I will have my revenge on you William Henry Gates III!

August 1, 2008 10:50 AM

I own a 17" Macbook Pro and up until now, I have seen absolutely no need to take advantage of Boot Camp and install Windows on my Mac, but I recently ran into a program that I now use quite often and now I need to install Windows on my Mac. Its basically just to use this one program, but I'd like to keep the option open for PC gaming on the Windows side in the future. But it gets kinda complicated after that...

I'm a CG animator, so I use Maya on my Mac, but I also own a Boxx system (www.boxxtech.com), which I bought during college and has served me well. It came with a copy of Windows XP Professional SP1 which I promptly lost in the ensuing 5 years after I've graduated from college but for which Boxx promptly sent me a burned replacement disk. I still have the Windows XP Pro registration sticker for SP1 stuck to the side of my CPU so I figure the license is still good.

But in the instructions for Boot Camp its says that I need to install XP Pro SP2 onto a partitioned drive. I know my Boxx system has since been updated (via Automatic Updates in Windows) to SP2 - is there any way to get a SP2 disk from Microsoft to use with my SP1 activation code? Is this even possible? Am I going about this all wrong? Should I be using some sort of virtualization software like Parallels or VMWare Fusion? If I do need to pony up for XP Pro AGAIN, where's the cheapest place to get it?

These are my questions. What say you AskMefI?

posted by AsRuinsAreToRome to Technology (15 answers total)

Not sure about the SP1/2 issues.

But when I installed Bootcamp and XP on my Mac, I just bought an XP disc from a 3rd party seller on Amazon. I paid around $80 I think.
posted by drjimmy11 at 10:56 AM on August 1, 2008

oh and I use Windows like 90% of the time on my Mac.

If you only use one Windows program, VM might be the better route for you. With Bootcamp you have to literally restart the machine to change OS's. I don't use them, but I'm sure someone will chime in with which software is best.
posted by drjimmy11 at 10:58 AM on August 1, 2008

You can easily create a slipstreamed XP SP2/SP3 disc. Here is a lifehacker article. You might need windows to do it :).

However I wouldn't count out using your XP SP1 disc to install Windows then updating to SP2/SP3 before you install any of the Apple software/drivers.
posted by wongcorgi at 10:59 AM on August 1, 2008

Then again, if you want to run hardcore PC games, not sure how they perform under a VM. Sorry, I'll stop now and let someone more informed take over.
posted by drjimmy11 at 10:59 AM on August 1, 2008

Response by poster: @woncorgi-

Can I make a Slipstreamed SP3 disk if all I have is a SP1 install disk (thats burned no less).
posted by AsRuinsAreToRome at 11:01 AM on August 1, 2008

I can say for sure that Civ4 for Windows does not work in the VMWare Fusion installation of XP I have on my Macbook pro. So there's one datapoint against PC gaming in a VM.
posted by COBRA! at 11:02 AM on August 1, 2008

VMWare Fusion is really, really good. I use it almost every day for both simple stuff ("this website only works in IE7") or weird stuff like a particular utility program or tool that's Windows only, and it's very very good.

Civ4 for Mac is good, you don't need the Windows version. :)
posted by rokusan at 11:05 AM on August 1, 2008

Response by poster: @rokusan-

Thats all well and good, and I plan on picking up VMware Fusion, but I still need a Windows XP Pro SP2 install disk, correct?
posted by AsRuinsAreToRome at 11:08 AM on August 1, 2008

This Lifehacker article is great and includes step-by-step instructions for running Windows in both Bootcamp and Parallels, including to a link to how to Slipstream to SP2 which should work with what you've got on hand.
posted by hydropsyche at 11:09 AM on August 1, 2008

@OP -

All you need are the Windows XP original install bits (which you have). If you follow that link, you'll see how the whole procedure is done.
posted by wongcorgi at 12:01 PM on August 1, 2008

What exactly is this windows program that you need to use on your mac. Most windows programs work well with wine and wine runs on Mac OS X. That way, you don't even need to buy a copy of windows to run your program.
posted by killa62 at 12:14 PM on August 1, 2008

drjimmy11 - Why in the world did you buy a Mac if you use Windows 90% of the time?
posted by xmutex at 12:46 PM on August 1, 2008

Most likely you have an OEM XP license from the boxx system. You would then need an OEM XP SP2 disc. The installer doesnt care what SP is on there, if its the right type of disc then it will work.

You'll need that OEM disc. I doubt your license will work with a volume disc, but you might get lucky with a retail disc. You can also contact boxx and ask for replacement media.

You must wipe the boxx system if you want to use this license. Microsoft wont let you run two instances of XP with one license.

If I do need to pony up for XP Pro AGAIN, where's the cheapest place to get it?

Ebay. You can usually find a retail XP Home disc and license for under 100.
posted by damn dirty ape at 2:41 PM on August 1, 2008

Sorry, AsRuins, yes you'll still need a legit XP install disk. I was addressing the "Boot Camp" and "partition" parts of your question -- you don't need Boot Camp and you don't need to reformat your drive or make a partition to use VMWare Fusion.
posted by rokusan at 3:47 PM on August 1, 2008

Semi-hijack...I've found Crossover much easier to use than Wine, even though it costs. Application support is still spotty, though. I've used Bootcamp and Parallels, both of which work great (even together), but occupied too much hard drive space on my 100GB drive.
posted by lhauser at 11:08 AM on August 2, 2008