05-25-2011, 10:29 PM

Hello, I recently installed Windows 2000 in bootcamp. When I opened the bootcamp assistant it gave me two options as apposed to just automatically going to a partion screen. I don't know why, nor do I know why it installed windows XP when I had put in Windows 2000. All of this aside, when I ran bootcamp it took a mere 15 minutes for it all to be finished and running windows xp. When it finished loading the desktop I noticed I had no internet. I did a couple searches on the interwebs and found I had to install the drivers to enable the network for airport and whatever. I could not get it to work, so naturally I gave up and tried to go back to MAc Os and I didn't know how. I put in the Mac Os x snow leopard disc in an reinstalling the os but it kept saying things about another computer's disc. I really know nothing about this at all and I was doind this as a surprise for my dad who wanted windows on the mac. HE was extremely angry when he couldnt find his files (which are alot, adresses, photos, movies, resumes) Is there any way someone could help me reinstall mac os x and retrieve all the files that were on it? I *REALLY* need your help, please. Thank you so much.

05-25-2011, 10:35 PM

As painful as this might be to hear - when it comes to Boot Camp, it really helps if you read the instructions before you proceed.

Firstly, Windows 2000 isn't compatible with Boot Camp, period. Not sure where that disc came from or how it miraculously installed Windows XP, but I'm willing to bet you've got something less than a normal retail version of Windows, which Boot Camp is somewhat picky about. But I digress...

You didn't need to reinstall Mac OS X. All you had to do was hold the Option key down when you first turned the computer on. At that point, you could toggle between Windows and Mac OS X.

If you just installed OS X over top of itself, you should be OK. But if you formatted the disk and started clean, you're pretty much hosed - unless of course, you send the hard disk out for recovery (think really big $$$). Regardless, you're in pretty deep at this point, and judging by your confused testimony here, I'm going to say your best course of action is to bring it to a professional and let them have a look.

And please.. going forward, before you make any major change to a computer, BACK IT UP. Beg, borrow or buy an external hard disk before you start hatching plans and just turn on Time Machine, which will completely automate the process. But make sure you have a solid backup before you start to make changes.

05-25-2011, 10:45 PM

Originally Posted by cwa107

As painful as this might be to hear - when it comes to Boot Camp, it really helps if you read the instructions before you proceed.

Firstly, Windows 2000 isn't compatible with Boot Camp, period. Not sure where that disc came from or how it miraculously installed Windows XP, but I'm willing to bet you've got something less than a normal retail version of Windows, which Boot Camp is somewhat picky about. But I digress...

You didn't need to reinstall Mac OS X. All you had to do was hold the Option key down when you first turned the computer on. At that point, you could toggle between Windows and Mac OS X.

If you just installed OS X over top of itself, you should be OK. But if you formatted the disk and started clean, you're pretty much hosed - unless of course, you send the hard disk out for recovery (think really big $$$). Regardless, you're in pretty deep at this point, and judging by your confused testimony here, I'm going to say your best course of action is to bring it to a professional and let them have a look.

And please.. going forward, before you make any major change to a computer, BACK IT UP. Beg, borrow or buy an external hard disk before you start hatching plans and just turn on Time Machine, which will completely automate the process. But make sure you have a solid backup before you start to make changes.

Oh God, how do I know if I formated? It would have prompted me right, to do so before it installed or whatever it did to the operating system. Like it would have said Format Disk or something like that right? Like I said it's my dad's computer and he's *REALLY* angry at me, I need something. I need to do something to fix this. We have very limited funds right now, is there any other way?

05-25-2011, 10:53 PM

Hard to say based on your description, but you could have done it during the Windows install, depending upon how you chose the partition to install on. But when you were installing OS X, it would have required dropping into Disk Utility to do, so it's unlikely that you would have accidentally done so during that process.

If I'm understanding you right, the install of OS X hadn't finished yet. If that's true, you'll just need to see where it stands when it's finished.

05-25-2011, 11:28 PM

Even better than reading the BootCamp Asistant instructions is printing them out and becoming familiar with the requirements and technique.

05-26-2011, 01:35 PM

And lastly, if this was actually for your Dad, chances are he didn't need a Boot Camp installation in the first place. He probably would be fine with a virtual machine of Windows installed using Sun's Virtual Box (free), or Parallels Desktop or VM Ware Fusion (both of those cost $$). No rebooting necessary and these run basic windows tasks (productivity, internet, email, etc.) just fine. For heavy gaming or video/photo editing, Boot Camp is a better choice but for most Dads (me included!!) a virtual machine will suffice.

This is all covered in the stickies at the top of the forum. The VM has the added advantage of not mucking up the Apple files on your hard drive ...

Good luck!