Advice on Bootcamp

I am about to install XP on my Mac, but I'm having last minute second thoughts. Can someoe please tell me if I install XP if I am opening my Imac up to all the virus's that windows can get? Would I require anti virus software for XP, or will it natively be protected as it is running on Apple hardware?
I am also concerned about future virus's that will corrupt my OSX platform through XP?
Can someone please advise.
Many Thanks.
Leecho

There is no actual interaction between the two operating systems as they run different code and you boot each individually. Windows XP can't see the Mac OS X partition (as far as I am aware, yet), though Mac OS X can read the Windows XP partition, and (if it is less than 32gb and you have made it a FAT32 drive) write to it too.
Mac OS X will probably not be infected by a virus written specifically to attack Windows - the majority of virii tend to be written in Windows executable code, and it does not matter that they share the same hardware as Mac OSX cannot natively run Windows executable code.
On the point regarding iMac native hardware protection - there is no full hardware solution for virus protection, even in Macs, though there might be some protective 'firmware' that helps prevent things like boot virii etc.
However, as Intel hardware will (eventually) make Macs cheaper and Apple grows in market share, 'evil' virus creators might start to target OS X, possibly by creating 'smart' virii that takes advantage of Boot Camped Macs or that can attack both OS X and Windows XP.
Thankfully OS X, running on its UNIX foundation, has better in built security and robustness by default over Windows XP, and less security leaks... but there are always risks.
What might be more worrying are Windows based virii that are coded to attack hardware and do something like trash your hard drive, overwork your processor or zap your memory, which might affect Mac OS X and render your hardware unusable - but this is a worst case scenario and these virii are few and far between.
I've seen lots of reports of people getting 'spyware' and 'adware' as soon as they have set up XP on their Macs. I would recommend that before you install anything or connect to the internet make sure you have a virus checker and firewall running, and immediately get the latest security updates via Windows Update. Use Firefox instead of Internet Explorer, and don't install anything unless you know its from an okay source!
I use AVG Free Edition virus checker from GriSoft (avoid Norton - its a horrendous resource hog) and Windows XP's in-built firewall and I've never had any problems... in fact, in the 8 years I've been using Windows I've only ever got one minor virus, one Outlook Express worm and a few adwares after not reading the small print when installing adware sponsored software. You just need to take care really.

Similar Messages

New Purchase advice, including Bootcamp, Dual Screen, Router

I would like an apple (with Windows dual boot) as everything else we have is apple (I have a mac air, ipad, iphones etc) but need to have two screens and am not sure if Apple does that ? i.e can an apple have two screens so I can work remotely with the same extended view that I have in my office? (Office PCs are Dual Screen Windows 7). What would you recommend?
Also, should we upgrade our router ? I read somewhere that they get better every year – with all the apple devices about the house we are finding that one of us gets booted off the network from time to time and that service slows. We also have a problem getting my Airbook to print wirelessly. If we should get a new one what should we buy?

Your modem and ISP have to deliver a good strong signal of course for any router to do its job. That being said, and say you have 30Mb service a new router makes sense (I went through a couple). N600 or above (I get 20Mb using Speedtest on iPod) or better. .
Netgear has N600 and N900. WD has a new N900 that is great for today with built in storage (1-2TB) and large cache buffer and small processor.
I have not used screen sharing or Windows Remote Desktop but those are there - dual screen sounds more like just having an external monitor directly connected locally - MBA with 27" display for instance. Or be on one mac and share the screen on your local home LAN.
I recommend Netgear but as to Airbook? and wireless printing... might be another thread - this area is for getting Windows installed on Macs,, aka "Boot Camp" partition tool and drivers.
Check MacBook Pro/Air forums for how those users setup and configure.

Does bootcamp effect my Mac's performance?

I am in an engineering class and we are using Autodesk Inventor to make models on the computer, but this program is for windows only. I want to run bootcamp but i dont know if it will effect battery life and speed. I have a 15 in macbook pro with the 2.2ghz quad core intel i7 and 4gb of ram. any advice?

