Running XP under bootcamp on an mac. Need to wipe and reinstall XP!

[Stan Shmenge]

Because the XP partition is loaded with viri and I have given up. I the XP install disk, code numbers, etc. Anybody done this? How should I proceed? I have googled the heck out of this and no joy.

[The Tao's Revenge]

I wouldn't touch "bootcamp" with a 10 foot pole personally. Standard x86 systems work fine and are at better price point thank you. If I did need to install OSX there's perfectly functional hacks for that, and I've done so in the past.

That said I found this. Basically you can just use your XP cd like normal on a normal computer if you have less than 4 OSX partitions. If you have more than 4 then you need to hide the OSX partitions and the article tells you how.

[Sunspace]

Run "Boot Camp Assistant" and print the user guide. Follow the instructions on page 22 to remove Windows by deleting the Windows partition. Then create a new Windows partition from scratch, and reinstall XP.

Make sure that your Boot Camp Assistant is the latest version. I believe that XP service pack 3 will only install through Boot Camp 2.1, not 2.0.

Edit: although these days I'm running XP in a virtual machine instead of from a Boot Camp partition. Much more convenient.

[gotpasswords]

Originally Posted by Sunspace

Edit: although these days I'm running XP in a virtual machine instead of from a Boot Camp partition. Much more convenient.

Same here. When you run Windows or any other "guest" OS, it exists as a big file on your disk, which makes it really easy to back up and restore.

One minor caveat to this is that your user files (eg: "My Documents") should be saved to another drive. Most VM systems let you set up a directory on the host computer's drive that looks like a network share which serves the dual function of making them easy to back up independently from the virtual system and let them be accessed by the host computer.

[TimeWinder]

Originally Posted by The Tao's Revenge

I wouldn't touch "bootcamp" with a 10 foot pole personally. Standard x86 systems work fine and are at better price point thank you. If I did need to install OSX there's perfectly functional hacks for that, and I've done so in the past.

Uh, I doubt very much he can get a better price point than free, since he ALREADY OWNS THE MAC AND THE COPY OF WINDOWS. I know it's fashionable to hate Macs and all, but let's be reasonable, shall we?

Originally Posted by Sunspace

Edit: although these days I'm running XP in a virtual machine instead of from a Boot Camp partition. Much more convenient.

Alternatively, don't choose. Install Boot Camp, then point either Parallels or VMWare Fusion at that partition. You can get the convenience of the virtual machine for day-to-day stuff, and still be able to boot to "real" windows if you want to play a high-end game. (And you definitely don't want to go VM if the Mac is high-end: they'll limit both the video card and the number of processors available to you).