I’m thrilled to learn that I can now dual-boot my new Intel-based Mac so that I can live in the warm fuzzy world of Mac OS X or flip over to the business world of Windows XP. I have a shiny new copy of WinXP from my IT people, an Intel-based Mac Mini, and lots of enthusiasm, but that’s about it. How the heck do I actually install Windows XP on my Mac so I can work in either operating system?
There’s been a lot written about Apple’s dramatic release of Boot Camp, a free download that lets you repartition your Intel-based Mac’s drive and install Windows XP as an alternative operating system, but even the magazine coverage I’ve seen doesn’t give you screen-by-screen details. So let’s see what we can do about that!
Your first step is to make sure you have an Intel-based Mac: any G4 or G5 Mac will not install Boot Camp and you won’t be able to dual boot into Windows XP. You can still run an emulator like Microsoft Virtual PC, but it’s an inferior solution and my own experience with VPC has been that it’s glacial and useless for all but the most simplistic of Windows applications. You’ll also need to be able to burn a CD during the process: make sure you have a blank, burnable CD disk on hand.
Now, download Boot Camp from the Apple site and double click on the “.dmg” disk image that’s dropped onto your desktop. Here’s what you’ll see:
Your first step, as highlighted in the “Read Before You Install” document, is to print a copy of the Boot Camp Beta Installation & Setup Guide. Trust me, you’ll want it!
Double-click on the “BootCampAssistant.pkg” icon and you’ll be able to install the Boot Camp assistant:
As with all Mac software installs, this will require you to type in your administrative password. It’s probably the same as your default account password:
A few seconds of activity later, you’ll have the software successfully copied onto your computer and can quit this first installer.
Now your first challenge: finding the new installation assistant! It turns out that the program is installed on your computer in Applications –> Utilities –> Boot Camp Assistant. Launch it and it’s quite possible you’ll see the same message I did:
No huge problem. Quit by clicking the “Quit” button, then go to Apple’s Support Downloads and check their Available Firmware Updates list to click directly to the firmware update for your own Intel system. For my Mini, I simply go back to the downloads page and scan down for the name of my system.
Once the correct firmware update is installed, you need to reboot, but not in the usual fashion. Instead, press and hold the power button on the Mini itself — it takes about ten seconds — until the power indicator light flashes repeatedly to begin the update. Your system will boot and you’ll see the Apple icon and a progress bar:
That will advance, it took me about 90 seconds total, and you’ll reboot again, ready to go!
Finally, we’re ready to actually start working with Boot Camp itself. The first step is to read all of Apple’s warnings:
Okay, now let’s proceed. First choice: do we want to burn a Macintosh Drivers CD, which contains important device drivers for Windows XP so it can access the various hardware parts of the Mac, or do we already have one. I don’t already have one, so I’ll choose the default of “Burn a Macintosh Drivers CD now”:
I slip in the blank disk and the system tells me it’s “ready to burn”. Click “Burn” and it’ll do everything necessary to create the Windows XP drivers CD. This took a few minutes on my Mini, but it wasn’t terribly long.
Next step is much more exciting: it’s time to partition the hard disk!
Partitioning is a geeky buzzword for something that will actually make a lot of sense to you, believe it or not. The idea is that if you have a large hard disk, why not configure it to act like two small hard disks? Or three? In this way, smart system administrators can isolate accounts, minimize out-of-disk-space errors and disruptions, and so on. With Apple Boot Camp, we’ll want to partition the default disk to allow us to have one “disk” that represents the Windows XP world, and another “disk” that represents Mac OS X.
By default, Boot Camp offers up a pretty tiny partition for Windows, as you can see:
I’d recommend that you make it bigger if you’re actually going to use Windows for anything important; Microsoft recommends 10GB as the smallest reasonable and functional partition, for example. If you’re just playing, however, 5GB will probably work fine (until your first big game install). I’ll make mine 8GB to be somewhere in the middle.
Change the partition sizes by clicking and dragging on the vertical bar between the two areas until you have the size or sizes you desire. With my Mini configuration, it left me with 66GB for Mac OS X, of which 20GB is free, and 8GB for Windows XP.
Once the partitions are set up as you desire, click on “Partition” and keep your fingers crossed (there is a slight chance it’ll actually mangle everything on the disk. Not likely, but I would definitely recommend you do one good, clean backup before you start experimenting with Boot Camp).
