Flight Simulator FS X on Bootcamp with i7 iMac

Question

Flight Simulator FS X on Bootcamp with i7 iMac

Hello

I'm about to upgrade from a 24 inch iMac with Intel processor and Bootcamp partition with Windows XP to an i7 27 inch iMac with a fusion drive. All Mavericks.

I want to retain the Windows partition solely to run Microsoft FS X. Yes, sad, but that's how it is!

Most grateful for advice from anyone who has a similar setup.

Speifically, I am getting conflicting advice from Apple online staff - like you can't have Bootcamp on a Fusion drive - and I read that there are problems with the 3TB Fusion drive and Bootcamp and only Windows 7 and 8 are supported..

Ideally I'd like to simply transfer my existing hard drive using an ethernet cable to the new iMac, retaining XP.

Is that possible?

If not, I'll have to use Bootcamp to partition the hard drive part of the fusion drive, load Windows 7 or 8, and reload and update FS X. Based on your useage of FS X in such a system, which version of Windows should I choose and how big should the partition be please?

Sorry for such a convoluted question which I know is only of interest to a minority.

iMac, OS X Mavericks (10.9.2), Bootcamp partition of 100MB to run

Posted on Mar 4, 2014 9:52 AM

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Answer 1

Best reply

BobTheFisherman

Level 9

79,279 points

Mar 4, 2014 11:26 AM in response to jamesfromweybridge

XP can not be installed using Boot Camp/Mavericks/New computer combination. I recommend Windows 7 64 bit over Windows 8.1 but that is only my preference. Windows applications will run on Windows in a Boot Camp partition the same way they run on a Windows PC with similar specifications.

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Answer 2

Mar 5, 2014 5:15 AM in response to jamesfromweybridge

I have a new MBPro 15" with the NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M 2048 MB graphics card and 16GB of memory, and I also use bootcamp to run Flightsim X on bootcamp. It runs really well, especially with the graphics card, and I'm very pleased. Gets very hot, so I have a cooling pad to put it on, but that is a laptop issue. I have lots of Orbx software, and I'm also running Prepar3d - so I've kept 300GB for my windows partition. Once set up though, you can use Winclone to clone your partition before easily resizing it without losing anything on the windows partition.

FlightSim is one of the main reasons I went for the most powerful laptops Apple makes... so join the crazy club!

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Answer 3

Apr 1, 2014 11:45 AM in response to francoisvlogg

Many thanks for the help. It turns out that you cannot simply transfer a Windows partition from an older iMac to the new iMac.

So, I will have to use Bootcamp to create the partition as suggested, buy the latest Windows, and reinstall Flight Simulator.

Meantime, I'm trying x-Plane 10.

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Answer 4

Apr 1, 2014 11:56 AM in response to jamesfromweybridge

Did you explore Winclone from twocanoes? I've used it previously to transfer a windows partition... they have instructions on their website. I think you do have to reactivate windows if you change machines though.. so I would check with them. Sorry if I've misunderstood your issue.

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Answer 5

Apr 2, 2014 1:11 AM in response to francoisvlogg

No, I hadn't explored that but no doubt the misunderstanding is mine. I read on the Apple site that the new iMacs do not support Windows XP in Bootcamp. I therefore assumed that I would need to get Windows 7 or 8.

That may well be the best way anyway but if I can transfer the partition from my old machine that would be cheaper at $29!

Thanks again.

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Answer 6

Apr 2, 2014 1:51 AM in response to jamesfromweybridge

Ah, I see. Unfortunately I transfered a Win 7 partition, so I am not sure about XP but hopefully you come right! Good luck.

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Answer 7

Csound1

Level 9

59,973 points

Apr 2, 2014 3:57 AM in response to jamesfromweybridge

jamesfromweybridge wrote:

No, I hadn't explored that but no doubt the misunderstanding is mine. I read on the Apple site that the new iMacs do not support Windows XP in Bootcamp. I therefore assumed that I would need to get Windows 7 or 8.

That may well be the best way anyway but if I can transfer the partition from my old machine that would be cheaper at $29!

Thanks again.

That will not work, there is no driver support for XP on a new Mac. Don't waste your time trying.

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Answer 8

Apr 4, 2014 2:41 AM in response to Csound1

OK, thanks. I'll buy a copy of Windows 7 I think.

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Answer 9

Csound1

Level 9

59,973 points

Apr 4, 2014 2:52 AM in response to jamesfromweybridge

You're welcome

(Buy W7 Home, buy the System Builder version, it's the cheapest)

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Answer 10

Apr 18, 2014 9:36 AM in response to Csound1

Well, I've done it. But what a performance!

I downloaded a disk image (ISO) of Windows 7 Home - that was hard enough to find and I will have to pay Microsoft for it after the 30 day trial - and then set about uisng BootCamp to create the partition. It was very slow and the Apple instructions didn't always square with what was happening on the screen. When I got the partition set up, I saw a message saying that I couldn't install Windows because the partition had the wrong format. It had to be NTFS. Frustrating!

Although it's not in the instructions, there is an option to format the partition so I took a chance and did that and then started again.

Finally I have Windows 7 Home working and FS X installed and working on a 250 GB partition. I've also loaded scenery and airfields for the UK.

It runs smoothly and in the 24 hours I've been exploring it I've not had any problems with excellent frame rates. The only tedious issue is having to reboot into Windows which seems to take a long time.

The 27 inch iMac has a substantially better screen than my old 24 inch iMac and that really shows up in programs like this.

And of course I also have X-Plane 10 and Aerofly FS (Switzerland only) so I have three to choose from.

Most grateful for all the advice from the Forum.

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