I’ve got a couple year old MacBook (OS X 10.5.7) that comes with Boot Camp, and according to Apple, I should be able to run Windows XP. So it seems like I should just download XP, but checking Microsoft’s website they don’t seem to be offering it anymore: just upgrades for those who already have it.
I’ve also heard very bad things about Vista.
So any suggestions on what I should do to get Windows running?
Thanks in advance for your help!
I bought a copy of XP on ebay.
I installed it on a BootCamp partition and they used that partition with Parallels. Now I can use Parallels most of the time, and boot into BootCamp if I need to use some specialized USB devices.
You can download Windows 7 release candidate for free from the MS website. It is beta, but stable. You won’t need to pay for a license until March. The buzz on wi
Win7 has been very positive, much better than Vista.
Parallels is great. You can run it in Coherence mode, which lets you run win programs on the Mac desktop. I keep the OSX dock on the side of the sceen and the Windows task bar on the bottom. Mac and Windows windows run side by side on the desktop seamlessly.
I’m not running bootcamp with my current installation. The file that contains the windows virtual machine can be expanded if needed. I think the size of the boot camp partition might be adjustable, but it seems to me that there would be a better chance of things going wrong.
As far as I know, you can’t just download a copy of windows from microsoft, you’ll have to buy an install CD somewhere.
Also, unless you really want to be in the situation where can only run either windows or mac os but not both at the same time, you get some sort of VM software, like parallels (which I’ve heard only good things about), or virtualbox (which is free, and it’s what I use) - that way you can start a virtual computer running windows while still running Mac OS, which is very useful if you only want to run a few short thing and/or want to share stuff between the Mac/Windows world.
You dont just walk into Mordor… err download XP. You need a disc and a valid license.
I dont recommend runing XP virtually. Macbooks barely run OS X, let along XP on top of that. I recommend dual booting for any usable performance.
Oh, that’s ridiculous.
My 1st Gen 2.0GHz MacBook runs OS X flawlessly (and fast), and runs XP in Parallels with no problems (except for USB support).
I know people who run OS X on 400MHz G3s, so please don’t try to say that a 2x 2.0GHz MacBook can “barely” run it!
Three ways;
1> Bootcamp alone. You install Windows in the bootcamp partition and boot from one side or the other (holding the Option key).
2> Parallels.
3> VMWare Fusion. Either of these is something in the neighborhood of $79.
Valid Windows Install Disk usually required.
Note: Don’t call Applecare for anything other than basic support on setting up the Bootcamp partition. They don’t support Windows and they don’t care if it’s on your Mac. You’re on your own or you need to call Microsoft for issues with Windows. (Former Applecare rep here - I hated getting those calls and getting some jerk who didn’t grok this. Look pal, just because you don’t feel like calling Microsoft doesn’t mean I’m going to suddenly turn into a Windows expert and support you.)
Dual boot OS’s will always vastly outperform a virtual machine setup so I’d recommend installing Win 7 and OSX side by side but I’d think you’d need to repartition your hard disk from GPT to GPT/NTFS–REFiT does a great job of managing multi-boot setups. Better yet, format the disk to NTFS and just install Win 7. Best yet, format it to XFS or ReiserFS and install Linux–then, if you want to get into virtualization, you can run whatever OS you want through VirtualBox without the bloated overhead of OSX or Win 7.
Dual-booting any OS on top of an existing OS will always bring in performance hits. Dual-booting is the way to go if you want to get serious work done in XP. My macbook experiences with XP have be underwhelming at best. If the OP just needs to access a couple apps then its not a big deal but once you start spending most of your time in the guest OS, then you will notice some real performance issues. Not to mention, 3D video and disk performance is terrible virtualized no matter what you do.