The disk partition is what we Windows folk call non-destructive or dynamic, which means that you don’t have to reformat and then reinstall everything on both “sides” of the partition. That’s a very, very good thing. 🙂
Once the partitioning is done, you’re ready to install Windows itself:
Fortunately, I have a pristine new copy of Microsoft Windows XP Pro with SP2 included for PCs without Windows (who would have thought I’d think of my Mac as a PC without Windows?) and that’s what I’ll use. My thanks to Microsoft for sending it along…
Insert the WinXP installation DVD, wait for it to be recognized by Mac OS X (it’ll show up on your desktop with a cheery name like “VRMFPP_EN”), click on “Start Installation” and kiss Mac OS X goodbye.
After a bit, you’ll see the unfamiliar blue screen of a Windows installation:
Press ENTER or Return on the keyboard to continue, agree to the Microsoft warnings and legal restrictions page, and you’ll finally get to the “choose partition” list:
Take your time here to ensure that you pick the correct partition! You want to use Partition C: which should match the size you just set too: notice on my screen it’s 8407MB, which is about 8GB, as expected. Move the highlight bar down to the correct partition and press Enter to actually install WinXP.
Now you need to pick a partition formatting option. The two main choices are NTFS or FAT. NTFS is more modern and supports very large partitions, but can’t interoperate with Mac OS X. FAT, on the other hand, can’t support partitions larger than 32GB, but is compatible with the Mac. You’ll see why that’s important later. For now, select FAT and do a full, not a quick, format:
Now some time will pass while the partition is formatted using the Windows FAT32 format. It took my system about five minutes to fill in the progress bar:
I won’t document every single step involved in installing Windows XP as it’s pretty straightforward. Just make sure you have your product key available for the verification step of the process. It’s in the package within the Microsoft Windows XP disk, and it’s really a good idea to use a new version of the OS rather than the same key you’ve used with other PCs in your office or home. Worst case, you can skip the verification step and have 30 days of “trial period” before you have to deal with finding a valid key to enter for verification purposes.
Once you’ve finished the full Windows XP install, which can take rather quite a while, your system will reboot and you’ll want to eject the WinXP install disk and slip in the Mac drivers CD you burned earlier in the process.
With Windows, this is done by going to My Computer and right-clicking on the optical drive D: then selecting Eject. Slip in the Mac disk and everything should just automatically launch and start up. If not, look for and double click on the file Install Macintosh Drivers for Win XP.exe. Here’s what you’ll see:
I admit, it’s kind of weird to see a Mac installation program running within Windows XP on a Mac computer, but it’s a brave new world out there.
Probably, during the installation process, you’ll learn that various components of your Intel-based Macintosh haven’t passed the Microsoft Windows compatibility test:
Apple assures us that it’s safe to continue anyway, so I did. Three times!
Then you get to go through a few waves of “new hardware found”, and in all cases you can simply accept all the default settings for each wizard, as those guys in Redmond call ’em, and proceed. Finally, you’ll get to the last configuration screen:
Click “reboot now” and if the hardware compatibility Gods are smiling upon you, the Mac will reboot right into Windows and you’ll be the proud owner of a Macintosh that can run Windows natively, astonishingly enough.
One last tip: to select which OS you want to run, hold down the OPTION key when you start up the Mac and you’ll be able to see both Mac OS X and Windows XP:
Use the arrow keys to move to the choice you desire, then press Enter or RETURN to select it and zoom into that mode.
When you do boot into Mac OS X, you’ll notice that there’s a new hard disk on your desktop too, called “NO NAME”. Click on the name, count to five, and click again, then type “Windows XP” and you’ll forevermore realize what it is. And yes, you can navigate through it and find your data files from when you’re running Windows, but I’ll talk about that in another article!
It’s a long, tricky process, but I hope this explains exactly how to install and get running with Apple Boot Camp. Also, don’t miss my tutorial on how to install Parallels to run Windows XP within Mac OS X, rather than having to reboot each time you want to switch systems.
After completed the installation, the following appeared ‘press any key to boot CD, Disk Error and Press any key yo restart” Then it just hang at this screen
What is wrong? Please help….
Hey i have a problem i installed windows 7 onto my mac its fine it just doesn’t let me connect to the internet like a wireless router i know the connection is there because it connects with the mac part of my MacBook. If i could get some help please send to my email Thanks. I believe you can see my email.
