Display working in Windows 7 x64? Note: This isn't for a Bootcamped Mac, it's for a Dell XPS Laptop.

Is this even possible?

Thanks a lot.

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up vote 2 down vote

This article over on the Apple KB has links to some driver/software updates for Windows 7, but the drivers are from Bootcamp 3.2

This is the direct link to the Bootcamp drivers for x64.

Even though you are not running a Mac, the Bootcamp drivers will install regardless.

Bootcamp 4 is however available for download (for OSX users only) You should be able to extract the drivers and install them separately, 7-Zip will allow you to extract from DMGs and PKGs

Note, the display should be detected on all machines, however you may have issues with brigthness controls, or using the built in audio without using the Apple drivers.

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Thanks for this! One question: I cannot find the link to download Bootcamp 4? – Django Reinhardt May 28 '12 at 11:27
    
Also, is there a problem with Bootcamp 3.3 that made you select Bootcamp 3.2? support.apple.com/kb/DL1443 – Django Reinhardt May 28 '12 at 11:31
    
not at all, the only KB article I could find a reference to drivers for the Cinema Display specifically were for 3.2 - Bootcamp 4 is only downloadable if you have OSX, you will have to source the download elsewhere if you don't have a Mac – Stu Wilson May 28 '12 at 12:26
    
I have a Mac, I'm currently writing to you from it, but I can't see the link :-/ – Django Reinhardt May 28 '12 at 12:40
    
Do you have the Bootcamp assistant in /Applications/Utilities ? if you do, run that everything else is downloaded from there. – Stu Wilson May 28 '12 at 14:44
up vote 1 down vote

I use the WinACD drivers from sourceforge.net for my dell laptop connected to my apple cinema display. http://sourceforge.net/projects/winacd/files/WinACD/WinACD-0.4/

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up vote 0 down vote

Here are my experiences with using a Cinema HD on a non apple system. Not a full solution but it is something.

An Apple Cinema HD display should work on any system that has a DVI-D port. For the 30" and the 27" you will need a dual-link DVI-D port to be able to use the full resolution. I have had mine (a 30") on several systems without problems.

Without drivers, brightness controls on the screen, usb hub and firewire hub should all work. Can only confirm working of brightness and usb-hub myself as I have never had it connected to a PC with firewire. Caveat with brightness is that you won't get the nice brightness setting overlay as this is done in software by OSX.

If you want to have a brightness overlay, you will need a bootcamp CD and don't forget to connect the USB connector of your screen to your system as the brightness controls go over USB.

The drivers are in:

32-bit: D:\Drivers\Apple\AppleDisplayInstaller.exe
64-bit: D:\Drivers\Apple\x64\AppleDisplayInstaller.exe

This driver will give you a HID driver for the display which is only half of what you need. You also need to install the bootcamp utility:

32-bit: D:\Drivers\Apple\BootCamp.msi
64-bit: D:\Drivers\Apple\BootCamp64.msi

After installation and reboot you will get a bootcamp icon in your tray. When you change the brightness of the screen using the controls on the screen your system should now display an overlay. Unfortunatly I haven't succeeded yet in getting into the configuration of the bootcamp utility because it complaints about the startup disk.

There are some settings you could try to tinker with in the registry at 

\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Apple Inc.\CinemaDisplay
\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Apple Inc.\Brightness
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