Wireless Networking under Windows Vista RC1 on Core 2 Duo MacBook Pro

WILT
Rick Wargo
November 18th, 2006 - 11:59am

I’ve finally been able to get Vista RC1 installed on my new MacBook Pro. The installation was fairly straightforward:

  1. Run Apple Boot Camp
  2. Create Drivers Disk
  3. Partition Drive (I made a 20GB drive)
  4. Install Windows Vista RC1

… until installing the Macintosh drivers from the newly minted driver cd. Towards the end of the installation, it had an error and didn’t let me know what had happened. Then, unbeknownst to me at the time, it had uninstalled almost all of the drivers copied into C:\Program Files\Macintosh Drivers for Windows XP 1.1.2 directory, save:

  • ATI Graphics
  • realtek
  • SigmaTel

After everything was done, my Device Manager showed four devices for which there were not working/available drivers:

  • USB Human Interface Device
  • Network Device
  • Performance Counters
  • Built-in iSight

Most importantly, this affected wireless networking and made Vista unable to connect to a wireless network.

The solution was to run the Install Macintosh Drivers for Windows XP.exe program again, and after it had unpacked all of the files, temporarily copy the folder C:\Program Files\Macintosh Drivers for Windows XP 1.1.2 to another place (e.g. the Desktop). There will be a number of new drivers available including ones for the Wireless Network adapter and the Built-in iSight.

To install those drivers, go into the Device Manager, right-click on the device with the missing driver and select Update Driver Software… Click on Browse my computer for driver software and then select the location of the copy of the Macintosh drivers. It will scan that directory (assuming you leave Include subfolders checked) and install the driver for the device.

After installing the network drivers, two new adapters will appear in the Device Manager:

  • Atheros AR5008 Wireless Network Adapter
  • Marvell Yukon 88E8053 PCI-E Gigabit Ethernet Controller

After that, it is possible to connect to your wireless network.

This entry was posted on Saturday, November 18th, 2006 at 11:59 am and is filed under WILT. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

22 Responses to “Wireless Networking under Windows Vista RC1 on Core 2 Duo MacBook Pro”

  1. elyliu Says:
    December 2nd, 2006 at 1:04 pm

    This worked out great! Thanks! BTW, I have a Core 2 Duo MacBook and I just installed the retail version of Vista Ultimate.

  2. blogthis Says:
    January 2nd, 2007 at 8:56 pm

    I see bootcamp 1.1.2 is supposed to resolve all of these issues with new drivers and support included with the kit. Does it work?

  3. Rick Wargo Says:
    January 2nd, 2007 at 10:50 pm

    I had a problem with my new Core Duo MacBook Pro – not all the dirivers installed from the Mac Drivers disk created with Boot Camp (1.1.2). I’ve seen others with the same issue, too. Boot Camp allowed me to boot Vista RC1 but did not give me access to all the devices on the MacBook Pro.

  4. Mio Says:
    January 28th, 2007 at 3:55 pm

    I have installed Windows Vista, my only problem is to make my wireless connection into work!
    I cant figure out how to connect to my Wireless Internet, had tried to add manually but without luck!

    I have no problem connecting to the internet directly thru the cabel!

  5. Rick Wargo Says:
    January 29th, 2007 at 11:51 am

    Make sure your driver is loaded. When installing the drivers from the Mac Drivers disk created with Boot Camp, the wireless driver fails to load. You need to add the driver manually by following the process outlined above. If you have more specific questions, feel free to ask!

  6. Mio Says:
    January 29th, 2007 at 12:38 pm

    how do I extract the driver for my wireless network? or is it possible to simple download the drivers?

    is it 5006? or is it 5008?

    thanks!

  7. Mio Says:
    January 29th, 2007 at 12:42 pm

    Generic Atheros WINDOWS VISTA 32/64bit for all Atheros Chipsets AR5001-AR5007 (AR5008 NOT SUPPORTED)
    Version 7.1.0.90

    http://www.minipci.biz/support.html

    AR5008 not supported?

  8. Rick Wargo Says:
    January 29th, 2007 at 3:24 pm

    Try installing the Mac Drivers disk again, but when the error occurs, before pressing the OK button, copy the folder C:\Program Files\Macintosh Drivers for Windows XP 1.1.2 to your desktop. If the error never occurs (haven’t really seen this), just keep an eye on that directory and wait for the net5211 and net5416 directories to be populated with the following files: ar5211.sys, net5211.cat, net5211.inf, ar5416.sys, net5416.cat, net5416.inf. As soon as those files appear, copy the directories to the desktop. Then, in Driver Manager, right click on the wireless networking device, select properties and Update Driver (this is from memory, may be off just a bit). Tell it to install from a specific directory and choose the parent directory containing the net5211 and net5416 folders (net5211 contains drivers for Atheros AR5001, AR5002, AR5004, AR5005, AR5006 and variants; net5416 contains drivers for AR5008). And after a bit, you should have the wireless driver installed. Good luck!

