Best way to setup Boot Camp?

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Level 2

272 points

Best way to setup Boot Camp?

Hello All

I am planning on reinstalling Mountain Lion due to some issues and decided that I might as well setup Boot Camp and was wondering what the best way to do this is. Should I setup the bootcamp partition straight after installing ML or should I completely setup the Mac then install Windows? Or maybe another method altogether? I am using an iMac (27-inch, Late 2009). I have Windows 7 Professional with Service Pack 1 (x64).

Thanks in advance,

xeni

iMac, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.2)

Posted on Mar 16, 2013 8:59 PM

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Answer 1

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mende1

Level 10

93,538 points

Mar 16, 2013 9:26 PM in response to XENiCraft

You can do it whenever you want, because the changes you make in OS X don't affect to your Windows installed through Boot Camp. However, you must download the Windows support software for your Mac and install it just after finishing your Windows 7 installation; to download them, open Boot Camp Assistant, make sure that you tick the option to download the Windows support software and follow the steps.

After installing Windows, your computer will start always in Windows. If you want to start in OS X once, hold the X key while your Mac is starting. Then, if you want to start always into OS X, after starting OS X, open System Preferences > Startup Disk, and choose your OS X partition

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Answer 2

XENiCraft Author

Level 2

272 points

Mar 17, 2013 12:50 AM in response to mende1

Thank you very much Mende.

Also can I resize the Windows partition without damaging it? I will be installing applications and running from it and may need to make it larger or smaller depending on it and my OS X partition's needs. I have read and heard about problems doing this, making the Windows unbootable etc. Maybe I would do the resizing from inside Windows? Also is Boot Camp also able to install Ubuntu? If not then would this method (installing Ubuntu from inside Windows) work?

Your help is much appreciated,

xeni

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Answer 3

mende1

Level 10

93,538 points

Mar 17, 2013 12:56 AM in response to XENiCraft

You can resize the Windows volume without any problem after installing it, but you have to use Paragon Camptune X in order to resize it. Don't use another application, because things may go wrong.

Boot Camp is used by a lot of people to install Linux, although Apple doesn't provide help installing Linux. That's because Linux uses the same boot as Windows, so you may save some steps using Boot Camp and it's a bit easier to install it. I don't recommend Wubi because I don't know how it works on a Mac (take note that Windows can start on a Mac because of a virtualized BIOS) and because it may affect to OS X

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Answer 4

XENiCraft Author

Level 2

272 points

Mar 17, 2013 1:35 AM in response to mende1

So I can't use the inbuilt utility in Windows to resize the partition?

OK I won't use wubi but can I install Linux normally with boot camp? Sorry but I didn't quite understand.

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Answer 5

mende1

Level 10

93,538 points

Mar 17, 2013 1:36 AM in response to XENiCraft

Don't use the Windows disk utility because you will damage OS X if you resize something from the internal disk. You can install Linux with Boot Camp without any problem (there are no Boot Camp drivers for it, but you can run Linux), and there are a lot of how-to's on the Internet with the steps to install Ubuntu with Boot Camp

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