Boot Camp, Parallels, Windows XP and 7

[thatoneguy82]

So there are somethings I can only run on Windows and since I upgraded to a SSD, it's a lot fast. Also, the SSD being 256GB gives me a lot more free space than I thought, since all my media is on the HDD.

Anyway, I created a partition with the intention of installing of Windows. I was starting up Boot Camp, and all was going well, until I got to wear it asked it needed something specific for Windows 7. I only have Windows XP. I'm still debating if it's worth it to me to upgrade to 7. On Snow Leopard, I was able to install WinXP. I don't think I can now in Lion?

I have Parallels 7, and I was going to use the Boot Camp partition for it. I don't even know if I can install Windows within the app. Even if you could, I wouldn't want to do that. I'd rather install through a Boot Camp partition.

 

[dmccloud]

Officially Boot Camp for Lion only supports Windows 7, although it can also handle Windows 8 without any issue. The big issue for Windows XP is driver support, as there might not be XP versions of the drivers for your hardware. I have heard of people continuing to run Windows Xp in Boot Camp after upgrading to Lion, but I have not heard much in terms of installing XP from scratch under Lion.

 

[thatoneguy82]

Officially Boot Camp for Lion only supports Windows 7, although it can also handle Windows 8 without any issue. The big issue for Windows XP is driver support, as there might not be XP versions of the drivers for your hardware. I have heard of people continuing to run Windows Xp in Boot Camp after upgrading to Lion, but I have not heard much in terms of installing XP from scratch under Lion.

Well, if that's the case I wouldn't be able to purchase the Upgrade version of Win 7? Doesn't that need to be installed on top of an already installed Windows? Are all installation discs are the same? Just the licenses are different? The full Win 7 version, I don't need it that much.

 

[maflynn]

The win7 upgrade uses a different installer then does the full version. It checks for the existence of the a required OS. If its not found, then it won't install.

I haven't done a windows 7 install for a while, and I forget if you can put the winxp install CD in the drive during the install to satisfy the requirement, but if memory does serve me, it will not. That is it has to be installed.

 

[johnhurley]

The win7 upgrade uses a different installer then does the full version. It checks for the existence of the a required OS. If its not found, then it won't install.

Pretty easy to use a win 7 upgrade to do a clean install even on a machine with no prior win install of any kind. Documented lots of places if one searches around a little.

 

[thatoneguy82]

Ok, I'm starting to get a little bit confused. Ideally I want to just install Windows 7 without Windows XP. But the problem is I only will buy the upgrade version and not the full version. I'm not sure if I can through Boot Camp using Windows 7 Upgrade or Windows XP. So, it doesn't really matter if I can't get it work, right? Argh, this is was so much simpler the last time I did it.

I just want to know as soon as i can so I decide if I want to buy Win7 upgrade or not. Also, my WinXP is a volume license, would that affect anything?

 

[thatoneguy82]

I give up.

I got a full, not upgrade per BootCamp instructions of Win7. BootCamp created a CD and it was downloading. I also had to create a partition. I had to restart to continue the installation - nope, not gonna happen. My external drive isn't "seen" until OSX loads.

That's it for me. No more.

 

[thatoneguy82]

If I install Parallels, can I install Win7 in there as if I was booting from a BootCamp partition and booted into OSX? Would it be able to detect my external drive?

 

[Mike Boreham]

If I install Parallels, can I install Win7 in there as if I was booting from a BootCamp partition and booted into OSX? Would it be able to detect my external drive?

I have Windows 7 installed in Parallels 7 on 2010 MBP.

It sees all the other volumes internal and external on the Mac fine (read and write) even FW800, provided you have Smartmount, (map Mac drives to Windows), checked in Parallalels configure.

After five years of using and experimenting with Windows in Macs I have decided that upgrades are a LOT more trouble than they are worth. Simple whole install disks for me. You may not have been asking this, but you would not be able to run XP in BC or parallels, if you have subsequently used that XP product number as the base for Windows 7 upgrade. May be hacks but legit activation won't work.

 

[thatoneguy82]

Finally, I think?

I have Windows 7 installed in Parallels 7 on 2010 MBP.

It sees all the other volumes internal and external on the Mac fine (read and write) even FW800, provided you have Smartmount, (map Mac drives to Windows), checked in Parallalels configure.

After five years of using and experimenting with Windows in Macs I have decided that upgrades are a LOT more trouble than they are worth. Simple whole install disks for me. You may not have been asking this, but you would not be able to run XP in BC or parallels, if you have subsequently used that XP product number as the base for Windows 7 upgrade. May be hacks but legit activation won't work.

Well, after all that trying I think I got it. So I pretty much realized that I couldn't create a bootcamp since external cd drives don't get recognized at boot. Since Amazon has a such a great return policy, I pulled the trigger on Parallels and Win7. Installed Parallels then SUCCESSFULLY installed Win7 in Parallels.

I can FINALLY play Solitaire and Minesweeper!