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Apple HFS+ Windows Driver (Download)
- Thread starter Quad5Ny
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I saw Bootcamp was updated to be able to install Windows 7/8 in macOS 10.12.2, so I repeated the whole process of downloading the support software and extracting the drivers today only to find the support software is still the exact same build number as last time. How can we tell when the support software has been updated now that it can only be downloaded through the Bootcamp Assistant and not from their website (and it doesn't tell you the version number ahead of time)? I thought maybe it would tell me I already had the latest version since I haven't done anything to my USB stick since the last time I put the software on it.
Hello, I've discovered a method which worked for all my hackintoshes. Apple bootcamp 6.0 drivers work fine after 1607 update, they just have problems mounting the drives... Give it a try if you like, this may end up to be the solution;
-Install 6.0 drivers just like before anniversary update, reboot. Nothing will show up..
-Download ext2fsd even though you probably have nothing to do with ext2 or linux.
-Open Ext2 Volume Manager. In "File System" tab, your macOS partition will show as "HFS". If you installed ext2fsd before succesfully installing bootcamp drivers, it will just show as "RAW". (kind of proving bootcamp drivers do work)
-Right click, select assign drive letter (or change drive letter).
-In the pop-up menu, select the drive letter first, then select the tick "Create a permanent MountPoint via Session Manager." It -weirdly- closes the pop-up before you click "OK" (at least on version 0.66 I am using, it may be a bug).
-Reboot, and the macOS partition will be there just like before anniversary update. (On one of my computers, it didn't show on first reboot, I've gone into ext2 volume manager, redid everything then rebooted, it showed on second time.)
It worked for me on Mavericks, 10.10.5, 10.12.2. It also worked for me on 10.6.8 + Win 10 + 32bit bootcamp 4 drivers. This site helped me by providing bootcamp drivers, I hope I am returning the favor.
Also, it MAY be possible to add a registry entry via regedit, which is exactly what ext2fsd does for permanent mounts.. Honestly, I haven't tried this. I already use ext2fsd for my linux partition, and I don't want to risk breaking my perfectly working systems. Afterall, this functionality may depend on something installed via ext2 driver and may not work anyway.. Perhaps someone could try that as this may be a better solution than downloading some program:
Run regedit, navigate to:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/system/CurrentControlSet/Control/Session Manager/DOS Devices/
Right click-> new-> add string..
Enter the drive letter you desire for macos partition with ":", in my example its "G:", then in data section type in; "\Device\HarddiskVolume#"
# will be your volume number as would be seen in MS-DOS. I am sure someone could suggest a more elegant solution for this one, but you can simply go to control panel/administartive tools/computer management/disk management, and count all your partitions starting with 1 (not 0). I, for example have 1 partition in disk0, and my macos partition is the 2nd one in disk1, so my volume number is 3. In my registry, it writes "G:", "REG_SZ" and "\Device\HarddiskVolume3" for name type and data respectively.
You can -probably- do trial and error on this one (rebooting each time to be sure), nothing should break so long as your drive letter doesn't contradict with anything you already have..
Please report back if this works.
-Install 6.0 drivers just like before anniversary update, reboot. Nothing will show up..
-Download ext2fsd even though you probably have nothing to do with ext2 or linux.
-Open Ext2 Volume Manager. In "File System" tab, your macOS partition will show as "HFS". If you installed ext2fsd before succesfully installing bootcamp drivers, it will just show as "RAW". (kind of proving bootcamp drivers do work)
-Right click, select assign drive letter (or change drive letter).
-In the pop-up menu, select the drive letter first, then select the tick "Create a permanent MountPoint via Session Manager." It -weirdly- closes the pop-up before you click "OK" (at least on version 0.66 I am using, it may be a bug).
-Reboot, and the macOS partition will be there just like before anniversary update. (On one of my computers, it didn't show on first reboot, I've gone into ext2 volume manager, redid everything then rebooted, it showed on second time.)
It worked for me on Mavericks, 10.10.5, 10.12.2. It also worked for me on 10.6.8 + Win 10 + 32bit bootcamp 4 drivers. This site helped me by providing bootcamp drivers, I hope I am returning the favor.