Minicooper7 wrote:
I want to run bootcamp but i dont know if it will effect battery life and speed. I have a 15 in macbook pro with the 2.2ghz quad core intel i7 and 4gb of ram. any advice?
Bootcamp creates a seperate space on the storage drive called a partition which acts just like another drive, but is on the same piece of hardware.
Once you install Windows 7 into Bootcamp, your Mac is basically a Windows PC like any other and gains full advantage of the hardware. OS X is not running or has any control what so ever.
For what your doing, you will need the full strenght of the hardware and Windows, Apple provides drivers for Windows to handle the battery and fans etc.
Read here and watch the video
https://www.apple.com/support/bootcamp/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVfRQ0YIDUI&feature=related
Remmeber if your stuck booting, hold hte option key while rebooting and you'll have a selection to boot back into OS X and can change the Startup Disk in System Preferences.
Also Microsoft Security Essentials is free anti-malware for your Windows Bootcamp.
Also Winclone can be run from OS X and clone the Windows bootcamp to another drive for backup purposes, however likely you can't run off of it because Windows takes the hardware into the copy protection scheme.

Windows on mac -Parallels vs. BootCamp? Any advice?

I need to put Windows on my MacBook Pro 2008. For medical reasons, I can no longer carry two laptops to and from work but one of my jobs uses govt. regulated programing not compatible w/Macs or anything above Windows 7.
I have purchased Win Pro 7 and was fully intending on installin using BootCamp. Having thought about it, it would be better if I keep most of what I do, open in my Mac side while that one program and Outlook is open in Windows. I have Word and all the office programs for Mac, so I don't really think I'd need much more happening on the Windows side.
I'm a little afraid about how slow my machine might be if I use them both through parallels as compared to using Boot Camp. On the other hand, maybe the time shutting down and restarting in Mac or Windows might be just as much an interruption?
I'm not sure how to choose! Has anyone been in this situation? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Stalled and Confused....

Thank you! I have done so much reading on this that my head is swimming a bit. It seems that both in these forums and else where, people tend to feel best about recommending installing in Boot Camp, trying w/the free 14 day Parrallels trial and then deciding which feels better personally.
I feel like that's perfect for the indecisive like myself but I have no idea how much space I should assign when partitioning. I was going to go w/50GB but will that be enough? too much? How is the average, non-techy, supposed to come up with a number? :/

Bootcamp installation advice?

I have ordered a Mac Pro and intend to create a dual boot Windows XP / MAC OSX 10.5.2 when it arrives next week.
I plan to take the two existing SATA drives out of my G5 and replace the factory installed SATA in the Mac Pro, meaning that I won't have to go through the hassle of reinstalling all of my software and work.
However, I wanted to ask if using Bootcamp will mean that I have to format one of my existing drives so that it can create a partition?
Any other general advice would be appreciated - I have been through these forums and looked at the Mac help files, but it seems to be pot luck as to whether it works without a hiccup or not!
TIA

Your new Mac Pro may have a later build of OS X. The only issues are in using Migration Assistant. But that is another topic. One thing, you eventually need to format your drives to GUID from what they are now.
Keep the OEM for your boot drive. Try booting from your G5 system. Pick up a new drive to merge and migrate to.
You can install Windows on its own drive with BootCamp Assistant. Personally, I think you'll be better off with 64-bit Vista Ultimate -
http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=458173
http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=468539
You may find that you can do what you want using VMware Fusion to run XP.
http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=434082&page=2
http://communities.vmware.com/community/vmtn/desktop/fusion

Hi, I've been trying for days to download Windows support software via Bootcamp assistant, but it always failed with message 'Can't install Windows Support Software because it is not currently available from the Software update server.' Any advice welcome

Hi,
I've been trying for days to download Windows support software via Bootcamp assistant but it always fails with message 'Can't install windows software because it is not currently available from the software update server.'
Anyone else had problems or success with this?
Thanks in advance.

9thdoc wrote:
I'm getting a similar but distinct error message in snow leopard: Download could not continue. "The windows support software is not available" and have no original snow leopard instal disc with me.
Your issue is completely different. You are running Snow Leopard. There is no download for Windows Support software for Snow Leopard, hence the error you see. Snow Leopard Windows Support software is on the Snow Leopard installation disk.
You need the Snow Leopard installation disk or a replacement for it.

BootCamp Advice on gaming uses and which Windows OS to use.

