Bootcamp & XP problem!

[CaptainCocoPop]

Hi All,

This evening I went to install XP Pro on my new macbook, I had previously installed it via VMWare fusion and did a clean install of OS X 10.5 and decided to go with bootcamp this time.

I partitioned the HD, inserted the XP disc and it restarted and got the windows blue set up screen, opted to leave disk with current settings (bootcamp had picked this one?) and then install.

It seemed to start up fine, then it went black and came up with "Disk error, Press any key to restart".

Pressing any key doesn't work, I restarted using the power button and nothing happened with the XP disk in, then re-started with the OS X 10.5 disks and it went backto disk error yet again.

So now I can't do anything, it appears, what should I do?

Thanks in advance!

 

[jonbravo77]

Is it the Fat32 settings? Is the partition larger than 32 gigs? If it is larger you will need to do NTFS. 32 gigs partition is the largest for Fat32, that's why when you do the Boot Camp assistant it gives the 32 gig partition option.

 

[CaptainCocoPop]

No the partition isn't larger than 32 gigs, should it be?

I've tried everything now, booting with no disk in the laptop, booting with the XP disk and finally the OSX disks and it keeps coming up "Disk Error, Press any key to restart".

It appears to be a windows error, yet I've seemingly no ability to get into the already installed version of OS X, any ideas?

Cheers

 

[jonbravo77]

No the partition isn't larger than 32 gigs, should it be?

I've tried everything now, booting with no disk in the laptop, booting with the XP disk and finally the OSX disks and it keeps coming up "Disk Error, Press any key to restart".

It appears to be a windows error, yet I've seemingly no ability to get into the already installed version of OS X, any ideas?

Cheers

You can try again. restart the machine and hold the "Option" key until you see the option to boot into OSX or the Windows disk. Boot into OSX.

EDIT*** What size did you partition the drive?

 

[CaptainCocoPop]

You can try again. restart the machine and hold the "Option" key until you see the option to boot into OSX or the Windows disk. Boot into OSX.

Fantastic, thank you!

 

[Tonerl]

The leave-it-alone option is for people who are installing Windows on a PC that has already been formatted FAT32 (XP) or NTFS (XP or Vista) not for Boot Camp (which MS couldn't know about years in advance).

Apple specifically says that you should choose to format the partition using the Windows installer because it won't be bootable otherwise. Choose NT (Quick) and all should be well (Apple says!).

The amount of space that you allow XP will depend on what you intend to do with it: install programs, store data, etc. XP grows anyway because of updates. I have a 500GB (nominal) HDD and would allow XP 100GB or so. Whatever you do, err on the generous side.

HTH

 

[CaptainCocoPop]

Thanks! Yeah I allocated the full 32GB to the partition, formatted in NTFS and it's working nicely.

I don't intend on using windows much tbh so don't think I'll need much more space, and if it comes to it I can move whatever over to my external hdd.

Cheers.

 

[Gooseberry]

Similar problems

I'm glad to see the problem solved for this user, and I hope you don't mind my attempts to hijack this thread; the other threads I have found on this subject (on other sites) were really old!

From the initial description I have exactly the same problem, though I don't understand the solution? I have tried running boot camp through to the XP install using partitions above below and equal to the default setting and I get the same "press any key" message after the restart that does not hear my keyboard.

just to confirm.. I partition - press the link to run the windows installation - computer restarts with the blue screen and begins loading up lots of things (one solution I found was to press and hold f10 at this point as this should bring up a recovery screen? manually bringing up the option to format the partition as FAT or my desired one.. ntfs or some such jumble of letters - regardless, my attempts to either hold f10 or rapidly bash it were ignored, I just get the option to "install" (I think) pick the boot camp partition, this runs through, computer then restarts to the any key limbo.

Since this I have installed the trial of Parallels, which I am using to run windows right now. a partitioned boot camp install sounds more stable and reliable for games (which is what I pathetically am getting so worked up about) would it be possible to use the access to windows that parallels grants me to format a partitioned section of my HD then run the windows install through boot camp on that partition?

Or maybe I have provided enough info here for you guys to see if I have just missed something more obvious!

 

[burntpie]

The leave-it-alone option is for people who are installing Windows on a PC that has already been formatted FAT32 (XP) or NTFS (XP or Vista) not for Boot Camp (which MS couldn't know about years in advance).

Apple specifically says that you should choose to format the partition using the Windows installer because it won't be bootable otherwise. Choose NT (Quick) and all should be well (Apple says!).

The amount of space that you allow XP will depend on what you intend to do with it: install programs, store data, etc. XP grows anyway because of updates. I have a 500GB (nominal) HDD and would allow XP 100GB or so. Whatever you do, err on the generous side.

HTH

hi sorry for bringing up this old thread again but for some reason i cannot get to the part of the installer where it asks me to reformat the partition. (im installing windows XP) after i choose the partition it just immediately starts me on the setup.


can anyone help me on this? thanks in advance.