I have followed the instructions verbatim but after I choose the proper partition and click 'Format' (in the Vista setup), it still tells me "Windows is unable to find a system volume that meets its criteria for installation." Also it says "This computer's hardware may not support booting to this disk. Ensure that the disk's controller is enabled in the computer's BIOS menu." I have OS X installed on my 1st hard drive and I am trying to do this install on my 2nd hard drive.
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Can't get Vista to install
- Thread starter c073186
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You ran boot camp utility, right? It should be working fine....make sure you are choosing the correct partition to install on.
Yes, I followed all the directions. But apparently there is some issue if you try to install Vista on a drive that is not the primary boot drive (http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=305156) And no matter what I do it will not install.
I didn't read the article, but what ever drive you choose in System Preferences is going to be your primary boot drive. After you install Boot Camp it reboots into that drive.
I am using a completely different drive for Boot Camp than I am for OS X, and my Parallels disk is on a third drive. So I actually have windows installed in two places. One just for games/game (Crysis) and one for application compatibility.
I installed Vista on a secondary drive just fine. OS X is on a 1TB drive, and Vista went on the stock 320GB drive.
Maybe it is because both hard drives are the same size? This article says that it can cause an issue http://support.microsoft.com/kb/933925
I ran into an issue with Vista during install relating to finding the correct drive as well. Ended up the Vista installer flipped out because there were multiple bootable drives and it couldn't figure out where I wanted to install it to. I ended up removing all FW, USB and internal HDs except for the one I wanted to install to, booted off the Vista DVD and everything worked great. I plugged everything back in afterwards and had no issues after that (well, except with Vista being Vista)
One option is to not use the boot camp assistant.
Put the Vista install disc in and shut down your Mac. Open the case and remove the drive with OS 10.5. Restart and the computer will boot from the Vista install disc. When you are done with the Windows installation, install the drivers from the Leopard Install Disc 1.
Afterward, shut down and put the OS 10.5 drive back in. To boot to windows, just hold option at startup.
Put the Vista install disc in and shut down your Mac. Open the case and remove the drive with OS 10.5. Restart and the computer will boot from the Vista install disc. When you are done with the Windows installation, install the drivers from the Leopard Install Disc 1.
Afterward, shut down and put the OS 10.5 drive back in. To boot to windows, just hold option at startup.
Well I just re-tried the whole process and it worked except one thing makes me a little nervous: The boot camp manual says that you will need to reformat the drive as NTFS before installing Windows. Well, I did not do that and it is currently installing. It is a 500 GB drive and all of it is allocated to Vista so it cannot be FAT...
I guess I'll just wait for the Vista installer to finish and see if it works. Otherwise back to step 1...
I guess I'll just wait for the Vista installer to finish and see if it works. Otherwise back to step 1...
So I'd like to not have to open the case and pull out the Mac OS drive while I install Windows but does anyone have any other possible ideas to solve this problem? I have done everything I can think of... I do not understand why it would matter that both drives are identical in size but could that be causing an issue?
Yeah I suppose. I just don't like messing with stuff (just want it to work). Feels like I am going to break something pulling the drive that hard. It feels pretty tightly connected and doesn't come out easily like the second drive I added myself.
I had exactly the same problem. It's a known issue with MS when trying to install Vista on a secondary drive. MS recommends removing the primary drive. I tried this but it didn't work (but I didn't move my second drive to bay one so maybe that was the problem). I went out and bought XP Pro and had no problems. And yes, the drive sleds are tight - you have to really pull on them. And drive size is immaterial. I don't know how you get Boot Camp to work once Vista is installed this way as it has to put a small partition ahead of the Vista partition in order to give you the dual boot ability. If you install Vista without having Leopard as the initiating "agent" that installs this dual boot I don't think Boot Camp will work. Parallels will though.
Alan
Alan
You don't need boot camp to dual boot. I installed Windows XP x64 without boot camp and it dual boots just fine.
I think that boot camp gives you some sort of menu while in Windows. It may give you the option to restart in OS 10.5. That is not needed though since you can select the drive with OS 10.5 as your main boot drive and just hit restart.
So the dual HD icons are visible when you hold the Option key during boot (just like Boot Camp sets up) or does it boot to Windows and then you have to select Leopard or Vista?
Alan
When I start it automatically boots into OS 10.5. If I hold the option key at startup I get the screen with the two drives to choose from.
That's good to know. I also do not have any idea why some can install Vista on a second drive with no problems and yet others (including me) struggle for days. I have XP Pro installed now so I will wait until MS fixes the Vista problems before upgrading (or when more DirectX 10 games come out
Alan
Oops.... Sorry. I have XP Pro installed not vista. I just ear the names and know it's windows. My Bad.
Mac Pro / Raid / windows
i would like to have install Windows XP Pro on my MAC Pro. I have a three hard drives raided (5) on the machine now. I have a forth hard drive I would like to install windows on. I have been trying to make this work for weeks now and would like to get some advice on how to make this happen. Does anyone know if it is possible to install windows on my the forth hard drive which is not part of the three other raided hard drives.
thanks in advance,
Andre
i would like to have install Windows XP Pro on my MAC Pro. I have a three hard drives raided (5) on the machine now. I have a forth hard drive I would like to install windows on. I have been trying to make this work for weeks now and would like to get some advice on how to make this happen. Does anyone know if it is possible to install windows on my the forth hard drive which is not part of the three other raided hard drives.
thanks in advance,
Andre
You shouldn't have any problems. Run Boot Camp Assistant and make sure you select drive #4. Follow the instructions. BTW if XP install needs to reboot during install (which didn't happen when I installed it) make sure you hold down the Option key otherwise it'll boot to Leopard.
PS I assume that the fourth drive is internal as I don't think you can install Windows on a removable drive.
I had the same problem. I used Boot Camp assistant to create a windows partition on the secondary drive. Then I let it reboot and start the install off of the Vista disc. When it got to the point of selecting a drive, I clicked advanced and deleted the partition that Boot Camp created. Then I let the Vista installer format the drive and it worked perfectly. I assumed that the Vista installer would allow me to partition the drive and format it without using Boot Camp assistant but that is simply not the case. Vista won't recognize the drive correctly if you skip that step.