I am about to purchase a new MacBook Pro 13.3 inch with 2.4Ghz, 4GB RAM, 320M GeForce NVIDEA card, 256MB.
I am going to use it as a hub in university but also I am going to use it as a gaming device. I am using the Mac OSX to run the intensive RTS games (e.g Total War games) but I would also like to know if I can use BootCamp to run windows games on the Mac too, so I can play a wider library (E.g. FPS games also found on the consoles, RPGs and so on).
If this is the case, which windows OS should I use? XP, Vista, or Windows 7, to get the best gaming experience from my specs. Note that price is not a deal-breaker but it is a disadvantage, so if for example XP was only marginally worse than Windows 7, I would probably take it and avoid unneeded cost.
Just as a note, I am unlikely to use Bootcamp for anything else very intensive, just if I have any other compatibility issues with programs I need to run.

shaun Macdonald wrote:
Supposing I am not going to buy new games but merely build up a library of current ones, is Window 7 64bit worth the price?
As in does it run the games significantly better for any reason? And does anybody know which is preferable when tackling the problem of bootcamp overheating Macbook Pros when playing games?
Sounds like you are rationalizing why you should stay with an older OS. I use Windows 7 64bit every day running in BootCamp for work. It runs quick, is extremely stable (leaps and bounds better than XP or Vista), it is more secure, is easier to network, I never experience instability, and I never have overheating issues. I don't know what running games "significantly better" means. The games will run as they were designed to run.
The advantages of Windows 7 over XP or Vista are well documented. But if you want to stay with an older OS that is your choice. I opted to go with the better OS.

Upgrade strategy advice sought for Leopard/BootCamp/Parallels

Hello. I have dragged my feel long enough with respect to upgrading from 10.4.11 to Leopard (I bought OS 10.5 when it was first released, but upgrade anxiety prevented me from impulsive early adopter installation).
I would appreciate advice from those with more experience than I about the best method of upgrading, keeping the following goals in mind.
First, my existing configuration is:
(1) Mac OS X 10.4.11 on internal GUID partitioned 500GB drive, with identical drive as clone via SuperDuper (160GB used)
(2) Parallels Desktop 2.5 Build 3214.0 (Windows XP SP2) is installed with an expanding drive option; the image, is winxp.hdd, located in ~/Library/Parallels/winxp/winxp.hdd. Currently 12GB.
(3) never used Boot Camp before, and don't have a partition for it
(4) separate 500GB drive for audio/music
(5) separate 500GB drive for video/movies
Goals:
(1) Upgrade to Leopard, with ability to keep my settings, apps, tweaks, prefs, network config, bookmarks, etc. as best as possible without compromising the integrity of the new install
(2) Create a Boot Camp partition on the main drive (about 120GB or so should be enough)
(3) Upgrade from Parallels 2.5 to Parallels 3.0 (I will buy the software)
(4) Migrate my existing Parallels 2.5 Windows XP drive image to the Boot Camp partition, so I can access it either from Boot Camp (natively) or from Parallels (virtual machine)
(5) Configure clone backups for Mac using SuperDuper (for which I already have a license - for years) and for Windows using Winclone (never tried it) on my current backup 500GB drive
(6) Configure Time Machine to an external FW800 drive for my Mac partition
I imagine this can be done, but I don't want to screw up on the order of the steps. Advice from anyone having experience with a similar upgrade would be graciously appreciated.
Thanks,
Stu

Thanks again for your input.
The reason I want Boot Camp is in case I want to boot natively into Windows to take advantage of the performance boost. I would use Parallels when I want to use Windows for some quick operations while running OS X. From what I understand, using both Boot Camp and Windows on the same machine doesn't require any additional disk space. I think Parallels can run from an existing Boot Camp partition. That way, for example, you can use Windows from Boot Camp, create a document, and at another time, use Parallels, which will "see" the document created under Boot Camp, and vice versa.
The order in which I upgrade is probably important. For example, I have read that one can partition a disk on the fly under Leopard, but not under TIger. So, I guess I would upgrade from Tiger to Leopard (probably use Archive and Install), then partition my drive to create a Boot Camp partition, then upgrade Parallels from 2.5 to 3, and then somehow move my Parallels data to the Boot Camp partition.
Assuming I get this far, I would then set up backups using SuperDuper for the Mac OS X partition and Winclone for the PC/Boot Camp partition.
This seems like the logical order for these steps, but I imagine it will require more research on my part before taking these steps. I was hoping to get some insights from someone who has already ventured down this path.
Thank you.
Stu

Mid09 MBP: SSD/HDD upgrade, running bootcamp, partitions advice needed

Hi, I recently just put in a Vertex 2 128GB SSD into the optical bay, and still have my original 500GB 5400RPM drive.
Currently I have the 500gb split in half, for OSX and BOOTCAMP, and I am planning to reformat everything and install Lion.
Would it be a good idea to split the SSD into two partitions, and buy a new 1TB HDD 5400RPM and split that in half as well? (Is the 1TB 5400rpm drive the fastest HDD I can get right now? Which brand?)
I plan to do some light gaming on the bootcamp side, and produce music/use Logic Pro on OSX.
How else could I split the partitions for maximum optimization? OSX/Bootcamp are equally important. Thank you for your time.

