[guide] manually save windows support software after bootcamp errors (please read)

[AnaheimAngels]

Hello all,

So, I haven't seen this solution anywhere after tons of searching, so I'm going to go ahead and put it up.

As many of you probably know, a LOT of people encounter errors when trying to download/save Windows Support Files via Bootcamp Assistant. I, like many others, got the infamous "Windows Support Software Could Not be Saved" error, and therefore, could not get the full potential out of my Mac while running Windows. But as long as you keep Bootcamp Assistant OPEN after you receive an error, You can manually save the Support Software to your Hard drive or USB Drive.

Step 1: Launch Bootcamp, and select the option to download Windows Support Software.



Step 2: After you receive the error message, do NOT close out Bootcamp ! Open up disk utility. You'll notice a mounted image on the lower left hand side of the disk utility titled "WindowsSupport.dmg" or something similar.



Step 3: Click the image once, highlighting it. Look for the "Disk Image Path" on the bottom of Disk Utility.



Step 4: Open Finder, and on the top nav bar on your mac, click "Go". Scroll down to the bottom, and click "Go To Folder"



Step 5: Enter the "Disk Image Path" you saw earlier in Disk utility. Mine was located at /Library/Application Support/Bootcamp, yours is probably the same.



( Unfortunately, 5 images is the max so the rest is up to you ): )

Step 6: You should see the WindowsSupport.dmg file right there, drag it over to a USB or other removable disk.

Step 7: You'll need some software that can extract the .dmg, because you cannot mount it here. I recommend PowerISO in windows, a free trial software. Just open up PowerISO, hit open, and find the .dmg file.

Step 8: Extract the .dmg file, and then copy it back to any removable media.

Step 9: Boot into your Windows Partition you created in bootcamp, ( Windows must already be installed ) and open up the "setup.exe" you extracted earlier, and there you have it ! Proceed with installation, and now all of your hardware should work!

If you have any questions about this, or get lost, don't be afraid to ask for help! I will gladly assist you I will be making a YouTube video on how to do this since I haven't seen it anywhere else.

 

[jpsnagi]

Thanks ... and one more thing ...

Thanks a ton for this.
I am a new MAC user, have been Windows user all my life.

I had few issues, and I thought I would add something to it.

Most of my USB drives are NTFS formatted.
So I was using them to extract Windows Support Software. Needless to say I did not knew that NTFS can be read, but not written by Mac OS X.
After trying for couple of days (few times I day) I finally found an advise on Yahoo! Answers, which mentioned that.

I formatted the USB to FAT32 ... voila ... It ran.
I am installing Windows 7 Ultimate Edition as we speak.

Once again. Thanks for this quick short and elegant guide.

 

[aizaz]

Format your USB using MS-DOS (FAT16) it will work

 

[ReignSam]

Hello all,

So, I haven't seen this solution anywhere after tons of searching, so I'm going to go ahead and put it up.

As many of you probably know, a LOT of people encounter errors when trying to download/save Windows Support Files via Bootcamp Assistant. I, like many others, got the infamous "Windows Support Software Could Not be Saved" error, and therefore, could not get the full potential out of my Mac while running Windows. But as long as you keep Bootcamp Assistant OPEN after you receive an error, You can manually save the Support Software to your Hard drive or USB Drive.

Step 1: Launch Bootcamp, and select the option to download Windows Support Software.

View attachment 408670

Step 2: After you receive the error message, do NOT close out Bootcamp ! Open up disk utility. You'll notice a mounted image on the lower left hand side of the disk utility titled "WindowsSupport.dmg" or something similar.

View attachment 408671

Step 3: Click the image once, highlighting it. Look for the "Disk Image Path" on the bottom of Disk Utility.

View attachment 408672

Step 4: Open Finder, and on the top nav bar on your mac, click "Go". Scroll down to the bottom, and click "Go To Folder"

View attachment 408673

Step 5: Enter the "Disk Image Path" you saw earlier in Disk utility. Mine was located at /Library/Application Support/Bootcamp, yours is probably the same.

View attachment 408674

( Unfortunately, 5 images is the max so the rest is up to you ): )

Step 6: You should see the WindowsSupport.dmg file right there, drag it over to a USB or other removable disk.

Step 7: You'll need some software that can extract the .dmg, because you cannot mount it here. I recommend PowerISO in windows, a free trial software. Just open up PowerISO, hit open, and find the .dmg file.

Step 8: Extract the .dmg file, and then copy it back to any removable media.

Step 9: Boot into your Windows Partition you created in bootcamp, ( Windows must already be installed ) and open up the "setup.exe" you extracted earlier, and there you have it ! Proceed with installation, and now all of your hardware should work!

If you have any questions about this, or get lost, don't be afraid to ask for help! I will gladly assist you I will be making a YouTube video on how to do this since I haven't seen it anywhere else.

THANKS A LOT @ AnaheimAngel. You just saved a live.

 

[mr108]

Step 9: Boot into your Windows Partition you created in bootcamp, ( Windows must already be installed ) and open up the "setup.exe" you extracted earlier, and there you have it ! Proceed with installation, and now all of your hardware should work!

After closing the Bootcamp, will the partitions that it created stay intact? Will the Windows be installed there in that partition?

Right now when I close the Bootcamp after getting that error message about saving the Support software then the partitions are reset to the original state.