Macbook Air Trackpad driver Windows 8 PRO RTM

I used Windows 7 x64 on my Macbook Air with specific drivers from Apple trough Bootcamp at 100% satisfaction.

I now upgraded to Windows 8 PRO where everything works perfectly except the Trackpad! I tried every kind of workaround I could imagine to install the Bootcamp (v.3.3 to 4.0) Trackpad drivers (even in compatibility (7) mode) with no success!

Beyond the frustration, I imagine that this is a "we do not want you to install those drivers" situation since this is a "tablet" style OS and probably, the gestures etc. provided by the Apple Bootcamp driver might not match the MS expectation/model.

I don't know/believe that Apple will be nice enough to write a specific driver to please MS & Windows 8 users and wondering if MS will support that hardware at a point to develop a driver...

What can be expected? What do you think? Or have you a solution?

PS: Now using an external Bluetooth "notebook mouse 5000"  (from MS. of course)...But then, it's not so "Airy" anym

August 26th, 2012 8:38am

Parallels works just fine.   On Sun, 26 Aug 2012 08:38:25 +0000, Thomas M.T. _ wrote:   > Or have you a solution?  
Free Windows Admin Tool Kit Click here and download it now
August 26th, 2012 10:23am

An option to use W8 on a Mac is to use Parallels.   On Sun, 26 Aug 2012 13:08:15 +0000, Thomas M.T. _ wrote:   >@Barb Bowman: for what? This is a native installation. > > >Thomas.  
August 27th, 2012 11:18am

Device drivers are provided by Bootcamp. I suggest you contact Apple support to resolve this issue.
Free Windows Admin Tool Kit Click here and download it now
August 28th, 2012 8:15am

Thanks for the suggestion Arthur... I indeed thought about that but wondered what kind of welcome it might encounter at Apple. Probably the same as here...

If I got it right, Windows 7 drivers should be compatible with Windows 8. So if I want to use those drivers that worked fine in Windows 7, I would be very interested to know why Windows 8 (MS) would not let me (us) install them and use the trackpad as before.

I want to point out that the drivers ARE FOUND when letting "device manager" search for them (which means that they match the device ID) but the installation fails with the kind of "something went wrong"... Not sure this is a Apple problem. These drivers are OK. Now Apple might or not write new drivers for W8 specific new features but that is not what I want at first...

August 30th, 2012 12:52pm

I never considered even trying Hyper-V under parallels. Not sure I would want to.   On Thu, 30 Aug 2012 16:14:38 +0000, Thomas M.T. _ wrote:   >@Barb: What are your experiences about the Hyper-V feature in Windows 8 on Parallels? > > >Thomas.  
Free Windows Admin Tool Kit Click here and download it now
August 31st, 2012 11:15am

Never tried it. they state they have experimental support for Windows 8 Preview. They have a Trial Version you can experiment with before you purchase if you are interested.   On Mon, 3 Sep 2012 09:06:08 +0000, Thomas M.T. _ wrote:   >Would you also use Parallels on LENOVO or HP to run Windows8? > > >Thomas.  
September 3rd, 2012 11:01am

Trying to get my Apple Macbook Multitouch Trackpad drivers to install on my 64 bit Windows 8 RTM finally worked! This is my story:

I upgraded Windows 7 to Windows 8, keeping all my applications and files. Because of this, Boot Camp 3.2 is still installed but my trackpad was not working. 

I tried to install the drivers manually using device manager from the Boot Camp 4 installation files, but the installation failed.

I tried hacking the BootCamp64.msi file using Orca to remove the LaunchCondition table, but it would still detect the system wasn't Windows 7 and fail to install. 

I tried compatibility mode on the boot camp setup.exe file, but it kept saying "boot camp x64 is unsupported on this computer model", I am using an older unibody Macbook late-2008 that Apple does not officially support running 64 bit windows, even though it works just fine.

So I went back to installing the trackpad drivers manually through device manager. At this point there were no device manager entries for the Apple Trackpad or Multitouch Trackpad, instead I saw these two generic entries for usb input device. I figured out these two entries were the trackpad installed with generic microsoft drivers and I tried to update them to the apple drivers.