The SSD should go into the former HD spot and the HD go into the optical or you'll have problems.
See BMer over at MacOwnersSupportGroup, he's into that.
We don't deal with unauthorized modifications here.

Bootcamp advice

Apple Pro has now settled at my home. everything running fine. (Logic, GR3 and Sibelius)
This is my first time on this issue. I have very few music software which are only windows compatible so some things I want to ask:
1) As far as i have read then you can choose to run windows or OSX one at time, right?
2) would you at all recommend a partition?
I need to run some windows based software wich i cant find a Mac compatible version of.
3) How much will a parting effect the hole performance of the machine? (i mean like how many extra processor will run)
4) How much space is needed at least for running basic windows? (i have been told to take 20GB, i have 219GB free)
5) I have Windows XP mediaCenter Edition and a Vista home premium Upgrade, which one to choose?
6) After parting and installing windows, about virus and firewalls; i guess the risk of virus will be higher for my Mac, right?
so i will have to install an antivirus? which might take some performance power?
7) Any other thoughts? advices?
thanx in advance

Put Windows on its own drive and keep them separate.
If you don't use a VM then Windows is running natively. You could run Windows under OS X in Fusion or something, or try out VirtualBox.
Do you want access to more than 2GB memory? you'll need Vista 64-bit.
Home Premium addresses one cpu (4-cores) even 64-bit version.
Vista 64-bit figure on 40GB and up. Drive storage is cheap. Ultimate will use 8-cores and as much memory as can be installed.
If you use 40GB of your boot drive, pray you don't have trouble, and Windows is running in the slowest inner tracks, where performance suffers.
Most Mac AV software is useful and worse than the potential risks, which are next to zero. ClamXav but you shouldn't need that. A VM leaves you at risk somewhat, running Windows natively, it can't really affect OS X unless something happened to the partition table.

I've purchased a MC309LL/A iMac,need bootcamp advice.

I want to know if this can support windows xp via bootcamp. Does bootcamp come with this model? Should I download a version of bootcamp that supports windows xp? What bit version of windows is compatible with this model, 32 or 64 bit? I'd like to avoid installing windows 7 if at all possible. If I have to use windows 7, should I just follow the instructions on this website?

If you really must use XP then install Windows 7 Pro via Boot Camp then download and install Windows XP mode which is free.
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/virtual-pc/get-started.aspx
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/virtual-pc/features/default.aspx
http://download.microsoft.com/download/3/2/7/3278061A-5F09-4BD2-9FE4-DE97FD4BED0 4/WinXPMode_Brochure.pdf

