03-17-2010, 04:42 AM

Hey guys, I have a 27" iMac, i7, 4gig of DDR3 RAM, 1TB of space and I'm trying to install Windows XP via bootcamp on it.
I have a LEGIT copy of XP Home Edition OEM that should work fine!



Heres what happens: I open Bootcamp, designate 100GB (or around that) to my new partition. Plenty of space for everything.
I then insert my disk and click "Install"

My mac reboots into the Windows XP set up, all is well.
The set up starts, all is well, I select my partition (making sure its the right one by name and size) and click install.

After about 10-20 minutes, it changes to another screen with the count-down timer and says "Windows needs to reboot to complete the installation. Press enter to reboot now".

I either wait till the count-down timer finishes (it just counts down how long till it automatically restarts) OR I press enter and restart it myself.

PROBLEM HERE: When windows starts up again, a black screen comes up and says "Press any key to boot from disk....", I have done this and the same thing as above happens but then instead of rebooting again and saying "boot from disk" it says "Disk Error. Press any key to restart."

IF I dont go into the second installation (after the restart) then a message comes up and says "Disk error. Press any key to restart. Disk error, insert proper boot device and press any key."

Normally the "insert proper nook device" error means your hard drive is not connected, but it boots into Mac OSX fine.
Is it a problem with Bootcamp or is it because I dont have a service pack copy of Windows?



I really only need this for a few games from time to time and pretty much nothing else!

Any help would be much appreciated, and I'm willing to answer any questions! =]

Thanks guys!
- James.

03-17-2010, 10:39 AM

It sounds like you failed to let windows format the disk it was going to be installed to...

I had a similar issue before I reread the instructions.

as I recall... the steps are:

1. Use bootcamp to create a partition. Which you did.

2. Insert Windows install disk. Which you did.

3. Windows will show a list of drives to install on.... now this is where people tend to make a mistake... You will see a list of drives, in addition to selecting the right one you need to insure that windows reformats the drive before it installs... If windows does not reformat prior to installation then the drive will not function as a bootable disk. The problem is windows doesn't know the drive isn't bootable and will offer the option of just installing without formating and that is where I'm betting you messed it up.

So do as you were doing but this time make sure windows reformats the drive you are trying to use... this is also the best time to reformat into NTFS.

03-17-2010, 02:03 PM

I have a LEGIT copy of XP Home Edition OEM that should work fine!

Only these versions of XP are supported:

MS boxed full install copy of XP Home or Pro SP2 or 3

OEM System Builders full install copy of XP Home or Pro SP2 or 3

You mention an OEM edition, however, if it's a branded OEM edition (Sony, Dell, Acer, Toshiba, etc) it more than likely will not work. Note that an OEM branded edition is NOT the same as a System Builders OEM edition.

I suspect your copy will not work.

Regards.

03-17-2010, 02:34 PM

Chscag has the same theory as me. If you are using the OEM XP disc that came with your Windows computer then it will not work. A lot of people try that because they still have their OEM disc from their Windows computer. As mentioned it has to be a System Builder's OEM disc that you get separately or a full retail copy of XP will work.

03-17-2010, 07:48 PM

Sometimes OSX on brand new imacs does a poor job of creating the MBR Windows needs.
Try booting off the Windows installer and select Recovery console, at the prompt type fixmbr then exit then let it try booting off the installed Windows again.

03-18-2010, 03:21 AM

Ahh thanks heaps guys!
Yeah its not a branded copy of XP but it says "For distribution only with a new PC"..... theres nothing about brands such as Acer, DELL, HP etc.

Also I have tried to format it (sorry, forgot to mention it!) but there was an option of converting. I didnt want to format, as I dont want to loose Mac OSX!
But you say to format it? is there something i dont know? will it NOT delete everything on my mac?

Thanks again guys!

03-18-2010, 04:06 PM

Originally Posted by Ayko

Ahh thanks heaps guys!
Yeah its not a branded copy of XP but it says "For distribution only with a new PC"..... theres nothing about brands such as Acer, DELL, HP etc.

Well the question still stands. Was this XP copy from your Windows computer or from someone else's? Once it's been used by one computer then it is forever linked to that computer meaning you can't install it onto another computer. It doesn't matter if it's a legal copy or not. Windows prevents you from installing onto another computer using the same product key.

Instead of paying the high price for a full retail copy of Windows you can get a System Builder version. The main difference between this and a full retail version is that you can't transfer ownership from one computer to another. It's just like the original OEM Windows discs.

Originally Posted by Ayko

Also I have tried to format it (sorry, forgot to mention it!) but there was an option of converting. I didnt want to format, as I dont want to loose Mac OSX!
But you say to format it? is there something i dont know? will it NOT delete everything on my mac?

First off you said you didn't have a service pack version. You need either XP service pack 2 or 3 in order to install XP through Boot Camp. As long as you get a service pack 2 or higher then you are good.

As to the formatting part, yes you need to format the partition you created through Boot Camp when Windows asks you to. It sounds like you don't understand what a partition is. Boot Camp basically divides your computer into two sections so in other words it's like having two hard drives but on one hard drive. One for your Mac and the other for Windows so it's safe to format the partition you created for Windows. You can delete, add, make funny faces at it and it will do nothing to your Mac side.

The trick is that you need to pick the right partition because yes you can delete your Mac side if you choose it. Most people give Windows a smaller amount of hard drive space than their Mac side so it's usually pretty easy to tell which one is which. Boot Camp will also label it "Boot Camp" but it won't do so if you are not using service pack 2 or higher. From what you have said so far it sounds like you are having several problems that I have just pointed out.

03-19-2010, 06:37 PM

Awesome! Thanks guys!
Do you know where I can get a copy of XP SP2/3?
Will Windows 7 work? I have a system builders copy of that too.
I have heard that some people have used it and it works, just not 100%

03-20-2010, 12:52 AM

Windows 7 will work - and is actually easier to install and setup than XP. Remember though, you must use NTFS as your file system, not FAT-32.

Regards.

03-20-2010, 01:25 AM

Originally Posted by Ayko

Awesome! Thanks guys!
Do you know where I can get a copy of XP SP2/3?
Will Windows 7 work? I have a system builders copy of that too.
I have heard that some people have used it and it works, just not 100%

You can still buy XP from some electronics store such as Newegg and Amazon but there are other stores that carry it. You can only really get the system builder's version because I believe the full retail version of XP is no longer being sold.

As mentioned above Windows 7 works also. Apple only added official Boot Camp and driver support recently which might be why some people are making those comments. If you already have a copy then you might as well use it.

03-20-2010, 03:13 PM

Originally Posted by EndlessMac

You can still buy XP from some electronics store such as Newegg and Amazon but there are other stores that carry it. You can only really get the system builder's version because I believe the full retail version of XP is no longer being sold.

As mentioned above Windows 7 works also. Apple only added official Boot Camp and driver support recently which might be why some people are making those comments. If you already have a copy then you might as well use it.

There are "fewer" full retail versions of XP than before 7 came out, but they are still out there. There is one on newegg for $169.99.
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