Also, it MAY be possible to add a registry entry via regedit, which is exactly what ext2fsd does for permanent mounts.. Honestly, I haven't tried this. I already use ext2fsd for my linux partition, and I don't want to risk breaking my perfectly working systems. Afterall, this functionality may depend on something installed via ext2 driver and may not work anyway.. Perhaps someone could try that as this may be a better solution than downloading some program:
Run regedit, navigate to:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/system/CurrentControlSet/Control/Session Manager/DOS Devices/
Right click-> new-> add string..
Enter the drive letter you desire for macos partition with ":", in my example its "G:", then in data section type in; "\Device\HarddiskVolume#"
# will be your volume number as would be seen in MS-DOS. I am sure someone could suggest a more elegant solution for this one, but you can simply go to control panel/administartive tools/computer management/disk management, and count all your partitions starting with 1 (not 0). I, for example have 1 partition in disk0, and my macos partition is the 2nd one in disk1, so my volume number is 3. In my registry, it writes "G:", "REG_SZ" and "\Device\HarddiskVolume3" for name type and data respectively.
You can -probably- do trial and error on this one (rebooting each time to be sure), nothing should break so long as your drive letter doesn't contradict with anything you already have..
Please report back if this works.
Yup, I've tested both methods now and they work exactly as described. =D Ext2FSD is pretty wonky though. In addition to the problem where the window closes after clicking the checkbox, I also had an issue where when trying to change the drive letter the letter would disappear completely and then reappear as having all three of the values I switched between (showing "D:G:F:"). But after I got it down to one letter and having the permanent mount option I verified it as working between reboots and that it created the exact registry key you described (well different volume number from the example but otherwise the same). Running the Ext2FSD uninstaller removed the key, so I added it back manually and it's working the same. Thank you for this!
Thanks for the tip Andraxxus, its a few hoops more than I really want to have to jump through but I'm glad to know its possible.
I'm _nearly_ to the point of buying https://www.paragon-software.com/home/hfs-windows/index.html for $20. Nearly.
I'm _nearly_ to the point of buying https://www.paragon-software.com/home/hfs-windows/index.html for $20. Nearly.
Paragon HFS+ for Windows 8/8.1 free edition works with Windows 10 Anniversary Update.
I haven't had any problems so far. You just have to register to get Product Key & Serial Number.
https://www.paragon-software.com/home/hfs-windows-free/registration.html
I haven't had any problems so far. You just have to register to get Product Key & Serial Number.
https://www.paragon-software.com/home/hfs-windows-free/registration.html
Cheers that did actually work (surprised the heck out of me), although I had to install it only for me rather than all users otherwise the installer failed. I wish it let you choose to mount the drives as Read Only (coz I'm paranoid and just want to read the data)
Nice to see that it supports journaling, particularly given the linux drivers for HFS don't. (I was looking into mounting my Drobo onto a RaspberryPI)
there is another way to fix getting windows 10 to read the HFS drives.
here is the link that shows how to do it,
i have used the info from this uTube video and it works.
here is the link that shows how to do it,
[doublepost=1486294509][/doublepost]your method of bootcamp just fried my windows 7 startup, how to start it now?
Are you using a fusion drive?
I asked above if these methods work on fusion drives, and I suspect the answer is no.
Paragon drivers don't work with fusions, so I'm guessing there is no reason to think that what is suggested here will work either.
I agree. We should have a sticky for the latest Boot Camp package and Windows 7 SP1 ISO's ...
Sure you can, just download 5,1 support software from Apple website.
Method I've written a few posts above still works on all HFS+ drives, on latest Windows as of now (1709 build 16299.248) and on latest High Sierra 10.13.4 beta *without* APFS filesystem. I still use it on the same 3 computers since I've written that post a year ago, no issues whatsoever on any of them..
However, note that if you upgrade to High Sierra just by following the menus it WILL automatically convert your HFS+ filesystem to APFS, and you are out of options... Apple doesn't even support bootcamp drivers for HFS for quite some time now, and will probably never release an all new driver for APFS...
If you haven't yet upgraded to High Sierra, you do have an option; you can use a terminal command to start the installation of the OS and use "--converttoapfs NO" flag to keep using HFS+ by preventing automatic conversion to APFS... You will do that by closing the High Sierra installer after download and issue the terminal command... I don't remember the entire command line but there are many tutorials about it; google search that flag and it should reveal one of them...