Success: moving bootcamp partition to an external drive

Background
Due to the relatively small, non-exchangable SSD on my Mac, I'd limited the bootcamp partition to 50GB when installing Windows. I needed to install new software in Windows, but was running out of space fast and didn't have the necessary space on the Windows side. I don't use Windows that often and for that reason, I wanted to move the Bootcamp partition to an external hard drive, freeing up space for the Mac side on the internal SSD. I'd read many conflicting reports on the web, some claiming they'd done it successfully, while others said it would be impossible, because Windows 7 wouldn't run from an external drive. I had a HDD in a USB 3 enclosure, and first tried to install Windows to this (using various guides on the web). I was very close to success with this USB 3 drive, but Windows would fail during start-up. Most reports claiming to have successfully been able to run Windows 7 from an external drive, had used Thunderbolt drives, so I decided to get myself a Lacie Rugged USB 3/Thunderbolt series Solid State Drive.
Hardware used
MacBook Pro 15" Retina Display (mid 2012), 2,3 GHz Intel Core i7, 8GB RAM, 250GB SSD
Lacie Rugged USB 3/Thunderbolt series, 120GB Solid State Drive
Software used
Mac OS X Mavericks, 10.9.2
Windows 7 Ultimate
Plus several free downloads from the internet, see description below.
Procedure
Step 1: Get the Thunderbolt drive to work under your Bootcamp Windows 7 installation.
This should be simple enough, but proved to be a little tricky. Here’s what I did (assumes you are running Mac OS X before you begin):
1. Make sure your Thunderbolt drive is disconnected before proceeding.
2. Restart your Mac and hold down the option key (alt key on some keyboards) during startup.
3. Choose the Windows drive to start up Windows 7 on your Bootcamp partition.
4. After log in to Windows 7, download the necessary driver software for your Thunderbolt drive (find it at the manufacturer’s homepage of your Thunderbolt drive - in my case lacie.com).
5. If the downloaded driver installer is in a compressed format (like zip for example) be sure to decompress it before running the driver installer.
6. Shut down your computer.
7. Connect your Thunderbolt drive to your computer.
8. Start up in Windows 7 (see items 2 & 3 above) and if it all went well, you should now be able to see your Thunderbolt drive under Start>Computer.
Step 2: Format your Thunderbolt drive in NTFS-format.
Still running Windows 7 with your Thunderbolt drive connected and visible to the system, it is now time to format your external Thunderbolt drive in NTFS-format. There are several ways of doing this. I used the procedure described here at tedhhack.co.uk.
Step 3: Follow the directions at intowindows.com to clean install Windows 7 onto your external Thunderbolt drive.
As described at intowindows.com, this involves downloading Windows Automated Installation Kit (WAIK) and running command line tools. At step 9 in the described process at intowindows.com, at the point where the installer asks if the drive you are installing to is a USB hard disk, the correct input is Y for yes, even if your external drive is a Thunderbolt drive (and obviously not a USB hard disk).
At step 10 in the described process at intowindows.com (Reboot your PC), remember to hold down the option (or alt) key at every restart in the installation process, so as not to start up in Mac OS X. Also, since your machine now has two Windows 7 installations, Windows Boot Manager will appear and ask you to “Choose an operating system to start” and there is a list of two Windows.
I don’t know how to tell which one is on the external drive and which one is on the internal drive at this point, but I started with the top one on the list and this turned out to be the one I wanted (the newly installed one on the external drive). If you pick the wrong one (on the internal drive) at first, simply restart the computer and choose the other one. You know you got the right one when the installation process continues and asks for further input.
After the Windows installation is complete (there will be at least one other restart required - remember to hold down the option (alt) key to start up in Windows, and choose the same Windows on the list in the Windows Boot Manager), you’ll be running a freshly installed, but crippled Windows 7, as you still haven’t installed the specific drivers for your hardware. But don’t worry, that will be fixed in the next step.
Step 4: Clone your Bootcamp partition from your internal drive to the external Thunderbolt drive.
In this step you will copy all the software, drivers, settings and other files from your Bootcamp partition on your internal drive to your external Thunderbolt drive. The easiest way to do that is to clone your Windows partition - and to that end you’ll need to download some free software: AOMEI Backupper Standard 2.0 fits the bill perfectly, as it will let you clone at the same time as resizing the partition to fit your external Thunderbolt drive (I went from a 50GB internal Bootcamp partition to a 120GB external Thunderbolt SSD).
1. Download AOMEI Backupper Standard 2.0 (I used the 17MB download for Windows 7), install it, and run it.
2. In the left column choose “Clone” and in the right column choose “Partition Clone”. By choosing Partition Clone instead of Disk clone, you won’t ruin the newly created (but invisible) boot partition on the external Thunderbolt drive.
3. Press Next and choose your internal Bootcamp partition as the Source Disk.
4. Press Next again and choose your external Thunderbolt drive (your newly installed Windows 7) as the Destination Disk.
5. Press Next again and you’ll get a warning that you will erase the contents of the destination partition and it asks if this is what you really want to do. Press Yes to this question.
6. Next screen is an Operation Summery. Toward the bottom of the Operation Summery screen there are a few interesting options: Edit Size of Partition, Clone Sector by Sector and Align Partition to Optimize for SSD.
7. If your destination partition is larger than your source destination like mine was, press Edit Size of Partition. This will take you to another screen, where you can drag to resize the partition. I dragged this all the way to the right to give Windows 7 the full size of my external Thunderbolt drive.
8. Leave the checkbox Clone Sector by Sector unchecked.
9. If your external Thunderbolt drive is an SSD, put a check in the checkbox entitled Align Partition to Optimize for SSD.
10. Now press the Start Clone button.
11. When the cloning process is done, exit AOMEI Backupper and restart your computer (holding down the option or alt key) to start up in your new clone of your old Windows 7 with all the same software, drivers, settings and files.
Step 5: Enjoy running all your Windows 7 applications from your external Thunderbolt drive!
Step 6: Here is where I need help/advice – can I remove the Bootcamp partition on my internal drive now?
I am reluctant to entirely remove the Bootcamp partition from my internal drive, as I am unsure whether this will disable me from starting up in Windows. I would love to hear from anyone here with insight on the matter.

