New Mac Mini - Windows 8 bootcamp - no internal drive?

I just purchased my first mac, a 2.6 Mac Mini with the 256GB SSD. Coming next week. I do need to keep using some windows applications (Quicken, etc.).

I would like to install Windows 8 via bootcamp. I will buy the system builder edition for a clean install. I will also likely get parallels, but want to have the option to boot natively if ever need to. Given the Mini doesn't have a drive, I assume I will be able to use an external DVD or Blu-Ray drive (I have both currently plugged into an HP Home server that I would plug into the mini for this) for the install, but I haven't been able to find anything on this.

I assume this has been done for other Macs without optical drives, but also won't be using the official apple external drive.

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

zeemeerman2 said:

See if you can use a Windows .iso file instead. If I'm right, Windows 8 can install from an USB memory stick.
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows/buy

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Thanks. It looks like only the upgrade can be downloaded from their site, and I have only seen DVDs on Newegg, amazon, etc.

Is there a way to create an ISO image from the DVD with Mountain Line and an external drive? I could then save that image to a USB memory stick.

balamw said:

You can do this with Disk Utility. e.g. http://club.myce.com/f59/create-iso-image-mac-os-x-using-built-disk-utility-app-200501/

B

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Thanks, will try that when the computer get here.

Can't create win 8 ISO image with disc utility on new mini

SF-Theater said:

Thanks, will try that when the computer get here.

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New Mac mini/OSX user here. I just put my win 8 DVD into an external drive. The drive pops up on the main screen. I have tried to open disk utility and pull the drive image onto the left side and it doesn't work.

Are there other ways to create a win 8 iso image from the DVD?

SF-Theater said:

New Mac mini/OSX user here. I just put my win 8 DVD into an external drive. The drive pops up on the main screen. I have tried to open disk utility and pull the drive image onto the left side and it doesn't work.

Are there other ways to create a win 8 iso image from the DVD?

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Created the ISO on my PC and then copied over to the mini over my network. Windows 8 works great so far, just installed it last night though.

One note, the bootcamp software indicated needing windows 7 "or later", so maybe there is a newer version that the mini comes with that alleviates some of the issues others have encountered with win 8 installation.

robanga said:

There is going to need to be new bootcamp drivers to be able to utilize the trackpads on various macbooks and the apple trackpad, so that you can do all the nifty Win 8 swipes etc.

I just got an OEM upgrade and i'd going to install it on BC and/or parallels sometime this weekend.

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The swipe gestures on my magic mouse work fine