Top 15 or 20 mistakes I made installing Windows XP using Boot Camp/Leopard
There are pitfalls installing XP in Boot Camp. I'm pretty sure they are mostly covered somewhere on the
Apple Bootcamp Support page. Here's what this Windows virgin found in the past few days installing XP on my MacBook Pro running Leopard. By all means, feel free to correct or add to my comedy of errors.
1) First run Software Update on your Mac to make sure you are working with the newest Mac software and firmware. If you are obsessive, run Disk Utility afterwards and restart. (I did this)
2) Follow the instruction in Apple's Boot Camp Installation Guide pdf to the letter. Don't skip anything. Don't assume anything. Print it if you can't run it on another machine during the Windows install. (I looked at it, not well enough.) Read #3-7 before you start the install.
3) Run Boot Camp Setup Assistant to "preformat" a Windows partition. 5 gigs is too small a partition and means more work later since XP eventually used up 5.6 gigs of my 32 gig partition (26.4 gigs free after a fully updated install of Win XP Service Pack 3 + anti-virus software + Adobe Reader + one app). (I avoided the too-small partition by dumb beginner's luck but see #4)
4) If you mess up your Windows partition and decide to start over, restart in Leopard and use Mac's Boot Camp Assistant to remove any inoperative Windows partition. If you are obsessive, run Disk Utility afterwards and restart. Then use Boot Camp Assistant again, as in #3 (I got to use this feature, too.)
5) Use the right Windows software. Win XP Service Pack 2 does install and can be updated after you have a solid XP installed with driver. Before you update, read #8-10. (I managed to buy the right XP software)
6) During installation, with the Windows Installer, you must reformat the Windows partition created by the Boot Camp Assistant. Don't get fancy and repartition: just format. Read pp. 13-14 of the Apple Boot Camp Installation Guide pdf. The Windows NTFS format using long, slow, careful reformat takes a looonnng time, long enough to make me think the installer was hung, except the cursor was blinking. (I did this but only after I tried to install the dumb way, without the Win installer reformat. If you don't reformat, you'll see a black screen, "Disk Error" with a flashing cursor at the top. Time to refer to #4.)
7) When Windows reboots after a successful install of XP SP 2, immediately eject the Windows install disk using Windows and immediately insert the Leopard Disk to install Windows drivers. (I did this. Some report problems with this step, but it worked for me.)
8) When you restart in Windows, run Windows Update to install everything except Service Pack 3. Mouse around the update feature a bit. If you don't update to SP 3, there is an optional install of a new IE 7 and an XP update that fixes some installer issues. (I did the optional install before I figured out #9 and tried to install SP 3 a couple of times. See #10 for what happens if you try to install SP 3 before #9.)
9) Using IE 7 in XP, go to the Apple Boot Camp page to download and install Boot Camp 2.1 Update For Windows XP. This installs on the Windows side, not in OS X. ( I did this, throwing caution to the wind and choosing "Run" when the download options of "Run" or "Save" appeared.) When BCUpdateXP.exe opens, the installer asks you to choose repair/update or uninstall. Choose repair/update. I think the machine needs a restart.
10) Now install XP Service Pack 3 using Windows Update. If you try to install XP SP 3 before the Boot Camp 2.1 Update for Windows XP, you will receive the following error message:
"There is not enough disk space on C:\WINDOWS\$NtServicePackUninstall& to install Service Pack 3. Setup requires a minimum of 4 additional mebabytes of free space or if you want to archive the files for uninstallation. Setup requires 4 additional megabytes of free space. Free additional space on your hard disk and then try again. Error Code 0x8007F003." It's a lie, assuming you set up a large enough Boot Camp partition at the outset. Both Windows and Disk Utility will tell you the size and available space of the Boot Camp partition.
Like I said, everyone is welcome to add the next 5 or 10 ways to mess up. Without Search, this forum is rough.
1) First run Software Update on your Mac to make sure you are working with the newest Mac software and firmware. If you are obsessive, run Disk Utility afterwards and restart. (I did this)
2) Follow the instruction in Apple's Boot Camp Installation Guide pdf to the letter. Don't skip anything. Don't assume anything. Print it if you can't run it on another machine during the Windows install. (I looked at it, not well enough.) Read #3-7 before you start the install.
3) Run Boot Camp Setup Assistant to "preformat" a Windows partition. 5 gigs is too small a partition and means more work later since XP eventually used up 5.6 gigs of my 32 gig partition (26.4 gigs free after a fully updated install of Win XP Service Pack 3 + anti-virus software + Adobe Reader + one app). (I avoided the too-small partition by dumb beginner's luck but see #4)
4) If you mess up your Windows partition and decide to start over, restart in Leopard and use Mac's Boot Camp Assistant to remove any inoperative Windows partition. If you are obsessive, run Disk Utility afterwards and restart. Then use Boot Camp Assistant again, as in #3 (I got to use this feature, too.)
5) Use the right Windows software. Win XP Service Pack 2 does install and can be updated after you have a solid XP installed with driver. Before you update, read #8-10. (I managed to buy the right XP software)
6) During installation, with the Windows Installer, you must reformat the Windows partition created by the Boot Camp Assistant. Don't get fancy and repartition: just format. Read pp. 13-14 of the Apple Boot Camp Installation Guide pdf. The Windows NTFS format using long, slow, careful reformat takes a looonnng time, long enough to make me think the installer was hung, except the cursor was blinking. (I did this but only after I tried to install the dumb way, without the Win installer reformat. If you don't reformat, you'll see a black screen, "Disk Error" with a flashing cursor at the top. Time to refer to #4.)
7) When Windows reboots after a successful install of XP SP 2, immediately eject the Windows install disk using Windows and immediately insert the Leopard Disk to install Windows drivers. (I did this. Some report problems with this step, but it worked for me.)
8) When you restart in Windows, run Windows Update to install everything except Service Pack 3. Mouse around the update feature a bit. If you don't update to SP 3, there is an optional install of a new IE 7 and an XP update that fixes some installer issues. (I did the optional install before I figured out #9 and tried to install SP 3 a couple of times. See #10 for what happens if you try to install SP 3 before #9.)
9) Using IE 7 in XP, go to the Apple Boot Camp page to download and install Boot Camp 2.1 Update For Windows XP. This installs on the Windows side, not in OS X. ( I did this, throwing caution to the wind and choosing "Run" when the download options of "Run" or "Save" appeared.) When BCUpdateXP.exe opens, the installer asks you to choose repair/update or uninstall. Choose repair/update. I think the machine needs a restart.
10) Now install XP Service Pack 3 using Windows Update. If you try to install XP SP 3 before the Boot Camp 2.1 Update for Windows XP, you will receive the following error message:
"There is not enough disk space on C:\WINDOWS\$NtServicePackUninstall& to install Service Pack 3. Setup requires a minimum of 4 additional mebabytes of free space or if you want to archive the files for uninstallation. Setup requires 4 additional megabytes of free space. Free additional space on your hard disk and then try again. Error Code 0x8007F003." It's a lie, assuming you set up a large enough Boot Camp partition at the outset. Both Windows and Disk Utility will tell you the size and available space of the Boot Camp partition.
Like I said, everyone is welcome to add the next 5 or 10 ways to mess up. Without Search, this forum is rough.
MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.5.4), Bootcamp XP SP 3 on 32 gig NTFS partition