Step 6: Here is where I need help/advice – can I remove the Bootcamp partition on my internal drive now?
To answer my own question in Step 6 above, no, or at least I haven't found a way yet...
Here's what I've done so far:
Used the Bootcamp Assistant to remove the bootcamp partition on my internal drive.
Booted the system with the option (alt) key pressed down and now there was NO Windows drive to choose.
Therefore I used the Bootcamp Assistant to install Windows back onto my internal drive (including installing Bootcamp drivers in the Windows environment). This time I chose the minimum partition of 20GB for the Windows installation on the internal drive.
Booted into the new Windows on the internal drive and installed the drivers for my Thunderbolt drive.
Restarted with the option (alt) key pressed down, chose the Windows drive, but Windows Boot Manager still didn't pop up to allow me to choose the Windows installation on the external Thunderbolt drive.
Booted from the Windows DVD and chose Repair.
Restarted with the option (alt) key pressed down, chose the Windows drive, and now Windows Boot Manager finally popped up, which allowed me to choose the Windows installation on the external Thunderbolt drive again, phew!
So, I can run Windows 7 from the external Thunderbolt drive, but I have to use 20GB of my internal drive for a Windows installation I'll never use. Not the best solution, but at least I've saved 30GB of space compared to my previous Bootcamp partition - and I now have enough space to install the Windows 7 software I need on the external Thunderbolt drive...

Bootcamp 5 & Windows 7 install

Hello. I wanted to put this out there after getting terrible phone support from Apple over my bootcamp installation. After my harddrive died and was replaced by AppleCare, I had been attempting to install Windows 7 Home Premium on my iMac for over a week with no luck, and multiple phone calls of worthless advice from AppleCare on the problem and solution. My iMac: mid 2010, 21 inch running 10.8.3 with Bootcamp 5. When installing, I would have no troule partitioning the drive, and it would reboot to windows install disk only to get held up right after selecting Language / Keyboard with the message that a CD / DVD driver was missing and could not be found. I did create a USB drive with drivers from Bootcamp 5, but none of these would satisfy Windows 7.
AppleCare phone support insisted that Windows was NOT looking for a driver on the USB drive and the problem was from other issues: My first install used a DVD burned from an ISO file (obtained from microsoft and burned at slowest speed). They insisted that if I obtained an original instal disk of Windows 7, it would install correctly. So I purchased an OEM version of Windows 7 from Fry's for $99. Attempted install: same message about a missing driver. AppleCare claimed I needed a full version at $199. The AppleCare supervisor GAURANTEED this would be the problem. Fry's would not exchange my disc which was already opened, but informed me they'd be happy to install it, and it should not be a problem. After talking with the Fry's tech team, I attemped another install using the Bootcamp 4 drivers, downloaded from apple, and stored on a USB drive. Bam. Installed NO PROBLEM.
The problem was with Bootcamp 5 drivers (stored on a USB by Bootcamp) did not work on my system for the Windows 7 installation. This despite a number of assurances from Apple that the Bootcamp drivers were not the problem, THIS WAS THE PROBLEM. I wasted a week of my life trying to get Windows 7 reinstalled. Please apple, get your act together and fix this issue, or at least give your customers accurate advice. If nothing else, maybe my message here will save someone else the headache.

svenj wrote:
Thanks again for the reply CS. Now I do actually have a question or two. This install was a reinstall of windows 7 after getting my iMac's harddrive replaced for Smart errors. And yes, I found the inability (or perhaps just a lack of doing so?) to back up my previous installation of Windows and have it easily restored in Time Machine to be a major PITA. I have been considering getting Parallels, or something similar. If I do, I'm wondering two things:
1. am I able to use my OEM version (tied to one machine, the same one that it is installed in Bootcamp on)?
2. Does Windows 7 within Parallels then get backed up in Time Machine, making it easily restorable?
thank you!
1. Yes, but you will have to activate one of the two manually (phone call to MS)
2. Yes, a VM is just another file, can be copied / moved / backed up like any other file.
And even though there was no 3
3. Parallels would be my last choice of VM, it is the fastest but the least reliable in my experience. From preference I use VirtualBox, and not because it is free, I own Fusion but no longer use it. Try VBox before spending money on another.