As for SHOULD you do that.... Current benchmarks don't really point to better read&write performance with APFS, but APFS has some long and interesting list of new features... Do your research on that yourself to confirm the cons and pros and draw your own conclusions...
If you still want my opinion though... Sticking with HFS+ is a (logical) must for a hackintosh for compatibility/troubleshooting reasons, and even if you own a mac, I would suggest sticking with HFS+; let community be the beta testers for APFS file system and use bootcamp drivers for another year or two with HFS+. Afterall, you are trusting both the safety and recoverability of all your files to the filesystem, tried and tested (and common) is always better than having some new features that you (probably) never needed nor wanted until now...
Many thanks for this shared work @Quad5Ny, I took the risk and installed them on a "clean" Windows 10 Pro system, after Paragon HFS+ Trial Expired and was forced to uninstall (with a couple of reboots). The test USB stick (Sandisk Cruzer 32GB) worked fine in Read-Only mode, after rebooting of course. My Windows is the April 2018 update 1803 (Build 17134.112). Doesn't seem to work (i.e. mount) with external HDD or SSD in enclosures, but was worth the effort (it says please insert disk or something). Many thanks again.
Not sure if there's anything newer than Boot Camp 6.0 (Build 6237)? Cheers to everyone for your valuable feedback!
UPDATE: I confirm @Andraxxus tip; using EXT2fsd 0.69 allows to give a letter to the devices that I could not access previously. Thanks mate! No need to install the whole driver, just download the ZIP version and unpack and run the Volume Manager, instead.
WARNING: I have been copying over from HFS external SSD to my Win10 laptop's SSD a lot of files to burn on BD-R, using Total Commander 9 and the "Verify" option; I notice I get some CRC errors when copying, i.e. verification fails (the first time, in most cases). Not sure what happens, nor can I narrow down the issue e.g. file-size? I changed USB 3 port and seems to have resolved... So be weary of intense file-copying.
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Sorry for bumping, but just to confirm the use of the Apple HFS+ drivers: they don’t work in the newest versions of Windows 10 anymore, right? What about if you manually create the registry strings rather than running the merge tool in the OP? Or is the problem with the drivers themselves?
I’m using Redstone 4 and following the instructions here causes a perpetual crash/reboot loop 100% of the time, but only if the registry merge is done. Dropping in the drivers doesn’t cause crashes (but they also don’t work), and EXT2fsd only sees the drives as RAW and can’t read from them. This method worked with every version of Windows until this one, I think. Even the most modern Enterprise LTSB worked. What did Microsoft change and why would they have changed it?
EDIT: Should I just go find an old version of Windows 10? There was a game I wanted to play which needed one of the updates (and I imagine all future games will, too), but I absolutely need read access to my HFS+ drives.
I’m using Redstone 4 and following the instructions here causes a perpetual crash/reboot loop 100% of the time, but only if the registry merge is done. Dropping in the drivers doesn’t cause crashes (but they also don’t work), and EXT2fsd only sees the drives as RAW and can’t read from them. This method worked with every version of Windows until this one, I think. Even the most modern Enterprise LTSB worked. What did Microsoft change and why would they have changed it?
EDIT: Should I just go find an old version of Windows 10? There was a game I wanted to play which needed one of the updates (and I imagine all future games will, too), but I absolutely need read access to my HFS+ drives.
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My windows 10 redstone 4 does not crash after the files have been placed and the registry to enable merged.
BUT it does not mount the HFS+ formatted drives :-(
*update* : followed instruction from FilthyMuppetInnuendo and installed Ext2FS. I was able to manually mount the HFS drive and Windows was able to see it under My Computer.
BUT it does not mount the HFS+ formatted drives :-(
*update* : followed instruction from FilthyMuppetInnuendo and installed Ext2FS. I was able to manually mount the HFS drive and Windows was able to see it under My Computer.
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Oh! That’s interesting. I wish there was some sort of logging process so that we could see what was going wrong with my registry. Three consecutive clean reinstallations caused the same problem (it was the first and only thing I did on the second reinstalls), so I just gave up the concept for now and am trying to create an NTFS-formatted external hard drive so that I can copy my files over the hard way.
But OS X can’t create NTFS drives, and FAT32 can’t handle individual files over 4GB, so this is still not working.
I’ll wait for either Apple to fix it or someone else to make a free driver.