Installing Windows XP Pro On MacBook Pro

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Level 1

106 points

Installing Windows XP Pro On MacBook Pro

Hi Folks. I am an exclusive Mac user and have been since 1992. I have had to dabble with Windows XP Pro on laptops when "forced" to by clients and I don't know much about the Windows OS and don't really care to either, and that's why I prefer the Mac OS. If it doesn't run on a Mac, I have no need to play the game or whatever, in fact many files now MS Office, Photoshop, etc are cross platforma anyway.

Well, now since my friend has dropped off his brand new MacBook Pro for me to repartition and "lean" up the system and configure the machine strictly for FinalCut Pro, I repartitioned the HD and partitioned the Mac OS to about 106GB and the Windows partition at just under 6GB. HD is a 120GB, 2 GB RAM, 2.3 GHz

Here is the issue though. After close to 40 minutes setting up Windows up with the BootCamp download and the new Windows XP disk and after entering the ser number, there is about 2.8 GB space left on the Windows partition. I did a custom install and looked for anything I could slim down like foreign languages, etc. Now, since I am not a Windows installation expert, and have no desire to be one anyway, is there any particular files, extensions, anything unnesseccary I could uninstall in Windows to just keep as minimal as possible. After I put in the Authenticity code, it installed all kinds of stuff and I don't want to go back and repartition from scratch

What is the absolute minimal amout of space needed to run a Windows XP Pro partition on the MacBook Pro

Any help, please and thanks SteveB

iBook G4 933 640 RAM, Mac OS X (10.4.10)

Posted on Sep 4, 2007 9:31 AM

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Answer 1

Sep 4, 2007 9:53 AM in response to Steve B5

It really depends on what you're thinking of doing under Windows although I wouldn't give it less that 12GB even with a minimal, OS only, installation even though it can squeze into about 3GB. More generally though I would give it a 32GB partition, if you can, so that you can be reasonable safe with what ever you want to do.

Needing to give Windows this space is one of the factors that led me to replace my internal drive.

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Answer 2

a brody

Level 10

85,314 points

Sep 4, 2007 9:53 AM in response to Steve B5

I would not install XP Pro on anything less than 10 GB free with a 1 GB swap file. And when it comes to a 120 GB hard drive, you want at least 25 GB free on your Mac partition.

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Answer 3

Steve B5 Author

Level 1

106 points

Sep 4, 2007 11:23 AM in response to a brody

Hi guys and thanks for your help. Yes, after authenication and working on this Windows partition, I have less than 3GB space. Also, I cannot drag and drop files from desktop, like a text file into the Windows partition. Says it doesn't have permissions to drop files.

It looks like now I will in fact have to start from scratch and repartition the HD but put in a minimal 12GB or so into the Windows partition. Also, I tried to name the Windows label, but it's locked and under get info, it says the Windows partition is read only, ownership grayed out and says it is NT coded format. Shouldn't that be MS-DOS or FAT 32 automatically?

I have to tell all of you that this is getting time consuming, too complicated and when I get my own ProBook, I have no desire to install VISTA or MS whatever. Plus, we have to still do the MS security pack updates and install virus software for the Windows partition, isn't that correct?

Is there a step by step link here like a BootCamp/Windows XP Pro installation tutorial so I can move a bit faster on my next attempt?

Thanks SteveB

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Answer 4

a brody

Level 10

85,314 points

Sep 4, 2007 4:56 PM in response to Steve B5

It is my understanding any volume over 4 GB needs to be NTFS. NTFS is read-only to Mac OS X unless you install Macfuse:

http://code.google.com/p/macfuse/

Or setup a Mac network to the Windows volume.

Sometimes installing XP is more trouble than it is worth. There are numerous other solutions that require no installing XP at all. See my two FAQs*:

http://www.macmaps.com/macosxnative.html#WINTEL

http://www.macmaps.com/crossplatform.html

- * Links to my pages may give me compensation

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Answer 5

Sep 5, 2007 4:59 AM in response to a brody

It is my understanding any volume over 4 GB needs to be NTFS

FAT32 is available up to volume sizes of 32GB. It's why this size is offered in the Boot Camp Assistant.

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Answer 6

Steve B5 Author

Level 1

106 points

Sep 5, 2007 11:02 AM in response to a brody

Yes, thanks brody and everyone for your response about the Windows XP installation. I went ahead and gave the Windows partition of 32GB, I think and it is now FAT-32 Read/Write. I can drag and drop files into the partition now and at least use the partition for extra storage if necessary. As I said, this is a friend's new MacBook Pro and he has to have the Windows partition for his video stuff

Finally a solution, but a lot of time to configure that laptop, but at least now I know what the procedure is

steve

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