Boot Camp: Installing Windows WITHOUT disc drive

alexlane · Jun 6, 2008

I everybody,

I'm trying to install Windows XP using Leopard's Boot Camp on my system, but the cd drive on my MacBook Pro is broken and doesn't read cds well.
BootCamp keeps telling me to insert the windows cd and when I insert the disc finder tells me that I inserted a blank cd.

So, having the cd unit unusable, I wonder if there's any way of installing Windows XP using an image of Windows XP install disc mounted into an external drive (I have an external FireWire HDD), or by any other ways.

TIA

cwa107 · Jun 6, 2008

alexlane said:
I everybody,

I'm trying to install Windows XP using Leopard's Boot Camp on my system, but the cd drive on my MacBook Pro is broken and doesn't read cds well.
BootCamp keeps telling me to insert the windows cd and when I insert the disc finder tells me that I inserted a blank cd.

So, having the cd unit unusable, I wonder if there's any way of installing Windows XP using an image of Windows XP install disc mounted into an external drive (I have an external FireWire HDD), or by any other ways.

TIA

I'd recommend a cheap, external USB CD-ROM drive. While it is possible to install Windows from a network drive, you'll save yourself a lot of hassle and headache just using a CD.

alexlane · Jun 6, 2008

Yeah, that's probably a good idea

I'll check for prices... even thou I just spent a lot of money replacing my MBP HDD...

Anyway, would it be possible to trick Boot Camp into thinking you have a bootable Windows inserted so it "prepares" the installation from somewhere else than an actual cd? just to know

unjosnav · Aug 19, 2008

cwa107 said:
I'd recommend a cheap, external USB CD-ROM drive. While it is possible to install Windows from a network drive, you'll save yourself a lot of hassle and headache just using a CD.

some body knows the steeps to do it please ?
or how install windowx xp on bootcamp via network ?

thank a lot

cwa107 · Aug 19, 2008

unjosnav said:
some body knows the steeps to do it please ?
or how install windowx xp on bootcamp via network ?

thank a lot

That's beyond the scope of this forum. There have been *books* published that get into the intracacies of such an install, and honestly, I don't believe it's even possible on a Mac.

unjosnav · Aug 19, 2008

is there any way to install xp on bootcamp WITHOUT using dvd internal drive please ?

using external dvds, usb flash, network or another ?

cwa107 · Aug 19, 2008

unjosnav said:
is there any way to install xp on bootcamp WITHOUT using dvd internal drive please ?

using external dvds, usb flash, network or another ?

Yes, you can use an external DVD drive. You just need to hold down the option key to select it during boot up.

unjosnav · Aug 20, 2008

cwa107 said:
Yes, you can use an external DVD drive. You just need to hold down the option key to select it during boot up.

Not work like this, not on my computer.
why on boot can not show this new external drive.

i can see mounted on leopard when the leopard finish the start up, but not at the begining holding option key
what can i do please !

itech12 · Aug 21, 2008

This is a common problem for us, Air users as well, Using external drive here.

cevicker · Oct 15, 2008

I've been having problems installing Windows on my MacBook Pro, and I'm not sure if it's because I'm using an external dvd drive or what. So I've partitioned my hard drive just fine, but when I try to boot up the Windows cd, it says "no bootable device found, press any key to continue" (or something along those lines). I'm wondering if anyone else has had this problem? I've searched all over this as well as other forums about the no bootable device thing, and tried a bunch of options, but nothing has worked so far. so maybe it's becuase I have an external drive? I have no idea. But any help would be much appreciated

cwa107 · Oct 15, 2008

cevicker said:
I've been having problems installing Windows on my MacBook Pro, and I'm not sure if it's because I'm using an external dvd drive or what. So I've partitioned my hard drive just fine, but when I try to boot up the Windows cd, it says "no bootable device found, press any key to continue" (or something along those lines). I'm wondering if anyone else has had this problem? I've searched all over this as well as other forums about the no bootable device thing, and tried a bunch of options, but nothing has worked so far. so maybe it's becuase I have an external drive? I have no idea. But any help would be much appreciated

OK, this begs the question... why not just use the internal drive?

cevicker · Oct 15, 2008

cwa107 said:
OK, this begs the question... why not just use the internal drive?

well i guess i forgot to mention that my internal drive is not working, and i can't get it fixed yet. so i'm using this external drive in the meantime...

cwa107 · Oct 15, 2008

cevicker said:
well i guess i forgot to mention that my internal drive is not working, and i can't get it fixed yet. so i'm using this external drive in the meantime...

OK. You should be able to just hold the Option key down during startup (immediately after turning the machine on and when the screen first comes up). Assuming the disc is in the drive, it should eventually give you the option to boot from it (keep holding it until you see the selection appear).

cevicker · Oct 15, 2008

cwa107 said:
OK. You should be able to just hold the Option key down during startup (immediately after turning the machine on and when the screen first comes up). Assuming the disc is in the drive, it should eventually give you the option to boot from it (keep holding it until you see the selection appear).

yeah, i've tried that... the cd is recognized as windows, but it still says "no bootable device"

really, i could get my internal fixed if that's the problem... but if it's something else, than i'd rather just leave my drive be for the meantime... (hah i hope that makes sense).

cwa107 · Oct 16, 2008

cevicker said:
yeah, i've tried that... the cd is recognized as windows, but it still says "no bootable device"

really, i could get my internal fixed if that's the problem... but if it's something else, than i'd rather just leave my drive be for the meantime... (hah i hope that makes sense).

What kind of disc are you using? Note that it must be a retail copy or OEM for system builders (you can NOT use a system restore disc from another vendor like Dell, HP, Acer, etc).

I ask this because it sounds like the drive is being recognized just fine - it just doesn't see the disc as bootable.

cevicker · Oct 16, 2008

cwa107 said:
What kind of disc are you using? Note that it must be a retail copy or OEM for system builders (you can NOT use a system restore disc from another vendor like Dell, HP, Acer, etc).

I ask this because it sounds like the drive is being recognized just fine - it just doesn't see the disc as bootable.

well i got the disk through my school...so i'm not sure what kind of disk it is. but i think it should be the right kind, because i believe that other people in my department have used disks from the school to put windows on their macs. i'm not positive about that though.. i guess i'll look into that.

cevicker · Oct 16, 2008

cwa107 said:
What kind of disc are you using? Note that it must be a retail copy or OEM for system builders (you can NOT use a system restore disc from another vendor like Dell, HP, Acer, etc).

I ask this because it sounds like the drive is being recognized just fine - it just doesn't see the disc as bootable.

I suppose I should just going to look into getting my internal drive fixed...ugh

cwa107 · Oct 16, 2008

It's very important that you're using one of the versions specified by the Boot Camp Documentation. It's equally important that you're using a legal copy, because if not, our discussion is pretty much over here as we don't permit discussion of illegal activity on this forum.

cevicker · Oct 16, 2008

cwa107 said:
It's very important that you're using one of the versions specified by the Boot Camp Documentation. It's equally important that you're using a legal copy, because if not, our discussion is pretty much over here as we don't permit discussion of illegal activity on this forum.

it's definitely a legal copy... my university is licensed through microsoft to sell XP to students at a discounted price. I just don't know if it's necessarily a retail copy...

cwa107 · Oct 16, 2008

cevicker said:
it's definitely a legal copy... my university is licensed through microsoft to sell XP to students at a discounted price. I just don't know if it's necessarily a retail copy...

Right, but that would be the Academic discounted version, which comes in a retail, shrink-wrapped box. It wouldn't be a disc someone burned and handed to you.