When I tried to update these generic device drivers to the apple drivers, I received the message "system cannot find the path specified". So I checked out the SetupAPI log file in windows and discovered it was trying to find driver files in these two folders which did not exist: C:\Windows\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\applemtm64.inf_amd64_e9ad032101401c02 and C:\Windows\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\applemtp64.inf_amd64_e01424b60295b8a0.

So I created those two folders and copied all of the *mtp64 and *mtm64 files from boot camp 4 installation files to those respective folders, and also had to copy the WdfCoInstaller01005.dll file into both folders.


After doing that I was able to go back to the device manager and install the apple trackpad drivers without any problems, and now my right click and two finger scrolling work great! Phew. That sucked.

  • Edited by ryryguy Wednesday, September 05, 2012 5:26 AM Formatting
  • Marked as answer by Thomas M.T. _ Wednesday, September 05, 2012 9:57 AM
Free Windows Admin Tool Kit Click here and download it now
September 5th, 2012 5:25am

Trying to get my Apple Macbook Multitouch Trackpad drivers to install on my 64 bit Windows 8 RTM finally worked! This is my story:

I upgraded Windows 7 to Windows 8, keeping all my applications and files. Because of this, Boot Camp 3.2 is still installed but my trackpad was not working. 

I tried to install the drivers manually using device manager from the Boot Camp 4 installation files, but the installation failed.

I tried hacking the BootCamp64.msi file using Orca to remove the LaunchCondition table, but it would still detect the system wasn't Windows 7 and fail to install. 

I tried compatibility mode on the boot camp setup.exe file, but it kept saying "boot camp x64 is unsupported on this computer model", I am using an older unibody Macbook late-2008 that Apple does not officially support running 64 bit windows, even though it works just fine.

So I went back to installing the trackpad drivers manually through device manager. At this point there were no device manager entries for the Apple Trackpad or Multitouch Trackpad, instead I saw these two generic entries for usb input device. I figured out these two entries were the trackpad installed with generic microsoft drivers and I tried to update them to the apple drivers.

When I tried to update these generic device drivers to the apple drivers, I received the message "system cannot find the path specified". So I checked out the SetupAPI log file in windows and discovered it was trying to find driver files in these two folders which did not exist: C:\Windows\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\applemtm64.inf_amd64_e9ad032101401c02 and C:\Windows\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\applemtp64.inf_amd64_e01424b60295b8a0.

So I created those two folders and copied all of the *mtp64 and *mtm64 files from boot camp 4 installation files to those respective folders, and also had to copy the WdfCoInstaller01005.dll file into both folders.


After doing that I was able to go back to the device manager and install the apple trackpad drivers without any problems, and now my right click and two finger scrolling work great! Phew. That sucked.

  • Edited by ryryguy Wednesday, September 05, 2012 5:26 AM Formatting
  • Marked as answer by Thomas M.T. _ Wednesday, September 05, 2012 9:57 AM
September 5th, 2012 5:25am

Hi " ryryguy"

Thank you for your answer. YOU are an MVP!

I reproduced your troubleshooting logic and this was the path to go.

One small update to yours: When in Device Manager and clicking on "scan for hardware changes", it finds the 2 devices and what was new is that it moved them into the "Human Interface Devices" section (what is new to the former behavior). Then I had to click on "update drivers" in the 2 devices and select "browse for software on my computer". Then select "Let me pick from a list...." and choose "USB Input Device" instead of the correct device name and version. I think this depends of the starting point and state of the troubleshooting process... This made the Trackpad work but no gesture or right click. Going back to the 2 devices and clicking on update drivers by selecting the folder where the original Apple drivers were expanded made it install finally the Apple drivers.

Now it works like a charm...(again). Windows 8 PRO native on MacBook Air, fully operational.

THANK YOU AGAIN. This was also a nice lesson of device installation troubleshooting in windows 7/8..

