Installing Windows 7 over XP on a Mac Pro

Hi Folks,
I have Windows XP dual booting on my Mac Pro using Bootcamp. I want to install Windows 7 over Windows XP. I know I will loose all of my windows files and will need to reinstall all windows software. But will this work? Will it impact my mac os? Are there any issues I should be aware of?
Any help/suggestions would be most appreciated.
TIA,
Shane

Lion is the easiet way to get current drives and because Apple security is better on 10.6.8 and Lion. Lion though really needs to reformat the drive the OS goes to (keep the old one as dual boot backup) and needs to add Lion Recovery.
There are no Apple support drivers w/o 10.6.3+.
8 is free and runs well or better -
so just boot Windows 7 and format the partitiion. What's to know? You want Windows 7 Pro if you have two processor (dual socket) or want to use more than 16GB RAM.
You do not want 32-bit. But it does matter what Mac model, 2006-7? or later. 2008 has full support for Windows 64-bit, the others don't but then you get stuck with trouble booting and trouble using more than 1.9GB making it next to impossible. That is and will be an issue.
And you need 10.6.3 DVD to have the Apple support software.
The number of threads moved and placed in wrong forum (Mac Pro turns out to be MacBook Pro) so I have to ask and because there ARE issues with Windows 7 on early Mac Pro model.

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Installing Windows 7 With Boot Camp on Mac Pro 3.1 w/GTX285 Video card

I have an Early 2008 Mac Pro 3.1 running the latest version of OS 10.6 with all updates. I have an nVidia GTX285 card installed in the Mac Pro that has been working fine for at least six months under OS 10.6 with Mac drivers downloaded from the nVidia web site and installed under OS 10.6. I replaced the ATi 2600XT video card with the nVidia GTX285 in order to have CUDA support in Premier Pro CS 5 and it works beautifully.
I now wish to install Windows 7 Professional 64 bit on this Mac Pro. I have never had any version of Windows installed on this Mac Pro. I am using Boot Camp assistant and a new full version of Windows 7 Professional 64-bit.
My question is do I need to remove the GTX 285 graphics card and replace it with my AT 2600XT before installing Windows 7? This would be a real pain to do because the two connectors to the motherboard are hard to get to. However, since Apple never used the GTX285 in any of its computers, I am worried that I will not have any video display when I go to try and install Windows 7 with Boot Cam assistant.
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NO.... he has a workstation, and not MBP, nor are "drivers already loaded."
How I would proceed -
Install Windows on its own drive.
Pull all the other drives.
Boot from Windows 7 Pro DVD
Forget Boot Camp Assistant, it doesn't do anything - unless you really want to install Windows on the SAME drive as Mac OS - not ideal and not what most of Mac Pro owners do.
Just insert your OS X DVD once Windows is up to date - helps to buy the SP1 OEM version $129.
Run Apple SETUP.exe (Boot Camp 3.0.x drivers) and update with ASU or manually to 3.2.
No you don't need to go back and use that ATI. And you dont' want to be in the situation of changing from ATI to Nvidia and all the hassle that adds. you are fine.
The Mac Pro is as close as anything to a standard Wintel workstation.
Add MS Security Essentials or KIS or whatever you favor. KIS2011 or NIS2011 are good, MSSE 2.0 is free and based on their enterprise product.
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Help Installing Windows 7 64 Bit on Early Mac Pro

As previously noted, Wind 7 RC 64 bit DVD will not boot on early Mac Pro. I installed Win 7 64 bit on a dedicated hard drive as follows: 1) I booted into Vista 64bit successfully 2) I installed Win 7 64 bit on a second black disk, as noted above 3)All files installed correctly I think since Win 7 will begin to boot showing the Windows 7 startup screen 4) However, the startup screen will then disappear and the screen goes black, indicating a failed boot. When I engage the option screen (with primary Mac drive installed) during boot, no Windows disk is shown, indicating that boot camp does not recognize the Win 7 disk as a valid startup drive.
Has anyone successfully installed Win 7 64 bit on an early Mac Pro?? I would appreciate any help in accomplishing this. Also, is there any reason Apple has not provided an EFI firmware update for first generation MacPros?

