Bootcamp after XP and Parallels Installed

Question

I have one PC only game that my wife INSISTS on playing. I have a new iMac with 10.5.1 and Parallels/XP Home installed. The game runs poorly in VM mode. How can I install Bootcamp now if XP is already on my computer? Can I just install Bootcamp with a second copy of XP on the same computer? The hard drive is large enough to accommodate the install of both.

Answer 1

Sorry for the confusion, i'll go into a bit more detail. If you want, you can run Bootcamp, install windows off the CD and you're all set. I only suggested the further steps as it might get annoying having two separate versions of windows (one Bootcamp, one virtual), as well as an inefficient use of disk space. A single copy of XP installed through Bootcamp on a separate partition is probably the best solution. You are then able to boot into it with the Alt key and also run it whilst in OS X using Parallels.
Assuming you have files on XP that you want to keep, there are a few ways of transferring your data to the new Bootcamp partition (bear in mind that when you've 'Bootcamped' into XP, your OS X partition can't be seen by windows). One way is to copy everything you need to an external drive. Alternatively, when you run the Bootcamp Assistant and install XP, you will be asked what file system to use. If you choose FAT32, the partition will be accessible from within OS X. Here's what I'd recommend doing:
1. Install and run Bootcamp Assistant
2. Choose FAT32 filesystem
3. Install XP from the CD and run Windows Update etc.
4. Boot into OS X
5. Start Parallels and run your XP Virtual Machine
6. Drag and drop files you want to keep (documents, photos) from XP to the new hard disk that appears in Finder (this is your C: drive for Bootcamp XP). You may want to jot down the programs you have installed so you know what to install on the fresh OS
7. Delete the Parallels VM.
8. Add new VM to Parallels and select 'Add Bootcamp partition'
You then have one version of XP you can run natively or as a virtual machine. Parallels will create a separate hardware profile for itself and you should find you are asked to choose between them on startup. To change the default profile and give you more time to choose, right click on My Computer, select Properties -> Advanced tab -> System Startup and you'll find a load of options there.
Hope that helps