Dear Dave ,
Plz help
on Mac , I want to make 2 partitions for windows
one partition for system and another for my data ( both NTFS )
coz I prefer not to save my data in system partition not to be lost if formatted , but actually boot camp can’t make me that
plz help me
Hi Dave, Excellent stuff, thanks. I’m having a problem, however. I’ve partitioned my MacBook Pro, with 10G for Windows, and am trying to install Windows XP. When I get to the part where I select a partition, there is only one choice ‘ C: Partition1 [Unknown] 131072 MB ( 131072 MB free)’. I’m scared to proceed, so I keep quitting at this point, lest I loose everything on my Mac. Any help would be most appreciated! Thank you in advance.
I can’t even find the .dmg that is necessary to start this whole process. All I have is a Bootcamp icon on the desktop that looks the same as my Mac hard drive icon. This must be a really basic and/or stupid question. Help!
Thanks!
Thank you, for the information I have tried several time to install my windows xp on by power book. All runs well until I have to enter the product ID code. It will not accept it. Could it be the version of Windows that I have is a OEM version and not the full version? I had found the full version was had to find. Hopefully I can use the version I have.
Thanks,
Jerry
Hi Dave
I have tried to install Windows XP on my Imac But it keeps on saying’error, setup failed. Press anykey to continue’
The problem is my mac keyboard isnt working and i have my old windows keyboard has the old connection cable with a purple connection thing that doesnt fit into mac. How can i eject the XP disc and go back to my Imac screen?????
Please helpme! Thanx =)
hey,i am very thanks to use our method to install the window which is very simple ….but a can not in install window some problem after ………. Although after installing onto FAT32, the system reboots, then reloads the disk and restarts set up to install? If i eject the disk and press option to select windows XP, it says ‘disc error, press any key to restart’ which then nothing happens. Boot Camp isn’t asking me to create a mac drivers disk either, I have my Leopard installation disk and tried running XP with that in the drive but i still got the disk error message….. so please help me i am very thanksful u……
Hi Dave , i have windows XP instaled on my Mac ,it works good but when i instaled cd creator 5.2 it will only play music it will not burn cd or dvd .I try to install the updates for cd creator but when i try to install the updates a window opens (the burning engine has not been detected)
is there a fix for this. thanks fred.
Mina, well, it sounds like you might well have messed things up. What you might do (sorry to say) is to repartition the hard drive as part of your reinstall of Mac OS X. Then the second partition you can use for Boot Camp (and I”d make it at least 3-4 Gb in size, or even larger). Sorry, it *is* a bit tricky to not have Boot Camp’s install not step on your Mac operating system…
Hi Dave
I have a major problem, I try to install Win XP on my mac, but in boot camp, I click windows installer before partitioning, I know that’s a blunder!!!!!!!! Now, I can’t even use my Mac. I don’t know what to do,should I install mac?!I will be so grateful for your help.
works brilliant mate , the guys complaining must be using corrupted non-burnt properly xp discs, cheers for ur help 😀 Rekkit
Hi Dave, that is useful but I just went onto Ebay to buy Windows XP and was stuck with OEM versions and 32 bit versions and Install package 2 or 3 and ‘the operating key’ and you say insert the drivers well into the installation process but Apple say before you start to install . I have been spoilt by Mac I buy a disc and shove it in and after it is installed it works !
Would appreciate a list of what exactly I do need to get this thing flying
many thanks
can u still run the drivers software on windows installed a few days ago
@ WENDI DWYER:
i am having the exact same problem – word for word, the exact same things are happening to me. i haven’t found anything yet as far as a solution, but maybe together we can find something. if you come across something that works, PLEASE, let me know. i am in college and am dying without windows on my mac – my engineering software is not mac friendly…:(
thank you, and im on the hunt daily, so hopefully we can figure this out.
my junk email is iamun_inc@yahoo.com
ill check there for any updates.
i am installing mac os in the intel dg45in motherbard with 8gbddr2 ram and dualcore processor but after installing sucessfully the mac screen in not coming now . what is the problem.
I have read every forum and boot camp support I can find –
but haven’t found anyone with my question.
I create a partition through bootcamp assistant for my Win XP installation no problem.
I choose to install XP through bootcamp (and have tried directly from the CD too) –
and I eventually get to the choice of partition blue window.
Fine.
I choose C:\bootcamp FAt etc –
and I should then be taken to a blue screen where I can choose to have my partition formatted in NTFS?
That doens’t happen.
The installation begins –
and eventually I end up back at a black screen with a ‘press any key to boot from CD’ message and a flashing cursor.
if I press any key –
the whole process I have just described above starts again – and will continue in this loop so long as I keep pressing any key to boot from CD.
