Can i install windows XP on Lion?

Thank you KenV54 fior all your help. One more question. Everytime i start up my macbooki have to hold down the option key to get to my mac OS. Is that normal?

When you're in Mac, you can go to System Preferences, then Startup, and choose which one you want to boot from. It may say "untitled" instead of "Boot Camp" if you haven't installed the official Boot Camp drivers, but you should be able to choose the default boot drive. Then, if you choose the Mac as the default, you'll only have to use the Option key if you want to boot from Boot Camp.

Hi again,
thank you for all your help, you have been very helpful. My last question for you. How do I stop my printer and usb key from automatically connecting to the windows side when parallels is on?

Thanks

I'm the proud owner of both windows xp pro and an upgrade version of windows 7.

I'm working on a mid-2009 15" Intel MBP.

I'd really like to install XP for the purpose of upgrading to Windows 7. Is that at all possible?

Subsurface, I tried running boot camp but the Boot Camp Assistant doesnt recognize the windows xp disc. I'd imagine that is because it doesnt actually support it.

Does anybody have any suggestions on how I can install XP, even if i dont plan on using it? I'm just not sure what the actual steps i have to take are to be able to get it operating on the machine.

This thread is somewhat old, and I don't recall everything that's been said, but I think if you start from the beginning you get sort of a road map on how to install XP in a Lion Boot Camp. It is definitely possible (I've done it on two computers, even one which is a MacBook Pro, early 2011, in which the XP drivers really don't work that well with the touchpad and the video card, and you have to install network drivers, as well. In that case you have to DL old XP drivers from Boot Camp files which are still available on the Apple Downloads site. Again, i think this thread tells you what to do, even some of my own posts here.

So far as getting XP to install on the Boot Camp partition is concerned, as I recall you first create the partition, then stop and don't try to boot up XP--you can't. What you do is to put the XP original CD, with at least Service Pack 2, with the key available (not an upgrade version of XP, because you don't have an earlier version of XP installed) in the CD drive, restart the computer holding the option key, choose Windows, and the disk will boot and install on the partition. Then you'll have to do some fancy copying of the XP drivers, etc., onto the newly created XP, maybe using a burned CD with those drivers on it while in Windows. The screen may be pretty low res before you get the video drivers installed.

If you already have a Windows XP installed on another computer, you can search the Internet and find out how to go through the process of making a bootable install disk with SP 2 or higher. It's complicated and takes a lot of time. Theoretically you can't have the same Windows XP key installed on more than one computer, and may have to talk with Microsoft on the phone to activate it on Boot Camp, but it can be done.

This post itself isn't enough--you have to read all the earlier stuff. I can't walk you through the rest of it--it's too much. Depending upon how much your time is worth, you may just want to buy a new Windpws 7 disk and do it the easy way. (I wanted XP, not Windows 7, which is why I went through all the steps to make it work.)

Jitney2389 – please read my original post. I installed XP on Lion on an MBP without Bootcamp Assistant.

This works i think I'm doing it right now

1. Use Disk Utility wile on Mac OS X or else you will get "could not unmount disk"

2. Click on disk example "TOSHIBA 160.04 GB Media" then click partition at the top by first aid, erase

3. Click on Macintosh HD and at the bottom press the plus button

4. It will add a new partion. MAKE SURE IT'S MS-DOS (FAT)

TIP. Make it a name you will remember

5. Put your disk in and restart your computer

6. When you here the start up chime (grey screen) press and hold C

7. The computer will boot from disc and follow your windows install instruction

8. The part where it asks you to chose a disk to install on choose the partion you made and format it to NTFS

9. Choosing NTFS may be under advanced settings

And when I said first aid, erase don't erase your disk Simpley Thats where u find the partion option

I posted a solution for this on my blog.

I agree with the above, partition in disk utility and use the snow leopard drivers...

BIG QUESTION! I have a new in September MacBook Pro that came with Lion installed. I have a Windows XP install/recovery disc that came with my MSI Wind Netbook. Am I correct that no way should I use the MSI Wind Netbook install/recovery disc to try to install Windows XP on my beautiful MacBook Pro?

Here is where I am to date: I sucessfully installed Boot Camp and created a "Windows" partition. I followed your instructions and after I pressed F8, the Windows disc took over and I did nothing until the Windows screen appeared. There was no screen with an option to install Windows XP. I did get a recovery screen and when I clicked continue the next screen that popped up was a Restore Hard Drive screen with the as always usual ominous warning that continuing would destroy all data on my hard disk. The only choice using the MSI Recovery Setup was to create a single partition or two partitions with varying capacity from 20 GB to 40 GB. I went no further, closed out Windows, rebooted the Mac and wrote this note. (BTW I have been using a variety of PowerBooks and their descendants since the early 90's, so I am not new to Macs. I have been using the Netbook as a traveling companion for about 3 years) Just thought i would give Windows a try on my Mac.

Thanks!

ElMundo, is your post still correct on boot camping my October 2011 MacBook Pro? I need XP service pack 3 for work, nothing else will work for me like Windows 7.

Thanks,

Bryon

I am reading this thread in IE8 running in Windows XP right now. My mid 2010 13" MBP (Core 2 Duo 2.4 GHz; 4GB Ram) is running without a problem on a recently upgraded 500 GB HD partitioned into 150GB Windows XP, 350GB OSX Lion. My problem is that I am unable to find a driver set for the MBP hardware to run in Windows XP. Anyone else dealt with this situation before? I cannot make a driver CD in OSX as Lion only supports Win7 now. Also, the multiple time I have downloaded Boot Camp Update 2.1, I click "Run" to install and experience no further results after the query box disappears. I did find WiFi card drivers thanks to a random post in a different thread (will edit if I can find the link). Much thanks in advance.

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Everythings sounds right, here. My only question is will the Lion Drivers work with the new MBP hardware on xp pro?

They did not work. I had to try and find a bootcamp 2.0 or 2.1, can't remember. One is an update and the other is an update with full software or whatnot (the one you need). I suppose you could also try and find a Snow Leopard CD as that should have the bootcamp drivers pack written right into it.