Saturday, September 26, 2009

Windows XP on Mac

You have been married to Windows Operating System for years and know every screw and bolt of it. But you lately started dating this gorgeously sexy "Mac book Air". 

What will you do ? How will you manage both ? 
Seems like a tough task ?
Good News is - It is as easy as ordering a pizza over phone.
 
Let's do it step by step :

Gyan- If you have Mac OS X v10.5 or higher, you will have this utility called "Boot Camp". It will assist you in installing  Microsoft Windows XP or Vista

Action - Go to Application -> Utilities -> Boot Camp Assistant. Once you click you will get this screen 

Take the print out of Installation & Setup Guide , you will feel better.
Once you press the continue button , your Mac will ask you to create a new partition for Windows. 
You have to give at least 5 GB for Windows Operating System. Have a look


Gyan- Your Mac is ready for Windows now. Choose Windows XP Home or Professional or you may go for Windows Vista Home, Basic, Premium , Business or Ultimate . But you need a single full-install Windows Installation disc(service pack 2 or later is required for Windows XP)

Action - Let's Install Windows now. I hope you havn't shut the boot camp assistant. If yes open again and select "Stat the windows installer" and press continue

Now insert your Windows Installation disc. The screen should look like this 



Click "start installation" and the next screen you see will be very familiar.



Now just follow the instructions.
You have to choose between "FAT" and "NTFS" format. I suggest choose "FAT"( even if it is not your type :-) ) because it will allow you to read and write files from Mac operating system. Though NTFS is more reliable and secure 

Sit back and relax , in couple of minutes your Mac will install windows and restart itself. Take out the Windows Installation CD from the drive.

Gyan- Your Mac OS CD is important to complete the installation. It holds the drivers of Mac and will be required for installation on Windows.

Action - You Mac has Windows now, So next progressive step is to install various drivers. Use your Mac OS CD to install drivers that support Mac Components like Networking, Graphics, Audio, Wireless, Apple Remote, Built-in display drivers, bluetooth etc. 

Mac OS X disc also installs the Boot Camp control panel for Windows and the Apple Boto Camp system tray item. 
Your Mac is ready to use now


One last thing, right now the control is with Mac if you want Mac to start with Windows at the startup . You have to go to System Preference ->Startup Disk and Choose Windows


We are done, you can enjoy best of both worlds now -Your favourite machine and your favourite operating system

3 comments:

  1. That is an extremely smart written article. I will be sure to bookmark it and return to learn extra of your useful information. Thank you for the post. I will certainly return.

    ReplyDelete
  2. It was very useful for me. Keep sharing such ideas in the future as well. This was actually what I was looking for, and I am glad to came here! Thanks for sharing the such information with us.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Blogging is the new poetry. I find it wonderful and amazing in many ways.

    ReplyDelete