I have tried NOT pressing any key –
and I then get a ‘disk error – press any key to restart’ message.
I try pressing any key –
but the machine is now stuck there.
The cursor just keeps flashing at me.
I have to switch my MAC off – restart – and press the eject button on my keyboard.
WHY can’t I get Win XP to install?
I am using OS X 10.5 after a full reformat.
(I was using Snow Leopard – which was a disaster for various reasons.)
Nonetheless – I cannot get XP to install using either.
I have VMWare Fusion – but virtual machines are less good at running my older Windows games.
My raison d’etre.
I have tried Crossover games – but they only support one of my games.
Can anyone help?
When I open the Boot Camp Assistant on my Mac, and press “Continue”, it says,
“The startup disk cannot be partitioned or restored to a single partition.
The startup disk must be formatted as a single Mac OS Extended (Journaled) volume or already partitioned by Boot Camp Assistant for installing Windows.”
What does that mean, and how can I fix it?
My keyboard stops working when I get to the blue screen to install windows, Any suggestions?
Thanks Brad
Hey thanks for this, a fantastic tutorial – was up and on Windows within an hour! – It’s kind of a safety net whilst I make the change to Mac. Thanks.
hi there
how do i uninstall XP off of my mini mac?? it was of-course partitioned off and now i want to remove it, any help for this?? thanks
Sultaness
Abby Templin
when started ur computer, hold on the “option” key (or “alt” if ur using a pc keyboard) then select “macintosh HD”. when leopard or snow leopard or whatevers on ur imac boots up, open system preferences -> startup disk.
for me it say installer disc could not be found could you please help many thanks Daniel
Hi Dave, i’ve got a brand new imac i just installed windows xp on it and did everything to the letter as posted on here but i then noticed that my bootcamp which comes automatically installed on computer never asked me if i wanted to make a macintosh drivers cd, after installing windows i tried to install a game and it said that it couldn’t find a sound card and then i wasn’t able to play the game coz it said something about some spooge’s were missing, is this because i wasn’t able to install the macintosh drivers cd? i’d be so grateful for your help. Many regards chris.
hi dave
i have macbook pro mb986ll/a
install windows xp sp2 with boot comp
then restart system
and black page
and stop system
plz help me
Hi, I did the boot camp download installtion so to partition my new Imac’s hard drive to include XP. I so hate that it boots Win first, is there a way to change this and have it book Mac OSX first?
heya dave, I need help……
Im very distressed….
I just installed windows on my mac but when I went to click on setup after i installed my mac os x disc it is saying ‘this package requires a newer version of the windows installer.Do you want to upddate the version of the windows installer on your system?’ when i click yes it says ‘required resource ‘update’ is missing’? I dont know what to do as it appear the version i have installed is to old. how do i remove windows now..
i would really appreciate help please
Hi Dave,
I do Video Editing work. I would like to install Win XP SP3 on my Mac Pro,
and other Video Software which works under Win XP.
I need from Win XP to transfer/copy Files (Video) to the Hard Disk RAID 5 Mac Os X 10.6 Snow Leopard for later use.
Because my Hard Disk are setup in RAID 5, is it possible to use Boot Camp ?
and if not, what is the Solution ? Does Win XP can recognize and use the RAID 5 to copy or Save/Edit some Footage under Win XP with some Video Software
Many Thanks
Ben
hey..iv been trying to install Xp on my mac through Bootcamp…but the setup keeps reloading again and again. the setup never gets completeed.. it says restating ur comp and rpeats the whole copying of windows setup files again and again. plz help
thanks that was really helpful 🙂
Dave,
I have installed Windows XP. But Don’t have the drivers. How do I make a copy from Mac. I did not see the option in Bootcamp. I ordered the original disks from Apple because I don’t have them. But is it possible to burn from Mac software.
i need boot camp download link,
Hey Dave,
“Yes – thanks for this guide. When I got to the partition selection in the XP set up I had no clue what to do and exited, but – most distressingly – to a black screen that said “Missing operating system”. I couldn’t even get to OS X.
I then loaded this page on to another machine, worked out by deduction that holding down ctrl with the power key would restart using the XP disc and followed the installation guide here to the letter. I’d reccomend anyone to do the same.”
Ive had this same issue and can not get it to boot from disc. Have tried ctrl, along with a number of other suggested shortcut keys. Any ideas?
MBPro mid 2008 w/10.6.2 in 1 partition on new SSD w/6GB DRAM.
