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Can windows be the only OS on a MB?

MadGoat

MadGoat

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Jul 30, 2007
1,179
130
Canada
My wife inherited my Macbook 13" but she is unable to grasp OS X and is a windows for life kinda girl. she's a writer and has a system very much down to an art and can't change it.

I tried, I really tried to get her to stay in OS X, but she's not into it. So, is there a way to make the MB run only windows on 100% of the HD?
 
MadGoat said:
My wife inherited my Macbook 13" but she is unable to grasp OS X and is a windows for life kinda girl. she's a writer and has a system very much down to an art and can't change it.

I tried, I really tried to get her to stay in OS X, but she's not into it. So, is there a way to make the MB run only windows on 100% of the HD?
Click to expand...

I think you could probably erase the drive fully and put Windows on it, but you might just be better off allocating as much space as possible to Windows in Boot Camp and leaving it at that. It would be much easier.
 
Geez, that's terrible news. Mac OS X is what makes a Mac a Mac. Otherwise it's just a nice-looking PC.

You've told her about all the viruses she has to deal with?
The incompatibly and inconsistencies with software?
How PCs in general just suck?

I guess to each his (or her) own, but it's sad to hear. I suppose it can also depend on how old your wife is (I think switching from PC to Mac can also be a generational thing). But to answer your question, yes it can be done. Using Boot Camp, install Windows. And then delete the Mac partition.

Perhaps you should leave just a small Mac partition, just in case? But just set the Mac to always boot using Windows (via the Startup Disk preferences).
 
You could tell her it's not possible in any way to install Windows on that model. Nah... just kidding. I thought you might need a laugh in this sad situation. :'(
 
I think its time to file for divorce :)

only kidding, let people use what works best for them. Using boot camp to allocate maximum space to Windows and keeping a small OS X partition is what I would suggest doing.
 
I have windows installed via bootcamp, but the problem is that I didn't make it all that large.. just 32 gb, now there's 288gb just sitting there doing nothing.

Will an application like partition magic work to delete and resize the win partition? or is there some other tool I can use to easily fixe the partition size?
 
Yeah I guess you can allocate mostly all the hard drive space for BootCamp and then in Windows you can just delete the OS X partition.

Like others have said, OS X is what makes it a Mac.
 
Also, at this point, there's no point for OS X on the MB, other than trouble shooting.. so if I destroy the OS X Partition, that's ok.
 
rgarjr said:
Yeah I guess you can allocate mostly all the hard drive space for BootCamp and then in Windows you can just delete the OS X partition.

Like others have said, OS X is what makes it a Mac.
Click to expand...

Heck, I guess, I can leave windows at 32GB and move the Documents and settings folder to the D:/ that will be made after removing the OS X partition.
 
MadGoat said:
I have windows installed via bootcamp, but the problem is that I didn't make it all that large.. just 32 gb, now there's 288gb just sitting there doing nothing.

Will an application like partition magic work to delete and resize the win partition? or is there some other tool I can use to easily fixe the partition size?
Click to expand...

Can you not change the partition size in disk utility?

Fabian

Edit: Change the size in OS X that is...
 
fabian9 said:
Can you not change the partition size in disk utility?

Fabian

Edit: Change the size in OS X that is...
Click to expand...

It can be a bitch and not let you resize your Boot Camp partition.

The OP's best bet is to get WinClone, make an image of it on his OS X partition, and then recreate the Windows partition much larger than before. Then he can restore the WinClone image to the Boot Camp partition.
 
Fail.

Apple has free workshops at apple store. It only takes few minutes to show a new mac user how to use it.

You need osx for firmware updates, and for the lack of virus, lack of maintenance experience.
 
you can have windows only but it is really slow to boot. i would make osx as little as possible and just set it to boot to windows every time.
 

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Writers don't change well. Try taking away their favorite pen or maybe the baseball cap that helps them think. God forbid you break their writing coffee mug!!! (Or over use exclamation marks!)

Okay, I would do what's been suggested and make the Windows partition as large as possible. But I would leave at least 20g for OS X. You will need to boot into OS X for maintenance from time to time.

Once you're booted into Widows you can open Bootcamp and change the settings so the MacBook boots into the Windows OS as default.

Just a side note. If she's a Word user she may find using OS X more tolerable if she gets MS Office for Mac. Then she wouldn't have to go back to Windows.
 
shouldberunning said:
Writers don't change well. Try taking away their favorite pen or maybe the baseball cap that helps them think. God forbid you break their writing coffee mug!!! (Or over use exclamation marks!)

Okay, I would do what's been suggested and make the Windows partition as large as possible. But I would leave at least 20g for OS X. You will need to boot into OS X for maintenance from time to time.

Once you're booted into Widows you can open Bootcamp and change the settings so the MacBook boots into the Windows OS as default.

Just a side note. If she's a Word user she may find using OS X more tolerable if she gets MS Office for Mac. Then she wouldn't have to go back to Windows.
Click to expand...

I tried to get her to use Office for mac, but she doesn't like the look and feel, I even put Word 2007 through Cross over, but the whole experience in OS X isn't her thing ... I guess I will just leave a small partition for os X for firmware updates.
 
I'd make a 10gb partiion for osx so you can do firmware updates & use the rest for windows. It's pointless trying to "convert" somebody when they are happy with windows.
 
as others have posted, you can use windows but leave a small osx partition incase your wife ever decides to switch. also, it's good to have if your macbook experiences hardware issues and you need to send it in for repair. it's easier to diagnose if it has osx loaded on it.
 
uaecasher said:
just sell it and get PC
Click to expand...

exactly, if she wants a windows machine and she's the only one that will be using it, sell the mac and buy a windows pc.
back up everything, sell the mac, buy the new one, get everything back into the new one and be done with it
 
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