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Installing Windows XP on a hard partition (not using Boot Camp) fails

I want to install XP on a Hard partition on my MBP i5 (MacBookPro6,2).


I did a lot of searching on the net, but do not seem to be able to find a way to do it that works. Reading about it, it seems like it should work if I make sure the Win partition is the last one on the HD, format it as Fat32 and than reformat it with the Win DVD.


I have a MBP Core Duo, where I formatted the last partition in Fat32 and than ran the installer, reformat the Partition and bingo installed the Win software. It runs fine.


However on the i5 that method does not seem to work and it refuses to install.


Does anybody have any instructions as to how to do this? Am I missing something?

MBP, MM, MBP - 10.6 + Windooz XP on a hard partition

Posted on Jun 5, 2012 12:57 AM

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7 replies

Jun 5, 2012 8:58 AM in response to ChangeAgent

Windows still needs a MBR and Disk Utility alone won't cut it that is the one area where BCA or another tool is needed.


If you wipe the entire hard drive and format it as MBR even then I have not seen a successful install on a dedicated hard drive in a Mac Pro tower.


XP also will not align properly on an SSD.


Why go through this? can't be cost because Windows 8 RP is here and free.


And can't be because the Mac doesn't meet the requirements.


XP is without support even from Microsoft and Vista SP2 has reached its EOL.

Jun 28, 2012 11:55 PM in response to JayWitherspoon

Morning Jay.


First step is backup everything.


Next step is backup everything again, somewhere else.


I formatted the "XP to be" partition as DOS.


Inserted XP disk, and reformatted the partition. Pay attention here that you do format the correct one.


Should this reformat fail from the XP disk, you need to either use Disk Utilety to:

Format it in Mac as ExFat and try again.

Format it in Mac as Windows NT Filesystem (NTFS 3G) (this is an addition to Disk Utility you can download for free) and try again.


Or


Hang the machine in T mode on a Win machine and look for the partition and reformat it from there, disconnect and now use your XP DVD to install. (Not sure if this would work over USB, might need FW)
Use a Win7 disk to format the partition (somehow this is a bit more clever software, is what I did, borrowed one).


Once partitioned, install XP. That was it, now boot in to XP, go through ±3 hours of updates and bla.


When finished either install the Bootcamp drivers from your Mac DVD, be ware they might be out of date if your Mac is older. Otherwise in XP go to the Apple WWW and download and install the Bootcamp drivers.


Be ware that Apple no longer supports XP as a Bootcamp software. Mine runs fine, but it is no longer supported.


I suspect that the slowness I experience when I switch OS, is due to this. Read here my other post about this.


Success. Questions?


Oh did I mention Backup first?

Installing Windows XP on a hard partition (not using Boot Camp) fails

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