  9. Nadeem Says:
    January 30th, 2007 at 1:02 pm

    you can run the
    apple xxx.exe with /d/v switches and it wont install the software but will extract the files to your specified location.

    i did try to manually get the wireless driver it got it, but i still cant connect.

    also what is performance counter?

  10. Mio Says:
    January 30th, 2007 at 5:25 pm

    Rick Wargo THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!! it works now, finally after 2 days of reading and asking around the world!

    Nadeem just fallow the instructions that Rick wrote, it works for me :)

  11. Anders Says:
    February 1st, 2007 at 4:07 am

    Hey… my wireless works fine, but when i tried to connect to a WPA-Enterprise Network, it doesn’t work.. I have Atheros 5008…

    Anyone got a solution ?

  12. Terasaka Says:
    February 3rd, 2007 at 8:57 pm

    Okay, got a fix for the wireless. Been working on MacBook Pro and iMac 24″. iMac 24″ with Windows Vista Business finds most of the hardware automatically, and appears to have the drivers for both wireless networking as well as Bluetooth. No problem there. However, the MacBook Pro 17″ doesn’t. For the wireless, the above is correct on the AR5008. However, Windows Vista Business will automatically load the driver for AR5008X, which does not work.

    So….

    Go into Hard Drive–>Windows–>System32–>Drivers–>Delete athr.sys
    Go into Control Panel Home–>System and Maintenance–>Device Manager–>Uninstall Atheros AR5008X Wireless Network Adapter
    Under Device Manager Menu–>Action–>Scan for hardware changes
    When asked where the device drivers are, as usual, tell Vista you know where it is. Then direct it to where you placed those drives. If you follow the instructions at:

    http://forum.insanelymac.com/index.php?showtopic=38998&st=0&gopid=291163&

    will be in Program Files\Macintosh Drivers for Windows XP 1.1.2\net5416 folder. Have it load the device driver from there, and you’ll find your wireless up and running.

    As usual, Vista likes to think it knows what it’s doing, but it doesn’t. I will work on solutions for the iMac 17″. I have solutions for MacBook Pro 15″, 17″, iMac 24″ so far. But the above website is the best site I’ve found for a step by step solution.

  13. David McGhee Says:
    February 15th, 2007 at 7:16 am

    WPA works on the Jan release of Atheros 5008

    http://drivers.softpedia.com/get/NETWORK-CARD/OTHER-NETWORK-CARDS/ATHEROS-ZIDAS-AR5008-Driver-60275.shtml

  14. Team Individualism : Upgraded? to Apple Macbook Pro (with Vista Home Premium) Says:
    February 15th, 2007 at 7:19 am

    [...] to the this thread I found a later driver fixed the Atheros 5008 (not X). Version 6.02.75 works with WPA whilst [...]

  15. David McGhee Says:
    February 20th, 2007 at 8:28 am

    Taking back previous comment. Currently having security issues with both WEP and WPA. It works for a bit then stops.

  16. Jean Says:
    February 21st, 2007 at 4:57 pm

    Dear Everyone,

    I did what the previous posts said, but it doesn’t work for me, i still can’t connect to my wireless, until i find the driver of AR5008,

    http://drivers.softpedia.com/progDownload/ATHEROSZIDAS-AR-Driver-Download-23460.html

    then my wireless finally work…

  17. RTD Says:
    February 23rd, 2007 at 10:14 am

    I have vista ultimate 64 bit installed on my macbook core 2 duo. Have tried all of the above suggestions for getting my wireless & sound to work. Has anyone got these working on 64bit version? or are there just no drivers at the moment for the ar5008 & sound?

  18. CBOrlando Says:
    March 8th, 2007 at 3:16 pm

    You guys rock!!
    My Vista install was set to expire in two days and I hadn’t a clue on how to get the wireless activated!!
    Thanks!

  19. monto Says:
    March 15th, 2007 at 4:23 pm

    Here is the same situation of RTD, macbook pro c2d ar5008 driver for vista ultimate 64 bit needed. Also sound problem. Any suggestion?

  20. Valee Says:
    April 16th, 2007 at 11:12 am

    I just installed Windows Vista Ultimate. I also have problems with my wireless.
    It see’s the hotspots but wen i try to connect on them windows says that it cannot connect to network.

    My wireless card is an Atheros AR5005G Wireless Network Adapter.
    Can this problem be solved with the apple boot camp?
    Can someone tell me what to do?

    Thanks,
    Valee

  21. SlalomSkier49456 Says:
    April 22nd, 2007 at 10:38 am

    I cannot get my MacBook Pro (Core 2 Duo) to connect, running Vista, to my 802.11n (5GHz) Extreme Base Station. I can connect to it just fine when the Base Station is in the 2.4GHz mode, but not the 5 GHz mode. Is there an upgraded driver to the Atheros AR5008 driver that allows a connection to the Base Station?

    Thanks,

    Jamie

  22. Crystal Says:
    September 16th, 2007 at 3:38 pm

    Is this David Mcghee ? in california east bay

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