Do I really need an optical drive (external) for my MacBook Air to install Win 7 with Bootcamp?

I have a Macbook Air (11" if it matters, the tiny one) that was purchased late last year, new. I would like to install Bootcamp and be able to boot into Windows 7, 64 bit. I have a Windows 7 Professional disk, which I would have to find an optical drive of some sort to install. The Boot Camp PDF guide doesn't mention the use of any kind of USB bootable install. In fact, I often see (on Apple support pages) that an external optical drive is required for Macbook Airs.
Is this the case? If not, does anyone have any advice on how to make sure this goes smoothly? I'm a bit of a newbie to Macs. Thanks.
(Note: I didn't select my OSX operating system, but it's been updated regularly.)

Thank you Rysz, but (if you scroll up & read my original post you will discover) I don't own my new MacBook Pro...yet! I'm just researching ahead of time to help me make the decision. The customized MBP I have saved in my cart is over $3000 (incl the 3-yr support plan). So it's going to take me a little bit of research before I decide or before I can really justify the purchase.
I just wanted to be prepared for all the inevitable technical / learning-curve headaches that I will experience IF I take the plunge.   And as everyone has experienced, when you're new to and making your first purchase of a different technology, and you don't know what to expect about a purchase, you ultimately get it home, set it up and find it didn't come with all the necessary interface devices, converters or cables, etc. And of course the online purchase procedure wizard doesn't tell you or ask you what else you will need if you want to perform a specific task.
But I'm sure (if) once I do make the purchase, I will definitely be back here to pick everyone's brains! These communities are fantastic.   Thanks again!

Never owned a Mac, thinking of buying a Mac Pro, could use some advice...

Hey guys,
I know this was a lot to read, but I sincerely hope someone will take the time to answer my questions:
As the title of my post implies I've never owned a Mac in my life. I've always built my own desktops and usually gone to HP or Dell for my laptops. I'm approaching that time again where my custom-built desktop is looking outdated and I'm getting the upgrade itch. I'm looking at all the parts I need to order to build a computer and I can't help but think I'm older now with a full-time job and a one year old daughter in the house. Do I really want to go through the hassle of building a desktop from scratch again? Not really. So I started evaluating things a bit. As I get older I’m really just getting sick and tired of Microsoft’s antics (Vista was a huge disappointment for me) so I decided this could be the year for me to take the Mac plunge.
Now I’m an IT guy, so I have a pretty atypical setup at home. I’m currently running both Windows and Linux on all my computers. Rather than dual boot or use virtualization software I have a pretty intricate system in which I use a product called Acronis Trueimage to experiment with operating systems. What I do is perform a a clean install on an operating system, tweak it as needed for security and to use resources on my LAN than back up the customized OS install to a server a an image file. I have pre-built images for XP, Vista, Ubuntu and OpenSuSE that I can roll out to one of my machines in an average of 15 minutes whenever I get the urge to switch operating systems. I also serve all my data off a NAS box, so since data and OS are kept separate on the network I don’t have to worry about erasing something when I swap between Linux and Windows (as loading an image literally destroys the previous OS install).
So you can see I’m pretty highly specialized. I even have things down to the point to where I have custom images for specific purposes. For instance I have one XP image customized for development, one XP image customized for gaming, etc. Naturally if I got the Mac Pro I’d like to have the freedom to create a similar set of custom OS deployment images (Windows, Linux and OSX) for it as well. In researching the Mac Pro I have some concerns my current system might not work if I go that route. Am I correct in assuming that in order to run an alternative operating system on a Mac I’ll have to run boot camp or something like it? Or upon unboxing my Mac and tweaking Leopard will I be able to use disk imaging software to make a backup image of my preinstalled Leopard hard drive and then do a clean install of Windows XP or Ubuntu and set it up to function like a PC? I guess I’m asking if it’s possible (now that Macs are Intel-based) to run Windows or Linux exclusively on the Mac hardware?
Also I have some concerns about the proprietary nature of the Mac platform. From what I can gather in my research it seems the hardware is pretty locked in. One area that has me really concerned is gaming. I pretty much use Ubuntu exclusively at home for productivity and web surfing. However I still like to load that XP image every now and then to play some games on the LAN with my buddies. I’m not a fan of virtualizing for gaming because of the obvious performance hit you take, so I’d have to be able to run Windows XP free and clear. Also I checked Nvidia’s site and I see no OSX drivers listed there for their cards. Under the Windows platform they are always releasing driver updates to squeeze more game performance out of your card. What if I want to upgrade my video card? How do drivers work on OSX? Does Apple just integrate drivers for just a few specific video cards into the OS? Will I be stuck only able to pick from a handful of video cards approved by Apple?
Thanks in advance to anyone who can offer advice!
Message was edited by: ZeusABJ

