Windows 8 on MBP

Hi everyone, I clean installed Windows 8 Pro x64 via Boot Camp on my mid-2012 15" non-retina MBP. Is anyone having an issue where the brightness controls don't seem to work at all? My screen brightness seems to be at about 50% all the time, and the sliders in Power Options don't seem to do anything, and neither do the F1 and F2 keys. All other controls work fine however. I tried disabling adaptive brightness and adjusting manually, didn't work. Any thoughts?

On another note, how long do you think Apple will take to release Windows 8-certified drivers and Boot Camp software, if at all? I ask this because Windows 8 doesn't shut down properly, where all the fans seem to turn off but the keyboard backlight remains on and if i closed the lid, the computer sleep light (the one next to the IR receiver) lights up. I have to long-press the power button for it to shut down properly.

 

Not sure, but this is another reason I didn't buy the new MBP 13" Retina already...lack of Windows 8 support.

 

the drivers simply works. The thing is that windows automatically adjust brightness. You have to go to control panel and on energy plans, you go and change the value to manual

 

How did you get the clean install to work? I have been trying to do that slmgr -rearm thing... or /rearm... but it keeps telling me that because it's not running on a core something it doesn't work... what do I do?

 

I've disabled the adaptive brightness controls, however it still does not allow me to change the brightness values manually.

I clean installed by first using the upgrade assistant to download a copy of Windows 8 which I copied onto a USB stick. I then deleted the boot camp partition (because I wanted to resize it), then created a new partition via boot camp, then just booted off the usb stick, installed and done. Of course, you have to get the Windows 7 drivers by Apple. They work just fine on Windows 8 barring my display brightness issues.

 

the brightness doesnt increase even changing it on the charms bar? and you have to be sure because that adaptiv brightness is really tricky, that thing sometimes comes back on out of nowhere

 

I've disabled it and tried increasing it from the charms bar, power options, display menu, windows mobility centre, F1/F2, nothing. My brightness remains constant for some reason. It isn't at the dimmest, it's around 70% which is good enough for most uses, but I would have liked the ability to change it.

 

that is really strange, never had although I dont have cmbp 2012

 

Apparently Razer Blade users are having similar difficulties regarding brightness control, so this is certainly not an issue that's isolated to the MacBook Pro. I have to think Apple will release updated Boot Camp drivers eventually, and that will almost certainly solve the problem.

 

Agreed. Question now is how long they will take to release the updated drivers.

 

The new OS has been out less than 1 week?
Give them a break please.

 

Apple has had the RTM bits since 8/15. Maybe as early as 8/1/2012.

They've had time.

 

The RTM version was out since August, they should've had plenty of time.

Anyway, I've fixed the brightness issue, apparently the beta version of the Nvidia driver doesn't quite understand when Windows tells it to change the brightness. The latest stable of the Nvidia driver works though. However, now all my function keys haves stopped working, even those that worked before. I noticed it when I booted my Mac this morning before reinstalling the driver. Just great :/

 

Apple didn't release Windows 7-compatible drivers right away either. I understand the sentiment that W8 should have been ready from the get-go, but keep in mind that Boot Camp support is so far down the company's priority list that it's more an afterthought really.

 

Gee I wonder why.

The reality is that a bunch of us are required to run Windows in some form or fashion on our Macs. If Apple really cares about our satisfaction, then they really should make this a higher priority.

 

they fired 2 guys that were hampering that this week, lets see if mr hair gets the idea

 

People who use Boot Camp with any consistency are a tiny subset of the Apple user base. Making it a higher priority would mean additional time and financial resources that would be put to better use elsewhere. In other words - notgonnahappen.com.

 

Well, it's not like they don't have the resources to do it... I mean, even Microsoft hated Linux, yet they still contributed hundreds of thousands of lines of code to it, so it can't be all bad... right?

 

Believe me, I share your sentiments. It's just that from a business perspective, it makes little sense for Apple to do anything more than what they are doing/have done with regard to Boot Camp.

 

I suppose the least (and the most) they will do is release Windows 8-compatible versions of Boot Camp and all the drivers, which really just means that they will update the boot camp control paneland maybe the keyboard driver, because the Windows 7 versions of the drivers are all working fine except for those two (for me anyway)

 

I've been searching for a fix for this problem for ages and I figured out a fix that works for me and maybe it'll work for you.

1. Open Device Manager (Right click in the bottom right corner of the screen, click Device Manager)
2. Expand the Monitors
3. Right click on "Generic PnP Monitor" and choose Disable
4. Reboot

I have an early 2011 MBP with a Radeon 6750M and Windows 8 Pro installed with Bootcamp 5 and Catalyst drivers for reference.