Boot Camp fails, Partition or What else?

[caseyw]

Hello,

I've been trying to install windows for quite a while, so that I may use some Windows specific software and a few games. But unfortunately I can't.

I tried at first giving windows with Boot Camp 45gbs, it told me 'some files cannot be moved'. I ran iDefrag with a Quick On-line defragmentation. That worked, I tried again with Boot Camp and it started to partition and told me 'some files cannot be moved'. So I'm debating two ideas:

1. Boot form Leopard disc and format the hard drive and manually creating 2 partitions or just formatting it, migrate my backup drive to it, then run boot camp again.

2. Try to install windows on an external hard drive using a mac.

Any ideas would help. It's making me very angry.

Specifications: 1st Generation Intel iMac 20" (Snow), 84GBs free

 

[Riverside]

Don't mean to ask such an obvious question, but have you printed and followed to the letter EVERY instruction from the Bootcamp installation guide (I think it's about 20 pages long)? One of several mistakes can cause it to fail.

 

[iwuzbord]

this may also seem like a stupid question but,

exactly which version of windows are you using?

Windows xp without SP2 isnt supported.
that became my problem.

 

[Riverside]

Excellent point. It MUST be SP2 minimum.

 

[caseyw]

I'm trying to install XP SP3. But that's not the real problem right now. The problem is that I can't partition the drive because it keeps giving me 'some files cannot be moved'. I tried iDefrag, but that wasn't able to fix it enough to the point that it could partition effectively.

I have not printed the installation instructions but I plan to save it and place it on our other computer. As I don't have the ink to spare twenty something pages. But I will get to it.

 

[TheVendor]

There's probably a faster way than what I'm going to suggest, but I'm pretty sure this will work...

Assuming that you have a recent Time Machine backup, you could boot using the Leopard install disc, and use Disk Utility to reformat the drive. Then just restore from your backup. After doing this, continue with setting up Boot Camp.

I had been having the same issue that you are, and doing that fixed it for me.

 

[caseyw]

There's probably a faster way than what I'm going to suggest, but I'm pretty sure this will work...

Assuming that you have a recent Time Machine backup, you could boot using the Leopard install disc, and use Disk Utility to reformat the drive. Then just restore from your backup. After doing this, continue with setting up Boot Camp.

I had been having the same issue that you are, and doing that fixed it for me.

I could definitely do that, I'll just have to find the time. And make sure I have the correct CDs first.

 

[caseyw]

I have one more question/alternative. Would it be possible to boot from the Windows Installation disc and use it to install on my external Firewire Hard Drive? And boot from it into Windows from the Mac? If so, I might just do that instead.

 

[caseyw]

I was able to look around and booted my iMac from the Windows CD a couple times and isolated something. I have two drives I can install windows on. One is my internal hard drive. It shows me I have 235 ± 5gbs, and another drive that has 476 ± 2gbs. The 476 one is my external Firewire HDD. I'm wondering, would it be possible to install it onto this. It is my Time Machine drive, so would I have to format it beforehand? Or is it even possible to install windows onto it even though it shows up in windows installation setup?

 

[TheVendor]

If you are able to choose to partition the external Firewire HDD from the Boot Camp Assistant, then yes, you should be able to install Windows on it without damaging anything (do not boot from the Windows install disc and use that to create the partition).

If there is no option in the Boot Camp Assistant to partition your external drive, then I would suggest that you don't attempt it.

Since I'm not sure about this, it would be appreciated if someone could confirm/deny what I'm saying.

 

[caseyw]

If you are able to choose to partition the external Firewire HDD from the Boot Camp Assistant, then yes, you should be able to install Windows on it without damaging anything (do not boot from the Windows install disc and use that to create the partition).

If there is no option in the Boot Camp Assistant to partition your external drive, then I would suggest that you don't attempt it.

Since I'm not sure about this, it would be appreciated if someone could confirm/deny what I'm saying.

Hmm. I'm not sure Boot Camp allows you to create partitions on external HDD, but I should double check. But what I find weird is that generally in many cases that Firewire drives are unable to do this because the drivers for them usually load when Windows starts up, so I'm trying to figure out can it really install XP onto the Firewire drive. If it can, I'll probably format it into 2 partitions, one for Time Machine and one for Windows. That leaves another question, will Time Machine work off a partition from an external HDD? My guess is probably. Since I'm only going to give Windows about 80GBs.

 

[TheVendor]

Yes, Time Machined will be able to work with a partitioned external drive. So there just remains the question of whether Boot Camp Assistant allows you to create the partition and if Windows will be able to install onto it... let us know if you find out

 

[caseyw]

Yes, Time Machined will be able to work with a partitioned external drive. So there just remains the question of whether Boot Camp Assistant allows you to create the partition and if Windows will be able to install onto it... let us know if you find out

Very cool. Apparently you can. You just have to hold Option-Command-Shift-Delete when booting up to search for optional startup media. I'm about to format my external HDD with 2 partitions, one is Mac OSX Journaled, and the other I'm thinking FAT but it's 115 gbs instead of 32, or should I make the windows partition just 'Free Space' instead of FAT? I'm a bit confused.

 

[caseyw]

I think I might just go with Free Space and let windows installer format it itself.

 

[caseyw]

Well, I've booted from the windows disc and already partitioned my ext. HDD with Disk Utility. Wish me luck that I don't accidentally click the wrong disc!

 

[caseyw]

Okay so that didn't work.

I have 2 different discs now. One is a Windows 98 installation disc. Another a Windows XP SP2 upgrade disc. Is it possible to use Boot Camp to install Windows 98 then upgrade to XP SP2?

 

[hogfaninga]

Okay so that didn't work.

I have 2 different discs now. One is a Windows 98 installation disc. Another a Windows XP SP2 upgrade disc. Is it possible to use Boot Camp to install Windows 98 then upgrade to XP SP2?

No.

 

[caseyw]

No.

Actually, I've been researching, you can. But you need to slipstream it. I have the correct materials but the tutorial I found has a couple steps that don't work properly. I just need to find a way to slipstream these CDs together without a Windows or Linux computer. If someone could help me find this, I'd appreciate it.

 

[TheVendor]

Actually, I've been researching, you can. But you need to slipstream it. I have the correct materials but the tutorial I found has a couple steps that don't work properly. I just need to find a way to slipstream these CDs together without a Windows or Linux computer. If someone could help me find this, I'd appreciate it.

What he meant is that you won't be able to install Windows 98 in Boot Camp. It only supports Windows XP SP2 and Vista.

 

[caseyw]

What he meant is that you won't be able to install Windows 98 in Boot Camp. It only supports Windows XP SP2 and Vista.

Okay. Little misunderstanding.

Though would it be possible to install with an XP SP2 upgrade disc, then to qualify it use an external CD drive and insert Win98? Or would I be able to use an external hard drive and extracting the disk image from it and place the disk image on my external hard drive?

 

[TheVendor]

Still not quite sure what you intend to use the Win98 disc for... but just know that there are no Boot Camp drivers for anything before XP.