Can i install windows XP on Lion?

You guys keep saying this like we're stupid or something. Your very first step is faulty. You cannot "Go through Bootcamp to partition drive" as Bootcamp simply does not display an option to partition the drive without Win 7 install disk. Bootcamp makes the driver disk then leaves only one option... "Quit".

Now maybe you used Bootcamp in the past and upgraded to Lion and that left Bootcamp intact with different options than us that did a nuke & pave but I can tell you staight out that Apple says Lion does not support running Win XP with Bootcamp if Lion was installed from scratch and "Sofware Update" was run after said install.

I'm going to have to go back to Snowleapord. I'm thinking maybe installing Snowie and then Win XP with Bootcamp and them 'upgrading' to Lion and see if it leaves the Win XP partition in tact. Bet it doesn't lol

Subsurface wrote:

'The Lord giveth and the Lord hath taken away.' Apple's decision for Lion's Bootcamp not to support Win XP doesn't make much business sense. People buy Apple gear because they like it, if they happen like me to need XP as well, then Apple would be best served by making it easy for us. I need to run XP for some software that I don't want to afford to update to Win 7. Anyway, despite earlier comments on this thread, it can be done including SP3 and wifi enabled.

1. Go through Bootcamp to partition drive
2. don't bother to save the Windows drivers, they only work for Win7 and will be rejected for WinXP
3. reboot machine with licensed WINXP installation CD and hold finger down on option key to boot off the CD
4. make sure to install in the partition called bootcamp. you need the 25 character key for the installation
5. A basic winXP is loaded. trackpad, keyboard, screen (2 low resolution modes) all work
6. download a driver for the Airport. http://www.mediafire.com/?we5yfh65of6le13 . You now have a working WiFi system.
7. run XP updates to bring your system up to SP3. If you encounter an error message about out of disk space when installing SP3 from SP2 then follow instructions in this link. http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_other-windows_update/sp 3-will-not-install-on-xp-sp2-in-mac-bootcamp/001f5cf6-e0c4-4e87-a1a8-38712ad95a a f#4c7aab9c-8a40-46ad-9f81-74c33b558386
8. Finally download the Intel drivers for the graphics card http://downloadcenter.intel.com/confirm.aspx?httpDown=http://downloadmirror.inte l.com/20355/a08/winxp_14466.zip&lang=eng&Dwnldid=20355&OSFullname=Windows+XP*&P r oductID=3231 If you need to install other stuff to get this to work, then follow instructions.

Viola. You should have an up to date WinXP with wireless access and control over the screen. It's enough for me. I guess you can also download other drivers for other hardware. The only missing feature is Bootcamp's control panel to allow restart into MacOSX. The way I've done it here, start always requires the option key to be held down to choose the boot drive.

!!!!! *** ATTENTION *** *** WARNING *** *** DANGER *** !!!!!

I use OS X latest release and Win XP Pro service pack 3, I was in my XP partiion yesterday and recieved the usual Apple Update prompt to update my Bootcamp. I would not have done this from my OS X side because I'd be afraid it would screw up what was a difficult system configuration to achieve in the first place. However, since I was on the XP side I was confident nothing would go wrong. I installed the update. But upon rebooting I got that F**king flashing cursur again!!!!

I am so ****** right now I can hardly type this! Isn't the software smart enough to look at what operating system I'm using and throw up a simple "Not compatible" warning?! I figured it was just going to update the touchpad drivers and such.

My system is now dead... again and I need to reinstall.

Thank you Apple, thank you very much. ( <--- Sarcasm, Sheldon)

Until it comes out it's not possible to answer that question

True, but since any boot OS on a separate partition isn't technically installed "on Lion" or whatever the "other" OS might be, it's probably fair to say yes.

The more challenging question is will Windows XP run on some future Mac hardware as a boot OS, and that truly is impossibly to know until that hardware is released and someone tries it.

So if you're booting Windows XP via Boot Camp on your computer now, you should have no trouble continuing to do so once your Mac OS X partition is upgraded to Lion.

While technically it is "not possible to answer the question," yes it will run. You can dual boot the system without Boot Camp, and since the system will run both Windows and OS X then you will be able to run Windows. Additionally you can run Windows in a virtual machine. As for Boot Camp, Apple has supported it through Snow Leopard and there is no reason for (or indication that) Apple will change this in Lion. It is very safe to assume Boot Camp will function as it always has.

If you are not gaming, using VMware Fusion or Parallels to virtualize Windows XP under Snow Leopard is very convenient, since you can run OS X and Windows at the same time, even copy/paste between open documents in the two environments.

As for the question "will VMware Fusion or Parallels run under Lion?", then we are not allowed to speculate, but my Googling has not unearthed any evidence to the contrary, and I feel confident that my investment in Fusion will not be destroyed.

You might like to read this web page - http://communities.vmware.com/thread/316031

What sort of programs do you need to run for your university career? If they are compute-intensive they will work very well virtualized. The ones that slow down when virtualized are typically graphics-intensive (like games).

Boot Camp

supports existing Boot Camp installations with Windows XP Service Pack 2, Windows Vista, or Windows 7. New Boot Camp installations require Windows 7 (sold separately).

I found this on the official Apple website under tech specs for Lion. Sounds like Apple took the "reasonable man" approach and decided not to unnecessarily aggravate thousands of loyal customers who still need XP for one reason or another. Works for me!

Any idea about existing Boot Camp installations with Windows XP Servive Pack 3? As they have only mentioned Service Pack 2.

You should try asking in the Boot Camp forum where the Boot Camp gurus hang out? https://discussions.apple.com/community/windows_software/boot_camp

You should also be aware of this.

There are no XP or Vista drivers for the new Apple computer hardware. Apple stopped XP and Vista support. http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4410.

If you have an EXISTING Bootcamp partition running XP with Service Pack 2 or later, it should still run after installing Lion.

If, however, you create the Bootcamp partition AFTER installing Lion, only Windows 7 will work. XP and Vista are not supported and will not work.

i suspect that XP SP2 is a minimum spec, if this is alowed, then XP SP3 should install.

I have a Mac that is currently running lion and I only have a copy of the very first realese of xp. Im guessing that the rumors earlier in this post are true or is the jury still out about the requirement of sp2?

anyone tried VirtualBox?

websie says it'll run windows back to XP SP1 on Lion

Vbox will run XP (any version) on OSX, not sure about Lion compatibility as I have yet to try it.

I use 32 bit XP SP 2 on VirtualBox 4.1 on Lion. I did have to install the Guest Additions to load my old XP SP 2 image that I had used on Snow Leopard. This is on an iMac 5,1. Once it installed it was just as fast as on Snow Leopard, and sometimes even faster.