New to Mac – big dilemma (need windows on MacBook air)

[financeguy]

I just bought a Macbook Air and have a huge problem. I need windows on it and all I have is an old xp home “upgrade edition” cd without either SP1 or SP2. I would be happy to buy the full retail windows 7 when it comes out but that won’t be until Oct 22nd and I need to use Windows right away.

I could buy an old window 98 upgrade on the web for $20, but I’ve read that that I can’t use the 98 disk during installation. Also I’ve read that I can only use xp home with SP2. What is the best advise you guys can give me?

[SnowLeopard2008]

All you can do is buy Windows. What can we do to help you?

[^^ CoolMacLover]

All you can do is buy Windows. What can we do to help you?

Thats about it. There is no patches or fix that allow older windows (i think) so yer best thing is to go out and buy maybe a second hand windows xp with SP's

see even windows makes problems on mac :p

[badger-w]

I can see why $20 for Windows 98 is a more attractive option than several times that for XP, especially if you only need it to tide you over for a couple of months until Windows 7 comes out.

It's not practical to run anything earlier than XP natively on your Mac, but Windows 98 should run fine under VirtualBox (http://www.virtualbox.org/), which is completely free and has built in preset configurations for every version of Windows since 3.1

[Infrared]

I just bought a Macbook Air and have a huge problem. I need windows on it and all I have is an old xp home “upgrade edition” cd without either SP1 or SP2. I would be happy to buy the full retail windows 7 when it comes out but that won’t be until Oct 22nd and I need to use Windows right away.

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7/get/download.aspx

[frogger2020]

Use your old Win XP disk and download SP3. Search on google to find out how to make a slipstreamed version of Win XP SP3. There are plenty of free ways to do that. You will now have a Win XP disk with SP3 built in, which you can then load into boot camp.

Problem solved!

[financeguy]

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7/get/download.aspx

I heard that there are major heating issues with the Windows 7 RC because the drivers for windows 7 have not been released yet or something like that.

I'll research this slipstream method. I still need to get the windows 98 I think so that my upgrade edition will work.

[clevin]

I heard that there are major heating issues with the Windows 7 RC because the drivers for windows 7 have not been released yet or something like that.

I'll research this slipstream method. I still need to get the windows 98 I think so that my upgrade edition will work.

no, you can't install win 98 on a mac in the first place since apple don't allow it, so there is no update can be done at all.

what you can do, is put out $40 to buy a VM and run win 98 on it.

[Stridder44]

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7/get/download.aspx

Amen to that. Just run the Win7 RC until October. Even in its beta state, this is a better option than wasting money on Vista or XP at this point.

I heard that there are major heating issues with the Windows 7 RC because the drivers for windows 7 have not been released yet or something like that.

I'll research this slipstream method. I still need to get the windows 98 I think so that my upgrade edition will work.

There aren't really heating issues so much as your case may feel a little warm under Windows. But this is mostly driver related (fan speed) so hopefully Boot Camp 3 will fix this. Vista drivers work fine under 7 too. I say give it a try. The download is free, you have nothing to lose.

Also, Windows 98 will not run under Boot Camp. If for some horrible reason you must run it, your best bet is to buy VM software such as Parallels, but then at that point you've could have already spent that money towards an XP or Vista disc, so it's not really worth it.

[financeguy]

Amen to that. Just run the Win7 RC until October. Even in its beta state, this is a better option than wasting money on Vista or XP at this point.

There aren't really heating issues so much as your case may feel a little warm under Windows. But this is mostly driver related (fan speed) so hopefully Boot Camp 3 will fix this. Vista drivers work fine under 7 too. I say give it a try. The download is free, you have nothing to lose.

Yeah, I think this is my best option. I just hate having to reload everything once I get the retail version.

Thanks for your help everyone.

[ayeying]

I heard that there are major heating issues with the Windows 7 RC because the drivers for windows 7 have not been released yet or something like that.

I'll research this slipstream method. I still need to get the windows 98 I think so that my upgrade edition will work.

I use windows 7 RTM on my macbook air... no overheating issues?

tbh, majority of the people believe their system is overheating because it feels hot when in reality, if it is overheating, the system will protect itself. As long as its running, the system's fine.

[frogger2020]

I heard that there are major heating issues with the Windows 7 RC because the drivers for windows 7 have not been released yet or something like that.

I'll research this slipstream method. I still need to get the windows 98 I think so that my upgrade edition will work.

http://lifehacker.com/386526/slipstream-service-pack-3-into-your-windows-xp-installation-cd

Here is a link for a how-to on slipstreaming SP3 into Win XP