Mac Pro, Vista, XP

[induce]

Hey folks,

Getting a new desktop computer next week, a Mac Pro in fact and I was wondering about how to have it set up. Currently I'm using OS X as the primary system for my MacBook and I have a Boot Camp installation of XP SP3 and a virtualized installation of Vista via VMWare.

What I would want to do on the Mac Pro is have 'real' installations of both XP and Vista (I have keys, don't worry) but since Boot Camp does only allow me to create one partition (I think?) would it be possible to create these partitions yourself instead via the Disk Utility tool during OS X installation? I want an installation that I can boot up into fully for everything to work as smooth as possible and since VMWare can boot Boot Camp operating systems as well, all the better.

Don't ask me why I would want Windows on my Mac, there are several reasons ;-)

Thanks in advance!

 

[Neil321]

I hope I'm right here as its what id like to do once i get my pro ( waiting for Nehalem ) but a pro has more than one HDD tray so i think its possible to have say OS X in bay 1, XP in bay 2 etc

 

[The Flashing Fi]

One thing that I think might work is having 2 partitions to start off with. For one partition, give it the space you want OS X to have. For the other partition, give it the space Vista and XP would have added together if you could make 3 partitions. You can do this with Boot Camp.

For instance, if you have a 99 gb HDD, you would give 33 gigs to OS X, and 66 gigs for Vista and XP, later to be partitioned for Vista and XP as 33 and 33 each. Obviously, you can seperate it any way that you want.

So, with that done, install XP first (this is important to save you a lot of hassle later on), BUT, in the installation, you'll come up to where it asks where you want to install XP to. Delete the boot camp partition (it will likely be formatted to NTFS to save you time). You then should have your OS X partition and unpartitioned space. Select the unpartitioned space, and it should ask you how much you want to use for XP. Enter in the amount of space you want XP to have, the rest will remain unpartitioned.

Then, it should format that partition and install XP.

After doing that, you'll want to install Vista. Vista will ask you where you want to install it to. You'll see the unpartitioned space. Select that and there should be something like a "create" button and you'll want to use all that unpartitoned space for Vista (it should be pretty intuitive). It will format the unformatted space and install Vista.

Assuming nothing horrible went wrong, when you turn on your Mac you should be presented with Mac OS X's boot selector screen after holding down option. You'll see OSX and Windows. If you select OS X, you'll go straight into Mac OS X. If you select Windows, you'll come up to another bootloader that asks you whether you want to boot into XP or Vista. Select which one you want to go into, and it should work.

This method should work and it's really simpler than it reads. Basically, setup 2 partitions. Install Mac OS X, partition the 2nd partition and install XP on one and then Install Vista on the other.

If you want it setup so that you get the pretty Apple boot selector to have Mac OS X, XP, and Vista, I don't know off the top of my head. I'm sure Google has some answers for you.

 

[Neil321]

.If you want it setup so that you get the pretty Apple boot selector to have Mac OS X, XP, and Vista, I don't know off the top of my head. I'm sure Google has some answers for you.

rEFit is what i think your thinking off ???, anyways Fi isn't what i posted possible with a pro as i do hope it is ??

 

[The Flashing Fi]

rEFit is what i think your thinking off ???, anyways Fi isn't what i posted possible with a pro as i do hope it is ??

I think so. I only have a Macbook Pro, so that limits my options. I was just under the assumption the OP had only one disk.

I'm not even 100% sure if what I said would even work, since I've never tried, but I see no reason as to why your method, my method or rEFit wouldn't work.

 

[Neil321]

I think so. I only have a Macbook Pro, so that limits my options. I was just under the assumption the OP had only one disk.I'm not even 100% sure if what I said would even work, since I've never tried, but I see no reason as to why your method, my method or rEFit wouldn't work.

Ok thanks, i viewed induces post differently & thought if he/she is getting a pro then they would want to get another disk rather than splitting the one, i have MBP also that's why i wasn't sure about my original post

 

[induce]

Thanks for your replies guys. rEFIt is pretty much exactly what I was after. Wondering how safe this method is though? Is there a chance that I might screw up the whole boot process?

 

[Neil321]

Thanks for your replies guys. rEFIt is pretty much exactly what I was after. Wondering how safe this method is though? Is there a chance that I might screw up the whole boot process?

You can burn it to a CD have alook at the installing section