Ran Boot Camp Assistant, formatted PC partition @ 40 gb and clicked install to start the Windows DVD, inserted and a few whirs and nothing further. Gave up for now & repartitioned to all Mac.
Tried both Vista & Win7 DVDs in 32 & 64 bit. In prior MBP, it worked perfectly first time on 10.5 (if I remember right).
Suggestions? Many Thanks in Advance.
when i try to petion my mac it says ” files cannot be moved”
or something like that and to back up and format the mac but i dont want to lol is there a way of findin out what the files are lol
This is what I get when I try to do it…
Back up the disk and use Disk Utility to format it as a single Mac OS Extended (Journaled) volume. Restore your information to the disk and try using Boot Camp Assistant again
I put in my install disk and attached an external harddrive then I made a disk image of my hard drive. I couldn’t make a partition on my hard drive because there wasn’t a place in the tool bar to do that. What do I do?
Wondering where to find those Apple firmware updates? Go here:
http://support.apple.com/downloads/#firmware
Hi, I just installed windows on my mac but I need the drivers & i couldn’t find the option to burn my own disk for the drivers?
help? 🙁
Hello everyone!
I am not that familier with Mac, but I decide to get a use one to practice final cut on it…
the fact that I am slow, I want to go back to my old editing software and the only way is to have windows
now i have dual core G5 Apple Mac the Beast one, and I have OS X Leopard
I am trying to have windows in my apple but the boot camp doesn’t appear at all
i read in some website that i can’t have it because I have dual not intel, is it true?
what other selutions i can have windows on my apple mac
I would appreciate some advice
Thank you
Vi
Hi Dave, I’ve read most of your postees postings re: windows xp on the mac. I notice there’s a few that end up in pc jail or blue screen without their macOS working for them. I’d like to avoid that fate someway and just get it done right the first time. Do you have a service or consultant you recommend that can walk me through this process on the phone?
Thanks,
Chris
Northern California
i have (laptop) compaq my windows xp has been currepted.now i want to install xp when i go the setup but there write(adminstrator password) how i broken the password please help me i am waiting your reply.
ali
thanks, execellent info.
question: windows xp pro via boot camp on my 24″ iMac is almost ok. I’m having a horizontal stretch problem in windows xp mode. I tried the screen resolution changes, but the stretch is still there. Do you have a solution?
Thanks for a great (and needed) article. As a long time PC user who recently converted to an all-in-one iMac I plan to do the partition as soon as I can buy a new XP sp2 program.
Hi Dave,
What I think about my previous query, Can I delete the C: partition(Primary Partition) from the Windows XP Setup blue screen and recreate it with two different sizes?
Hi Dave,
Excellent!!!
But a small query: How can I create two partitions for windows(one is for primary that is to load windows and the second is for my data). So in future If I want to reload the windows i can load in primary and my Data is safe.
Wow, I majorly screwed up.
While toying around with Boot Camp, everything went well until I must have started installing WXP on my main partition. Now my iMac won’t boot into OSX, even with the OSX install disk in. I tried the usual things like forcing boot from CD holding the C key, X to reset the startup disk, Command-Option-Shift-Delete but it won’t reinitialize into OSX.
Anything I do gets to a black screen with a blinking white dash in the upper left hand corner of the screen.
I’m sure this must have happened to many people. Is there something I am missing?
Thanks for the help.
Hello Dave,
I was trying to install Windows XP on my iMac by using Bootcamp and then it eventually failed to install and so I ejected the CD. After all, when I turned on the computer, it made the starting sound and then went to all black screen with a flashing indent line. What should I do?
Please help.
Thanks.
Hey Dave,
I just finished installing windows xp on my macbook pro, but during the installation, errors kept popping up when the files were copying, some weren’t able to copy, so i just skipped the files. It said that everything installed correctly, but I skipped through many files because they just wouldn’t copy. At startup, you see the windows page, but after a few seconds a blue error screen appears saying that my computer has been shut down to prevent any damages. What should I do? Now I can’t use my mac either.
i have one MAC iBOOK laptop,how can i install windowXP SP2 on my MAC iBOOK,it have only 10GB harddisk……
i am trying to install WinSP2, but when trying to do so, i get an error saying that i dont have enought space on the harddrive to do so. after looking an verifing that i do have more than enough space (4GB used, 28GB Free). what can i do? i tried downloading online, but when i try to run it, that happens. when i try to run the disc, i get an error due to a proplem with the installer.
please help me