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I am running Windows 8 on my main machine and thought I would upgrade to the new firmware for my Canon EOS 7D. I have no separate card reader so I planned to do it from the EOS utility, so I downloaded the latest version of it. However, when I plug in my camera the EOS utility doesn't seem to recognize my camera. The "Camera settings / Remote shooting" alternative is greyed out. Oh well, I googled a bit and seems I am not the only one with this problem. I guess we have to wait for Canon to fix this right?

So I turned to my trusty Macbook. Grabbed my CD that came with the camera and installed the EOS utility on it. Guess what? The program does not run under OS X 10.7. Okey fine I thought and downloaded the latest update version. It came as a zipped dmg file with an app file on it (talk about over packaging...) Anyhow, I unzipped, mounted the dmg file and started the app. A dialog flashed past me saying it was unpackaging the files, then nothing. It stayed complete nothing for a while and then I gave up. So, now I wonder. What other alternatives is there except buying an external card reader?

I have been considering running Linux in virtual box if linux can mount the camera so that I have write rights to it. But it can't can it? And if it could would it be able to do it from inside a virtual box?

Anyone have some brilliant idea on what I have left to try?

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  • Can you run the eos utility in compatibility mode against win xp or win 7?
    – dpollitt
    Nov 30, 2012 at 23:21
  • That did not help but thanks for the idea.
    – jonalv
    Dec 4, 2012 at 22:50
  • I would try to connect the camera, then go to the device manager in the control panel and find the entry there. Delete it by clicking on it and then "uninstall". It should remove the existing driver. Unplug, plug in again. Make it recognize it again. check if you can access the memory card for transfer. If you cannot access that, try help here about accessing the memory card in the first place, not the firmware update, since that is a secondary issue. Also maybe check your cable.
    – uncovery
    Dec 11, 2012 at 10:08
  • Does Canon not provide a way to load a new firmware directly from a memory card without connecting to a PC?
    – mattdm
    Dec 12, 2012 at 16:32
  • @mattdm he does not have a card reader it seems?
    – uncovery
    Dec 13, 2012 at 7:12

2 Answers 2

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Don't bother with the EOS Utility. Simply pop an empty CF card into a card reader attached to a USB port on the computer (you can find these pretty cheaply, maybe around $20-$30). In windows, the CF card will show up as a device with a file system. Drop the firmware update file in the ROOT directory of the CF card, use the "Safely remove hardware" feature to disconnect the CF card from windows, and remove it from the card reader.

Once you have the firmware update file in the root directory of an empty CF card, you simply pop that card into the 7D, and use the firmware update menu on the camera itself to update. I've done several firmware updates for my 7D now, and I've found this method to be the most reliable, and generally speaking broadly compatible with just about any computer system that properly supports CF cards.

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  • In the end. Buying a cheap card-reader turned out to be what I did. Considering how much I have spent on the camera, when I thought about it one more time I realised I could probably afford that :)
    – jonalv
    Apr 21, 2015 at 9:44
  • Does the CF card has to be empty? What if it already has photos?
    – kazanaki
    Oct 1, 2016 at 20:06
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The problem with the EOS Utility that you downloaded is that it is an Updater, not an Install. Canon is notorious for this: they require you to have installed the software from the original disk and then update from the web.

However, some have found methods that purport to simply convert the updater you downloaded into an installer. The site canon5dtips.com provides this information that is current as of this posting:

Files you downloaded are compressed as “.zip” or “.gz” files
-Double click on the file and it will expand to the disk image file extension “.dmg”
-Click on image file EU211.4x-updater.dmg, it will mount it as disk mount
-Transfer (copy) content where you want (exmp: desktop)
-After copying unmount dmg image
-Click on desktop copy: ‘Show Package Contents’
-Navigate to ./Contents/Ressources/ and delete the Info.datx file
-Close window
-Run Installation

Give that a shot, I have not tried it myself.

Failing this, the cheapest alternative is to go get a $10 card reader.

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  • Yea it is super annoying when I reformat my computer and have to go searching for the EOS software disk. I do hate that.
    – dpollitt
    Dec 12, 2012 at 18:43
  • Update: Canon has long since abandoned this requirement. You can now download a clean installer from their support pages. You may have to provide a valid camera serial number to access the download.
    – Michael C
    Apr 11, 2020 at 7:32

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