Burn a DVD with Windows 7 RC 32-bit which you can boot from.
Try Safe Boot also.
From Vista you can install 7 on another hard drive. You can also copy the DVD to 6GB partition and run the install setup off that while in Vista.
Mixing ATI and Nvidia probably still doesn't work (may when 7 ships).
Windows is more aware of disk I/O errors than Mac OS.
Keep your system basic, don't have anything connected or installed you don't need (like PCIe controllers).
Vista SP1 or later, 64-bit also looks for EFI64/UEFI 2.x which causes the "Choose 1 or 2" boot menu and which 2008 Mac Pro (and 2009) work with.
You aren't the first or only person to run into this, and there are people running on 2006 Mac Pro.
http://forums.macrumors.com/forumdisplay.php?f=86
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1866970&tstart=0

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No. The Window system file must be on the system disk in order to boot.
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Read the link ""The hatter"" gave you and read the "FAQ's", it will answer quite a few of your questions. Read the Installation manual a few times to familiarize yourself with it before you start and it will make it a lot easier when the time comes.
Windows will be little bit quicker on the Mac-Boot disk only because of your SSD drive. It's rare, but you leave yourself open for problems if anything gets buggered up with both OS's on the same drive. You could lose the Mac side also. You have the chance to save yourself one less problem with it being on a separate drive.
You can install Windows on "any" INternal drive with Boot Camp. Windows can only be installed in the #1 slot on a MacPro if there are any other drives in it. (You can put it in any slot after it's been installed.) And Windows can't be installed on an EXternal drive from a Mac.
Your best bet would be either put one of the internal drives into an external HD enclosure ($15/$20) and replacing it with another blank HD and just splitting it into two partitions or try to free up more space on one of the other drives so you have more room.
Or like ""The hatter""mentioned.
"""You could put OS X HD in lower optical drive bay and put in a drive just for Windows."""
The only problem with making room on an already full drive is that some times some invisible "root" files will be left behind and Boot Camp CAN'T move it and you could get a generic "Can't Install, Files in the way" type error. So you would have to Backup, erase, reinstall to clean it up that way.
It's not so much installing Windows without Boot Camp, but you need BootCamp in order to use the "Start-up Disk" preferences. The Finder can't see the Windows install with out it. No big deal if you want to use the "Option" Key every time to reboot. Boot Camp Also has a couple of preferences like the F-Keys, etc, that you may need to use. It Could be a bigger headache. Boot Camp just makes it A LOT easier for the -non- geeks.

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Welcome to the Apple forums.
I have a late model 2007 Santa Rosa MBP (17") running Vista Ultimate, 64-bit. I don't think much has changed in the 2008 model.
It's a remote possibility that there are some hardware issues, and there are not many new machines out there yet.
As noted, unplug all extraneous hardware, external drives, even your internet connection if you are using an RJ-45 and see what happens.
You don't say which flavor Winders you are trying to install.
Also you might check into the BootCamp forum where you might find a larger group of users running Winders than here, which is primarily pure Leopard.
Here's the address to the BootCamp forum. For some reason only the beta BC forum is listed, but here is the real address:
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Hi
I would like to install windows vista ultimate on its own hard drive on a mac pro- but I haven't been able to do it. I tried using boot camp but when it comes time to install windows on a specific partition I receive an error message that it won't install because the drive is not formatted to NTFS. On the other hand there seems to be no way to format to NTFS either through the Mac os or the windows installation dvd prior to this step- catch 22!!
Any help is welcome.

Hi danton,
that's odd since Vista is supporting the GPT partition type.
If I remeber correctly from another post from you, you have a full Retail version of Vista which includes the 32-bit and the 64-bit version, right ?
Are you trying to install the 64-bit version when this error occurs ?
If so, power down your Mac Pro and pull out all drive bays/harddisks leaving only the one harddisk in on which you wanna install Vista.
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<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
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                    <string>MacBookAir5,2</string>
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Hello Navtej Dhillon,
Thanks for using Apple Support Communities.
According to the following article, your computer has Boot Camp 5, which only allows for the installation of the 64-bit versions of Windows 8.
Boot Camp: System requirements for Microsoft Windows operating systems
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5634
Take care,
Alex H.

