Make your own Apple Boot Camp “3.1” update

Apple loves to tout compatibility with Windows.

Have a Windows application you need to use once in a while? No problem. Every new Mac lets you install Windows XP and Vista and run them at native speeds, using a built-in utility called Boot Camp.

There is something to this and the Apple hardware is awesome but Apple is a bit heel-dragging and sloppy about the way they release drivers for Boot Camp. For example, Windows 7 was finished July 22, 2009 but as of December 15, 2009 it is still officially unsupported by Apple. Windows 7 uses the same driver model as Vista, so that policy from Apple is just recalcitrant and disingenuous. Apple really does provide all the drivers you need to get Windows 7 x86 or x64 to run natively on Mac hardware.

On the other hand, some of the drivers in Boot Camp 3.0 are really flaky. For the latest Macbook Pros that use Cirrus Logic audio controllers, the volume is messed up so the internal speakers are un-hearable and the built-in microphone doesn’t work at all with some applications—notably Skype.

Apple actually does have updated drivers available. They are packaged as Boot Camp Drivers Update 2.2.

Setup is simple and straightforward — just as you’d expect with a Mac.

Awesome.

Except that if you are running Boot Camp 3.0, you are screwed and the setup is very not straightforward and there is no one-click installer from Apple. It is doable, though, and worthwhile.

This update addresses issues with the Apple trackpad and turns off the red digital audio port LED on laptop computers when it is not being used. It also includes support for the Apple Magic mouse and wireless keyboard. It is intended only for use with Microsoft Windows XP and Microsoft Windows Vista running on a Mac computer using Boot Camp.

If, like me, you are running Boot Camp 3.0 with Windows 7 on your MacBook Pro and you want these updates here’s what you have to do.

• If you don’t already have it, install 7-zip.
• Download the Boot Camp Drivers Update 2.2 for Windows from http://support.apple.com/kb/DL967
• After you have BootCamp_Update_2.2.exe, right-click on it and select 7-zip | Extract to “BootCamp_Update_2.2\”.
• Now you have a directory of files that includes BootCampUpdate32.msp and BootCampUpdate64.msp. The 64 version will work with Windows Vista or 7 x64.
• Right-click on the appropriate msp file and extract it with 7-zip.
• Now you have a directory full of weird file and folder names. One of the folders should be named “BootCamp24ToBootCamp223”. Inside there are some files that are named with the pattern Binary.*_Bin:

Binary.Cirrus_Audio_Bin –> Fixes audio levels and microphone
Binary.Keyboard_Bin –> Same version that shipped with Boot Camp 3.0
Binary.MultiTouchMouse_Bin –> Magic Mouse driver
Binary.MultiTP_Bin –>  Fixes accidental select while dragging
Binary.TrackPad_Bin –> I don’t have the older touchpad so I don’t know

• Each of these files is an archive that you can extract with 7-zip. Once you extract them, you can install the drivers by running DPInst.exe or by pointing the Device Manager at the extracted drivers in the usual way.

Happy updating.

Now that that’s out of the way, can someone explain to me why this had to be so hard?

Why bundle these updates with a smug “Setup is simple and straightforward — just as you’d expect with a Mac” tagline but make sure that the customers who bought the latest hardware and latest OS X cannot install them? It makes no sense.

Why did Boot Camp 3.0 ask me to configure automatic driver updates from Apple but Apple doesn’t actually publish any driver updates though that channel? It makes no sense.