Boot Camp can't find a disk partition for Windows Vista...?

[pedrothedude]

I tried to install Windows Vista (64bit) using Boot Camp. I get to the window where you select the disk partition you want to install Windows on, and there aren't any options. How can I get the newly created partition (the one I made with Boot Camp Setup Assistant before restarting) to show up on that list? Or, where do I find the "driver" that it requests instead?

 

[Grannyville7989]

The partition that you created with Boot Camp will be labelled BOOTCAMP when it comes to selecting the partition. It will be formatted as FAT32. Windows Vista cannot be installed on a FAT32 drive so you'll have to reformat it as NTFS during the Windows installation.

 

[pedrothedude]

I take it, then, that I need to back up all my data on another disk first?

 

[Grannyville7989]

If you're referring to all of the data on your Mac partition, you shouldn't have to worry about that. I've installed Windows 7 on my MacBook Pro many times without any problems. However, it is always good practice to keep your data backed up on a regular basis.

 

[pedrothedude]

Good point; I'm just saying, in the past whenever I've reformatted disks, I've had to backup everything because it would erase all of it during the reformatting process. Is that not necessary when reformatting the disk after all? Or does it only reformat the Windows partition of the disk?

...Sorry for so many questions...=P

 

[Grannyville7989]

Not at all, I signed onto this forum to help those with Windows related problems.

You only need to reformat the Windows/BOOTCAMP partition when installing Windows on a Mac. It will leave everything else untouched. After you've formatted the partition, you can go ahead and install Windows, install the Boot Camp drivers from you disc and install the latest Windows Updates.

Might I recommend downloading the Windows Vista Service Packs 1 & 2 on a USB stick to install from. It would make the update process a lot easier and reduces the amount of reboots you will have to do. (If you try to install SP1 and it fails to do so, run the first wave of Windows Updates and then try again )

If you have any more questions, I'm here to help.

 

[pedrothedude]

Oh! Ok cool.

So what do the Service Packs come with that is not on the Drivers and Utilities disk that came with my Vista computer?

 

[Grannyville7989]

The Service Packs for Vista are a roll up off all the patches and hotfixes that Microsoft released in one big file. This is the same for the ones that were done for Windows XP and soon for Windows 7. It will save you time having to install a wave of updates, reboot, run Windows Update, install the next wave of patches...etc.

If you got Vista after the service packs were released, chances are that it could have the service packs already installed. You'll be able to see which version of the Service Pack that you need by right clicking on My Computer > Properties and it will display it there. Have a quick look after you've install Vista and installed the Boot Camp drivers.

 

[pedrothedude]

Ok sounds good.

Thanks so much!

 

[Grannyville7989]

No problemo.

Give me a shout if you have any questions/problems.

 

[Mal]

I would just add that if you don't have a backup already, you're running a risk no matter what, but it would still probably be a good idea to backup your data before proceeding. I've seen a number of posts from people who selected the wrong partition to reformat while installing Windows, and erased their Mac. Being careful and paying attention should eliminate that risk, but since you sound somewhat unsure, perhaps it would be best to backup just in case anyways?

jW

 

[pedrothedude]

Thanks Mal!
So I TimeMachine-d my disk and tried to install Vista with a 10gb partition. The Vista installer found the partition this time, but still wouldn't do it, saying it needed at least 14.7gb of free space do install. So I rebooted into Mac OS X again, and went to Boot Camp Assistant and deleted the Windows partition to make a bigger one. So when I went to re-partition the disk with a bigger partition, Boot Camp told me this: [see first attached picture]
So, I went into Disk Utility and I couldn't reformat my main disk [see second attached picture]. Suggestions?

 

[pedrothedude]

Never mind the above post: problem solved!!

So I booted up from the Mac OS X disc instead of my hard drive, erased/reformatted it into one big Mac OS X Extended (Journaled) partition (I had already Time Machine-d everything), then refreshed my system with the Time Machine backup, and tried the Boot Camp process with a 20-something GB partition. It worked!

My next steps are to download those service packs and install the Windows programs I've been wanting to do. Thanks guys for your help!!