How can I install Windows7 -64BIT on a 1st Generation Mac Pro 2.66GHZ Quad?

Hi,
I posted this in Bootcamp but haven't received any replies so I am reposting it here where perhaps it really belongs.Is it possible to install Windows 7 64 bit on a 1st Generation Mac Pro 2.66Ghz?
Apple suggests that it's not possible and yet I've seen several Googled posts where the users have successfully installed 64 bit on a 1st Generation Mac Pro. The problem is that they've done this creating a bootable iso disk(whatever that is) using a Windows computer with imgburn and windows commands. I'm pretty good at following instructions but I haven't seen any instructions on how to install Windows 7 on this machine using a Mac based approach.
I'm using BootCamp and was able to partition the drive into NFTS and "proceed" with installation; however all the installations failed during setup and Windows would not boot; disk repair was not possible. Besides, from what I've gathered, 32 bit is problematic around memory issues.
When I try installing 64 bits, I never get past the "select cd rom 1 or 2" message where the keyboard won't work. It is at this point where others say they have successfully proceeded with moving forward by creating a bootable iso disk.
Problem is it's all Windows based with exe files and presupposes I already have Windows running.
I'm not sure I really understand how to create an iso disk, but I do have ROXIO TOAST 10 which is capable of burning "ISO" disks.Does anyone know how to do this and/or can you point me to a place where there are instructions on how to proceed?? While I realize Apple says that some mid 2006 mac pros aren't supported, there are multiple posts of windows 7 users successfully installing Windows 7 on a 1st Generation Mac Pro.
Thanks.
Mac Pro 2.66GHZ Quad Core

I have a March 2009 Mac Pro dual quad core running Win7 Pro 64 bit. I have Windows installed on a dedicated internal hard drive. There are no partitions, the entire drive is for Windows use.
Here's how I installed it, I did not start with BootCamp. Make sure the drive you're going to use for Windows doesn't have any important files on it because it will be formatted.
1. Update Snow Leopard
2. Place the Windows cd in the Super Drive
3. Shut down the computer
4. Remove all the hard drives except the one you want Windows installed on. Keep track of the order they are in and at the end replace them in the same order.
5. Boot the computer holding down the Option key
6. Boot to the Windows cd
7. Install Windows and format the drive to NTFS
8. When Windows needs to restart during installation you'll need to hold the Option key and boot to Windows, not the Windows cd.
9. After Windows installs, place your Snow Leopard disc in the Super Drive
10. The Drivers for Windows will be installed along with a Windows version of BootCamp.
11. Go to Start > All Programs > Apple Software Update
12. Update again until it's done.
13. You'll also find a BootCamp under Control Panel, check it out.
14. Shut down the computer and replace the hard drives in their original order
14. Now if you turn on the computer it will boot to Snow Leopard, but if you hold the Option key during boot you can select Windows or Mac.

How to install windows xp on bootcamp on new Mac mini?

How can i install windows xp on bootcamp on new Mac mini?
I know that i should get an external usb optical drive, but buying such hardware for one use is a waste of money. Is there any other method?
I currently own a MacBook white, and really like the configuration. I it possible to copy the image of bootcamp to new mac mini? If so, what will happen to hardware and drivers?

Admiralali wrote:
Let me get this right:
1- copy the exact image of the winxp installation dc to USB
2- start bootcamp assistant, go through everything, till rebooting
3- boot from USB (hold ALT and select the USB volume)
4- go through winxp setup and done!
Am I missing anything?
I think that USB would be readable only on Mac os or winxp, but will the winxp installer read from USB?
Correct me if wrong.
Having read further websites, I am now a bit more dubious you can do this, at least with an XP installer.
However if you have a USB memory stick and an existing Windows computer (even a Boot Camp one) or can borrow one you could try using the free WinToFlash utility to make a supposedly bootable USB memory stick of the installer. See http://wintoflash.com/overview/en/
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The other approach I mentioned of temporarily moving the hard disk from the Mini to the MacBook so you can use the MacBook internal CD/DVD drive would work - be careful of the cables. Fortunately a new Mac mini and an old MacBook are two of the easier models to get at the hard disk. See http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/MacBook-Core-2-Duo-Hard-Drive-Replacement/514/1 (they also list other MacBook models) and http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Installing-Mac-Mini-Mid-2011-Hard-Drive-Replacement/ 6422/1
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As I have taken Macs apart many times, I personally might go the swapping the hard disk over route.

