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Bootcamp on a 2012 mini question

Mattjeff

Mattjeff

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jun 2, 2008
263
3
Is there an easy solution to putting windows, via boot camp, on my Mini? I didn't and don't want to purchase a SuperDrive for my mini because I have my wife's laptop (air drive). Is the cd the only method and if I can't get it to work is there a method with a USB thumb drive?

Thanks!
 
The Bootcamp installer on the latest mini allows you to create a USB boot drive from a Windows .iso image.

Mattjeff said:
Is there an easy solution to putting windows, via boot camp, on my Mini? I didn't and don't want to purchase a SuperDrive for my mini because I have my wife's laptop (air drive). Is the cd the only method and if I can't get it to work is there a method with a USB thumb drive?

Thanks!
Click to expand...
 
paulrbeers said:
Can't you just copy the DVD to a thumb drive and make it bootable?

http://lifehacker.com/5423747/windo...l-lets-you-install-windows-from-a-thumb-drive
Click to expand...

I have a windows xp professional already and from what I see online buying windows 7 will run me $79(?) from a reputable store.

jdryyz said:
The Bootcamp installer on the latest mini allows you to create a USB boot drive from a Windows .iso image.
Click to expand...

Can I create an .iso image from my windows XP professional cd?
 
I guess I should also state my mini has two SSDs, (240GB) one being blank. I want to put an 80-120GB partition for windows on my blank drive to run windows under boot camp and parallels but its got me a bit confused. It all very straight forward on a laptop but now that I have 2 hard drives and no CD drive I'm lost in the sauce haha.

I plan on putting games and Microsoft office on it.
 
I tried that for awhile (BootCamp that is).
The problem I had was making a backup of the Windows partition, especially with XP Pro. SuperDuper doesn't copy the BootCamp stuff. New WinClone only works with newer Windows OS.
I went with Parallels - no partition and I can backup with SD.
 
If you already have the Windows CD/DVD, in my opinion the easiest thing to do would be to use an external optical drive. It doesn't have to be Apple's superdrive, which is a little too expensive - I used a generic LG one, and it worked well for me. You could pick up one of those for about £20 (in the UK) I guess, which is significant savings compared to the superdrive.

PLUS, I am really not sure whether Apple's superdrive will work with Windows once you are on bootcamp, so it might be best to have a generic external drive anyway, in case you want to install Windows-only software.
 
Stay away from Bootcamp! It needs messing with your harddrive, fixing a partition size for Windows, and it is horrible slow (with all the booting).

Virtual Box version 4 is free and has become so good, it makes Bootcamp look like a clown. Only use Bootcamp for hardcore gaming, but you need an iMac with 980MX for that, on the HD4000 it is not an option.

For example: Virtual Box Windows with Win 8 pro 64 bit boots in 15 seconds! That is on the default friggin slow 5400RPM drive, and including me typing the login password!
Even a dedicated Windows PC is not that fast!
And then I even forgot to save the state. That allows you to start Windows in 5 seconds and continue working where you left.
It also allows copy-paste between mac and windows.
 
You can install windows directly from an ISO image which worked fine for me. I have Windows 8 64bit working great through boot camp.

While a virtual solution has flexibility, you do compromise resources by sharing it open with the sox operating system, which is why many would prefer a pure and separate windows environment, as well as those that use it for resource intensive applications which include encoding, rendering, CAD, photoshop, video editing as well as gaming of course.
 
jpxdude said:
While a virtual solution has flexibility, you do compromise resources by sharing it open with the sox operating system
Click to expand...

For me it feels quite the opposite. The VM is much snappier than a native install, and restart/boot is a total clown on Bootcamp. Booting Win 8pro 64 bit virtual on a 5400rpm drive takes 15 seconds! Try that on Bootcamp! And you can copy-paste between Mac, use a Windows app from your OSX dock and don't even know it is running in Windows. Bootcamp is old-day tech. Skip it.
 
I use VirtualBox at work (I'm a web developer) and currently on my Mini and found this interesting: http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/arti...llels-fusion-and-virtualbox-against-boot-camp

... and especially this:

20120917_vmbench_2.jpg
 
I have borrowed a CD drive for my mini but when I go to install windows through bootcamp it can never get past downloading the windows support files. After a bit of digging around I see that some people have been able to download it directly from apples page but I don't know which on should work on my 2012 Mini (Model Identifier: Macmini6,2). Anyone know which I should download?
 
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