Free Windows Admin Tool Kit Click here and download it now
September 5th, 2012 10:05am

Currently I have two machines running W8. A desktop development machine which is a real install (non virtualized) and the VM on the Mac that I use for testing an app I've authored in a Win 8 environment that does not have Visual Studio and other dev/debug bits on it.   To answer your question on my opinion on the differences, the level of driver support may or may not make a difference. Dell et al usually issue specific versions of ATI/AMD, etc. video drivers, etc. and in my experience over the years, don't always have timely drivers for new Windows releases. The folks at Parallels have a vested interested in drivers. Never had a problem. Have not yet purchased the Parallels 8 release that launched a few days ago as P7 seems to be working as needed for me.       On Tue, 4 Sep 2012 10:34:35 +0000, Thomas M.T. _ wrote:   > > >That didn't really answer my question but supposing that it's "no", why would you use Parallels on "MACs" and not on the others? >...and... what is different in your opinion between "MACs" and say LENOVO, HP, IBM, Dell etc... in installing/using Windows7/8/... > > > > >Thomas.  
September 5th, 2012 11:05am

Can someone please post a video/links to the drivers I need... I just installed Windows 8 consumer preview via bootcamp on my Macbook Air and I don't have any bootcamp control panel or any mouse drivers. 

Thank!

Free Windows Admin Tool Kit Click here and download it now
September 13th, 2012 1:59pm

Hi, Sorry, I do not have the link right now but after searching with Google about Bootcamp 4, I found and downloaded it. You can then extract the drivers ans they should install just fine except the Trackpad and Touchpad drivers for witch " ryryguy" posted an excellent troubleshooting/workaround.
September 15th, 2012 2:57pm

Well, this is a plagiarism of Arthur Xie's post (above) and not only does not provide any kind of help but I think that Windows 8 IS a Microsoft product. When a (any brand) of driver works perfectly on Windows 7 it is just legitimate to ask here why suddenly it does not on Windows 8 when all the others (bootcam drivers) do. One might follow " ryryguy"'s excellent post (above) to understand what happens.

Free Windows Admin Tool Kit Click here and download it now
September 15th, 2012 3:16pm

This fix worked for me:

Right Click | Update Driver Software | Browse my computer for driver software | Let me pick from a list of device drivers on my computer
I then selected USB Input Device. (It was the only other device in the compatible hardware list).
Doing this for each one restored basic mouse functionality. No multi touch at this stage, no right mouse click.
After that I did the following:
Right Click | Update Driver Software | Browse my computer for driver software | Let me pick from a list of device drivers on my computer
I then selected the relevant Apple Multitouch driver. (This again was the only other device in the compatible hardware list).
and it works.

You might need to go into the Boot Camp Control Panel and tick boxes in the Trackpad tab to get things back how you wanted it.


  • Proposed as answer by punkbuy Saturday, November 24, 2012 4:11 PM
October 14th, 2012 12:35pm

This fix worked for me:

Right Click | Update Driver Software | Browse my computer for driver software | Let me pick from a list of device drivers on my computer
I then selected USB Input Device. (It was the only other device in the compatible hardware list).
Doing this for each one restored basic mouse functionality. No multi touch at this stage, no right mouse click.
After that I did the following:
Right Click | Update Driver Software | Browse my computer for driver software | Let me pick from a list of device drivers on my computer
I then selected the relevant Apple Multitouch driver. (This again was the only other device in the compatible hardware list).
and it works.

You might need to go into the Boot Camp Control Panel and tick boxes in the Trackpad tab to get things back how you wanted it.


  • Proposed as answer by punkbuy Saturday, November 24, 2012 4:11 PM
Free Windows Admin Tool Kit Click here and download it now
October 14th, 2012 12:35pm

thank you so much :)

that finally worked for me

November 24th, 2012 4:12pm

you can activate Apple Trackpad on Windows 8 using this link

 http://ariel4ever.wordpress.com/2012/11/25/mengaktifkan-apple-multi-trackpad-pada-windows-8/

Free Windows Admin Tool Kit Click here and download it now
November 25th, 2012 4:05am

Dude. Don't use Windows 8.

The only worthwhile products by Microsoft are Windows 7, Xbox 360/Kinect, and maybe Microsoft Office.

March 19th, 2013 7:15pm

This is a great solution for Windows 8.x. Did it and worked fine.

Regarding the recent update from 8.1 to 10, the Trackpad problem is here again with a different error message.

This time, its enough to download Bootcamp 5.1, extract it (with WinRar or else) to a temp folder, then extract the exe that contains Trackpad in the name to another temp folder and update the 2 trackpad devices drivers using Device manager by pointing the search local drivers to the second temp folder.

Voil

Regards,

Free Windows Admin Tool Kit Click here and download it now
August 24th, 2015 5:47am

This topic is archived. No further replies will be accepted.

Other recent topics Other recent topics