Mac users: Has anyone installed Boot Camp?

Jack Bauer · Post by **Jack Bauer** » 2006-12-25 03:03am

I just picked up a black Macbook a few weeks ago and was thinking about running the Boot Camp beta software. The instructions provided online indicate that you need a Windows XP Service Pack 2 (full install) single disc. I wasn't able to secure an original copy, but I was able to get XP on two burned discs (one with XP on it, the other with the SP2). Does anyone know if having two pirated discs will work with the beta software?

Moreover, has anyone had any experience running Windows on a Mac at all? What are your impressions? Is it worth the effort?

Netko · Post by **Netko** » 2006-12-25 06:46am

Erm.... I though direct admissions of pirating were considered bad on this forum?

That aside, there's nothing magically different about a burned disc and the original, unless whoever did the burning fucked it up by copying the files and not doing a disc copy (in that case the CD/DVD becomes unbootable, which is a problem with a modern OS disc). Use Nlite to integrate the service pack onto the OS disc (you'll need a blank CD to burn the integrated image onto - not DVD, it must be some form of CD!), and you should be golden.

Note that this is from a general Windows users perspective, I've never owned a mac.

Glocksman · Post by **Glocksman** » 2006-12-25 07:13am

The instructions provided online indicate that you need a Windows XP Service Pack 2 (full install) single disc.

I don't know this firsthand, but I'd be very surprised if it didn't work with a retail XP upgrade CD using an old Win98/ME CD as proof of upgrade eligibility.
Recently, Best Buy had the XP Home upgrade for $60.

DaveJB · Post by **DaveJB** » 2006-12-25 09:11am

You can't use an upgrade disc to install Windows on an intelMac. The disc eject is software controlled on all Macs made in the last couple of years, so there's no way of swapping the discs around when it asks for the Windows 9x disc.

Glocksman · Post by **Glocksman** » 2006-12-25 09:29am

The timeconsuming workaround would be to install one of the circulating pirate XP Pro VLK discs, and then install the legit XP Home upgrade.
The upgrade checker also accepts any existing XP install, legit or not, as proof of eligibility during the install routine without having to swap discs.

Durandal · Post by **Durandal** » 2006-12-26 02:39am

Theoretically, you can install any x86 operating system you want on your MacBook. BootCamp is only there for two things: to live-partition your existing hard drive and to install the necessary hardware drivers to get actual functionality from your hardware beyond just the basic stuff.

BootCamp has absolutely nothing to do with the actual Windows XP installation. SP2 is "required" because that's the version of XP the drivers BootCamp installs have been tested to work on. People have successfully installed SP1 on Macs, albeit were unable to install the BootCamp drivers until they updated to SP2.

Praxis · Post by **Praxis** » 2006-12-26 02:02pm

No, you can't install a regular copy of Windows XP and then update to SP2.

You CAN slipstream SP2 on to a regular Windows XP disk though.

Alternatively, you could do what I have on occasion; download an unhacked SP2 version of Windows XP and use your legal CD key to install it. (oh wait, you don't have one...)

I have Windows XP Pro running on my white MacBook. Runs perfectly, as good as any Windows PC. I've played City of Heroes and Jedi Academy on it, Jedi Academy will run with most settings maxed out (being an older game), and CoH will run with medium-to-high settings at native resolution. Really impressive for a integrated card with only 512 MB of RAM (yes I'm planning to upgrade).

General Zod · Post by **General Zod** » 2006-12-26 02:17pm

Praxis wrote:No, you can't install a regular copy of Windows XP and then update to SP2.

You CAN slipstream SP2 on to a regular Windows XP disk though.

Alternatively, you could do what I have on occasion; download an unhacked SP2 version of Windows XP and use your legal CD key to install it. (oh wait, you don't have one...)

If he can afford a Macbook, then he can afford to get a legitimate copy of Windows XP if he really wants to run it that badly. . .

Praxis · Post by **Praxis** » 2006-12-26 03:05pm

Rather good point.

Especially with the low cost of OEM versions.

Howedar · Post by **Howedar** » 2006-12-26 06:53pm

A black one, no less. Not exactly starving.

Arthur_Tuxedo · Post by **Arthur_Tuxedo** » 2006-12-26 08:01pm

If I were a person that pirated MS products, it wouldn't be because I can't afford them, but because buying a company's product encourages and funds their activities.

General Zod · Post by **General Zod** » 2006-12-27 09:57am

Arthur_Tuxedo wrote:If I were a person that pirated MS products, it wouldn't be because I can't afford them, but because buying a company's product encourages and funds their activities.

Fair enough, but if you're going to pirate something then you can do the work of figuring out how to do it on your own instead of asking on a place where that sort of thing is frowned on. Otherwise just buy the thing.