Vista Ultimate SP1 (retail dvd) will not install on new Mac Pro

Question

I wish to dedicate a new 1TB hard drive in Bay3 on a brand new Mac Pro for Vista Ultimate SP1, preferably 64-bit. I have tried several times to install a retail dvd version of Vista Ultimate with SP1 (both 32- and 64-bit) without success on two different hard drives (first the one in bay 3; then, after lack of success, the one in bay 4). The installation process does not proceed beyond the stage where Vista must format the hard drive. Vista always displays the message that Vista cannot be installed on a disk of the "GPT style." After giving up on the installation, the disk appears to Disk Utility as a "GUID" disk.
I am seeking advice from anyone who might be able to help me proceed. The remainder of this message provides more detail about what I have tried.
Before starting Boot Camp, I formatted the hard drives initially as MS-DOS FAT, and on later attempts, as Mac OS Extended (Journaled). Neither matters. After several attempts, I verified the functionality of the drives by partitioning them using Disk Utility and then repartitioning to one partition. Both 1TB drives appear healthy and can be partitioned and re-partitioned.
When Bootcamp Assistant (BC) calls for the Vista disk, the Vista installation proceeds until the stage when Vista calls for me to identify a hard drive partition for installation. After selecting the largest partition on drive 2 (in bay 3; size 931GB) , the BC Installation and Setup Guide instructs me to "format" the partition. When I do so, the following Windows error message appears:
"Windows cannot be installed to this disk. The selected disk is of the GPT partition style."
Based on some forum comments, I also tried a different procedure at this stage of the Vista installation. Instead of choosing "format," I first chose to "delete" the selected partition. The disk then appears as "unallocated space." I then chose "new" and "apply" in the hope that it would create a correct NTFS partition for Vista. It then appears as Partition 2 of either Disk 2 (or Disk 3, which I tried subsequently). However, the subsequent "format" still yields the same error.
I tried both procedures with Vista 64-bit and with Vista 32-bit. No difference.
Suggestions most welcome.

Answer 1

When I provided a link to threads about "Install Vista SP1 DVD" I knew and had in mind a couple threads where people have tried. And trying will help understand.
You don't need to format as NTFS on another PC when just installing MacFuse plus 3G driver extensions will let you do so on your Mac Pro. And that is just one option. There are always multiple ways to get to the same place.
Due to EFI changes there is a tool and tips on how to convert your DVD, but I didn't have time to go back and find and pull those together.
Installing SP1 DVD attempt without success:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1501656
http://www.ezbsystems.com/ultraiso/
MS OSCDIMG.exe
Yes, it’s a fairly long process and requires you to download stuff (and be running Windows in the first place) But, it does work as long as you follow the instructions correctly.
Convert DVD to ISO and prepare for EFI booting on Mac
tried rebooting about 10 times. No luck. Finally I pointed Parallels (free trial available) to my blank bootcamp partition and set parallels to boot from CD before HD. Parallels booted the Vista install CD just fine, and put Vista on my HD. Crashed at the end though and said it couldn't make the boot camp partition bootable so all changes were removed. Rebooted under boot camp and the installer came up fine off the CD.
So if you have this problem, and nobody else can help, and if you can find it, maybe you can download..... Parallels. Feel free to post this on the other threads. Unlike other workarounds I'm guessing this will work for everyone and it only takes a free trial download of parallels to give it a try. Still wish apple would acknowledge the problem and post a fix. Can't be that hard.
I think VMWare Fusion also supports vitualization with the bootcamp partition as the target so that may help you get around this install bug in boot camp(or the mac's firmware) too.
I would have thought that with Intel and Microsoft both saying they would begin to support UEFI with Vista SP1 64-bit, and Apple is part of the EFI Group, that "we're different" was a thing of the past. Instead it is harder.
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/windowsvista/sp1.mspx
Remember, Google is your friend (usually) - "Apple Vista SP1 64-bit DVD Install":
MacBook Pro Vista SP1 64-bit Install:
http://andersonshatch.wordpress.com/tag/vista-64-bit/
Oh, and while I read Apple KB changes daily, I have never seen anything address Vista SP1 64-bit install, support, etc mentioned once. Am I missing something? or is it MIA?