Installing XP with OEM + Upgrade

Question

I found this post in a recent thread:
From: Blah_jg
I had the same issue using a OEM full version of XP Pro. The OEM version did not present me with the option to reformat. I had an Windows XP Update version from a previous PC install. I used it and selected the "repair" option. The repair option gave me a command prompt. At the command prompt I used the format c: /FS command. You can find all the options for this DOS command by doing google search. I did have to first format first NTFS then I ran it again and formatted FAT32. The update disk was used to format only not install. Once that was done, I was able to install the OEM version on this newly formatted boot camp volume. I now have my bootcamp disk formatted to FAT32 with XP on it. I am able to browse the windows partition from Mac OS and drag and drop files to folders. I also installed Fusion afterwards and it recognized it and works great as well.
Can someone make sense of all of this? And then possibly post a step by step guide as to how to do this? Because I have both an OEM version of XP SP2 AND an upgrade installation disc so I will hopefully be able to do this but I'm not understanding what this user did.
When I insert the upgrade disc, I pressed "R" and got to the command prompt screen of the Recovery Console. But I don't understand what to type here. And also, is this after I've installed Windows? Or before that but after partitioning with Boot Camp? Or before everything? It's not clear in this post.
Any help is appreciated.
Thanks,
Joe

Answer 1

I know, it's not very well said here.
Basically what I want to do is install Windows XP with SP2 through Boot Camp on my Mac. But it seems anyone who has an OEM full version of XP never gets the screen that allows them to reformat the Boot Camp partition to FAT or NTFS format. It's supposed to happen during the first phase of the XP install (the one with the blue screen background and that looks like a DOS screen). In the Boot Camp manual, on page 9 is where we pick the partition to use, ie. the Bootcamp one, and then on page 10 is where it says we choose how to reformat that partition. Well it is page 10 of the manual that we don't see when we try to install an OEM full version of XP. So the install works up to 100% and then the Mac reboots but then gives the black screen of "Disk error, press any key to continue" which is a dead screen where nothing works. Sometimes the disc is spat out also and the 2nd phase of the installation with the XP screen, as opposed to the DOS one, never happens. Also, on the Mac partition, the Boot Camp partition appears on the desktop still called "BOOTCAMP" and it is filled with files and folders belonging to XP.
Now this user has apparently had the same issue with the OEM full version... got as far as I and many others on the forums here have, but then also had another copy of XP, one that he called an "Update" version, which I think might be the same as an upgrade version. I too have an upgrade version (an Academic Upgrade version of XP with SP2). When that is inserted after the first XP disc is spat out, it takes us to that blue DOS screen that we see with the first XP installation disc but we now have 3 different options. One is to "Exit" one is to try to install XP, which won't work because it ALONE is not a full version of XP, and the third option is to "Repair" an XP partition.
Now for this user, he/she knew what to do after choosing the "Repair" option... it gives a black DOS screen with the DOS prompt and according to the user, we can reformat the Boot Camp partition using a specific command prompt (basically perform the step that is missing from the manual) and somehow complete the rest of the installation. This is where I get lost.
I firstly don't understand how to repair/reformat in that black DOS screen step, nor when in the entire process (starting from partitioning in Boot Camp and ending with the first XP full OEM edition being spat out, I'm supposed to do the repair option. Do I do it after the partition is complete in Boot Camp and before I begin installing the OEM version? Or at the very end of the OEM install... either way, I don't know how to do it anyway.
So I was wondering if someone had done this before or if the user could post a detailed description of the steps and how to perform each one for the uninitiated like me who find DOS just impossible to work with.
*takes a breath*
Thanks,
Joe