Can I install windows home server 2011 on a mac mini?

Hey guys and girls...
Can I install windows home server 2011 on a mac mini? If so how?

WHS is 64-bit. Genius are really not versed in Boot Camp or Windows, let alone anything not on the "approved" list of Windows versions.
Most of the problems are with burning ISO, or the SuperDrive. It should have seen the NTFS partition. Disk Utility is known to be trouble, burning it on your Mac Mine but iwth Windows 7....?
Seeing you have Windows 7, format the partition to NTFS 160GB you want and then exit and boot WHS installer.
Or run the install from Windows 7.
In past, WHS supported TimeMachine, streaming video, supported iTunes (that was broken/disabled it seems by Apple with 10.0), as well as even SuperDuper backups.
Main idea is to have some network attached drives.
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I have both a ISO and Burned it to a dvd useing windows 7 built in ISO burning software, Its a 64 bit copy (got from microsoft download website from my dads microsoft account).
It is enouth for the OS but it runs slowish on the mac mini (latest core 2 duo 2.4ghz model) The Idea was to have it backup my pc and laptop to a usb drive and act as a media centre pc (connected to av receaver and tv and on a gigabit network with a 2TB nas)
Since it looks like this may not work, whats the best way to make it into a media centure? mac osx? windows 7? plex? whats best and good?
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Thank you for your quick response. I can then use a ZIP drive for data storage. I want to keep as much of my hard drive free of data as possible.

I want to instal windows 7 using bootcamp on my mac book pro and how large do i have to make the partition if i want to use it for gaming?

i want to instal windows 7 using bootcamp on my mac book pro and how large do i have to make the partition if i want to use it for gaming?

"At least 16 GB of free space on the disk onto which you’re installing for 32-bit, or 20 GB for 64-bit (for Microsoft Windows and Windows-based applications)."
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Install Windows 7 on a Mid 2010 Mac mini using USB or SD media?

Is is possible to install Windows 7 on a Mid 2010 Mac mini using USB or SD media? I have not figured this out. Here's what I have observed:
I can install OS X Lion using USB or SD media. Both are detected in the boot menu, and will boot.
An SD card with Windows 7 installation files formatted MBR/FAT32 using diskpart appears (with an SD card icon) in the boot menu but when selected as a boot device, the boot fails and the existing OS X instance on the Macintosh HD starts. A USB stick formatted as described does not appear in th boot menu at all.
An SD card or a USB stick formatted as described will boot on a Mid 2011 MacBook Air, and can be used to install Windows 7.
Is this due to EFI differences between a Mid 2010 Mac mini and a Mid 2011 MacBook Air?
Thanks.

The Mac Mini Mid 2010 has a DVD player built in, you can startup and install from a Windows 7 DVD. The Mac Mini Mid 2011 does not have a DVD player built in. I am happy that in new computers I can make use of an USB-stick to install Windows 7. Windows 7 uses MBR and Mac OS X uses EFI and that is why it was not possible on a Mac Mini Mid 2010. I think the EFI on a Mac Mini Mid 2011 is different.
I should like a firmware update on my Mac Mini Mid 2010 if possible. In that case I could choose between DVD or USB stick if I want to install Windows 7.
I also have a FireWire CF Card Reader. I think it is not possible to install Windows 7 via FireWire too.
I do have an external USB HD with 2 partitions: Mac OS X 10.6.8 and Windows 7, but is is not possible to start up Windows 7 from the external HD. It is possible to start up Mac OS X 10.6.8 from the external HD on a Mac Mini Mid 2010.

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