Windows XP Home!

mo_ivy · Apr 7, 2007

Hello all, this is my first post so please bear with me!

I have been sent a query by a customer of mine; I sold a brand new OEM Version of Windows XP Home (inc SP2), but he is having trouble installing it into his Mac, could someone please try & help answer his question as I have no knowledge of Mac computers.

Thank you in advance, any help will be appreciated.

Email:

To run windows on my Mac book I’ve downloaded boot camp - www.apple.com/macosx/bootcamp. An assistant guides you through the project. After partitioning the hard drive disk it asked for the XP install disk unfortunately an error pops up and states that installer disc cannot be found. I’ve tried checking everything through and the problem seems to be the disc. Did you have any problems with your installs? Any ideas?

netlover · Apr 7, 2007

Did you give it time when you inserted the disc? I also got the message when I was installing Vista on my Mac so I gave it like 10-15 seconds to read the disk. If the disc was read successfully an icon of the disc will appear on the desktop and you can start installation. Otherwise, the disc might be corrupted.

cwa107 · Apr 7, 2007

netlover said:
Did you give it time when you inserted the disc? I also got the message when I was installing Vista on my Mac so I gave it like 10-15 seconds to read the disk. If the disc was read successfully an icon of the disc will appear on the desktop and you can start installation. Otherwise, the disc might be corrupted.

Exactly. It wouldn't be the first time I've gotten a bad (physical) disc from Microsoft either. I bought a retail copy of XP Home Edition Upgrade from Costco one time. This was to install on a customer's PC. This disc would get three quarters through the install and fail with a media error. I called Microsoft (since this was a retail edition) and they agreed that the media was faulty based on the error. Thankfully Costco gladly accepted the exchange without even so much as an explanation.

mo_ivy · Apr 8, 2007

Hi, thank you for the responses. I have a feeling it may be down to the disk, but the disk is sealed & brand new, what do you think I should do as the product key is stuck on the back and visible for all to see. Do you think I should just send him out a copied version of XP Home as he can use the product key that is stuck on the disk he bought?

Thank you in advance.

knightlie · Apr 9, 2007

I might be wrong here but doesn't BootCamp require XP Pro, not Home?

mo_ivy · Apr 9, 2007

XP Pro? I sold him a version of XP Home edition. Can anyone confirm this?

cwa107 · Apr 9, 2007

Boot Camp works with both Home and Pro. See this article from Apple's support page.

cwa107 · Apr 9, 2007

mo_ivy said:
Hi, thank you for the responses. I have a feeling it may be down to the disk, but the disk is sealed & brand new, what do you think I should do as the product key is stuck on the back and visible for all to see. Do you think I should just send him out a copied version of XP Home as he can use the product key that is stuck on the disk he bought?

Thank you in advance.

Are you a retailer? If so, what is your return policy on "open box" and "OEM" software? Legally, I don't believe you can burn him a disc not associated with the original product ID (at least not according to MS's EULA). Although I hate to side against the consumer, in my mind, this is one of the risks you take in buying non-retail, OEM copies of software.