Hi Zeus
I may be able to answer some of your questions. And sorry in advance if this sounds like yet another of those "religious conversion" stories
I'm a software developer/architect, mostly doing Microsoft .NET/C#/Web Services coding. I'd been a loyal Microsoft guy since I started on the original IBM PC back in the 80's. Like a lot of people (or so it seems) I just got fed up with Microsoft's high-handed and self-important ways. More importantly, the company always seemed to be lagging behind technically. Looking at beta versions of Vista did not bode well for the future - it just seemed awful. When Vista came out it it was the last straw - I just could not get enthusiastic about this bloated, slow, mess of an operating system. I really hated it. Still do. Even with a top-spec machine, Vista didn't run in the snappy, responsive way it I thought it should. Nothing seemed well thought out.. yuck!
Then, by chance, I was staying for a few days with somebody who had a Mac. Now, for years and years I not even considered Macs as remotely serious machines. My only experience of them was in the late 80's when somebody at work had one. He took delight in pushing a floppy disc into the machine so that it would respond "Ah, it's so big!". Great, just a toy. Not for serious programming work. So, encountering Mac OS X Tiger on my friend's iMac was something of a shock. It was so responsive, clean and elegant. When you turned it on it only took about 30 seconds or so for the thing to be ready for use, etc, etc.
Long story short, I bought an iMac, then a newer, bigger, faster iMac, then a MacBook Pro and now I have a Mac Pro. I still have to work with Windows to do my .NET-related day job. But 95% of the time I work on the Mac using various VMWare virtual machines. I can switch between Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2003 and Windows XP in a few seconds and still be working in a Mac environment. And the performance of running Windows inside VMWare is even better than on my dedicated top-spec Windows laptop! I have a selection of virtual machines to choose from and, because these virtual machines are just files, I can back them up, revert to saved copies, etc. I've tried Bootcamp but it's much less convenient and performance inside the virtual machines is never an issue (although I don't do any gaming). So, you could keep virtual machines on your NAS box or local Mac hard drive.
With regard to graphics drives, etc. I've never had any problems whatever in this respect. For example, when I installed Windows XP on VMWare it automatically recognised all my hardware (including some obscure audio interfaces, USB-based MIDI interfaces, etc.) and made it available. I must admit that when I was new to the Mac I expected to have driver issues, but never have had... So, my guess is that you'll be able to run all your Windows and Linux distros on the Mac without too many problems.
You mention Apple's hardware as being "locked-in". I don't think that's the case. Certainly the consumer Mac models like the iMac can't be upgraded (by you or me) internally, expect for memory. The Mac Pro though is very easy to upgrade - though there may be some limitations with regard graphics cards.
Re your questions about graphics card drivers. Yes, these come with OS X in just the same as as with Windows. Because I've also used the card that comes "with the box" this has not been an issue for me. However, unless you get a Mac Pro you can't swap-in your existing graphics card. And even then I think you may find restrictions. However, other, more knowledgeable Mac users on this forum may have other thoughts.
Overall though, the experience of using the Mac in terms of software is very much the reverse of Windows - the OS is very open and well documented. It really is an IT person's dream machine - so much to fiddle around with (particularly if you know anything about Unix!). Unlike Microsoft who charge a FORTUNE for their development tools, Apple give them to you for free. And very good they are too!
Finally, one bit of advice. If you are considering buying a new Mac, join the Apple Developer Connection scheme as a Select member. It'll cost you around $400 to join but they give you a hardware discount for Apple-store purchased items that will save you a ton of $$$'s - absolutely definitely worth doing.
Hope this helps (and good luck)!
Russ

Advice on Bootcamp

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for