COMPLETE newbie, boot camp, please help!

[eemer]

Hi everybody, nice forum you have here, hopefully you can help me out I am very very very new to Macs so please bare with me if I sound ridiculous, or don't understand some of your high-tech whizzy answers!

Well I have the new iMac, first Mac I've ever had, used PCs the rest of the time. I want to load Windows XP, so I can install some programs that Mac doesn't support, some games etc. So I downloaded bootcamp, and began the process and reached the page where it asks me to select a destination volume to install the software. Below it says 'Macintosh HD 148 GB (130 GB Free)' When I chose that, it told me that I needed 85.4 MB of space to install the software. I went to the Apple store in London and they told me I should buy another 512 MB of memory, which I did, and now have sitting in front of me. However, just reading on the apple website, it says I need 10GB to install Windows XP.. do I need to shell out hundreds more on memory?

So very confused! Thank you for any sort of help!

 

[swiftaw]

I think you are getting confused between hard disk space and RAM (memory). You need at least 10GB of hard disk space to install Windows, you do not need 10GB of RAM.

 

[andrew050703]

few machines are capable of 10Gb RAM; I think you're getting confused between hard disk space and memory.

you need 10Gb hard disk space, 1Gb RAM should be more than enough for most apps

 

[eemer]

Oooo! Okay, thank you so much! So, do you think I have what I need to continue? I just don't want to start fiddling with this new memory module (of RAM, I guess) if it's not enough.

Thank you!

 

[swiftaw]

Have you installed the new memory module yet?

How much memory is in your mac currently? To check, click on the apple in the top left corner, the select "About this Mac". A little window will display showing (among other things) how much memory you have.

 

[fivetoadsloth]

yeah, as long as you have a fullinstall of windows xp sp2 you have everything youd need. Good luck.

 

[eemer]

I have 1GB.. do I need to go ahead and install this memory, or as andrew said, is this already enough. Hmm is it possible to return the memory module (untouched) if so, or will I get a really good performance with it? Why does bootcamp keep telling me I can't install on that 'volume' because it does not support the system version'? So sorry about all the questions!

 

[swiftaw]

I have 1GB.. do I need to go ahead and install this memory, or as andrew said, is this already enough. Hmm is it possible to return the memory module (untouched) if so, or will I get a really good performance with it? Thank you.

I think you said you had a new iMac, right? Well, if you have 1GB installed then it probable means you have 2 512MB modules in there, in which case there isn't any room to add another 512MB module (an iMac only has 2 memory slots).

1GB should be enough memory for pretty much most things you need to do.

 

[eemer]

Aah right. Thank you! But then why does bootcamp give me this error message?

 

[swiftaw]

Aah right. Thank you! But then why does bootcamp give me this error message?

I read back through your previous posts, and I didn't see you mention an error message anywhere. All you said is that the install program warned you how much disk space was needed to complete the install. This is normal, providing you have at least that much disk space then you should be able to proceed.

Did I miss you describing an error message somewhere?

 

[Razorhog]

I don't think it's really giving you an error. It's telling you that you need 85 mb of hard drive space to install boot camp, and you have plenty of free space (130gb)for that. Go ahead and procede with the installation.
Follow the installation guide that can be found here.

 

[eemer]

Sorry I'm probably not making myself clear. I meant right here;

I downloaded boot camp, and began the process and reached the page where it asks me to select a destination volume to install the software. Below it says 'Macintosh HD 148 GB (130 GB Free)' When I chose that, it told me that I needed 85.4 MB of space to install the software.

It doesn't let me continue the boot camp process after that. It just gives me this one 'destination volume' option, and when I select it, a big red angry lookin' exclamation marks says below: 'You cannot install Boot Camp Assistant on this volume. This software does not support the system version on this volume.' Then the 'contine' button is fuzzed out, so i can't go on.

 

[swiftaw]

Make sure you have updated your software. Click on the apple in the top right, and select Software Update

 

[eemer]

Right, thank you, looks like there's quite a lot that needs to be updated! You've been very helpful thanks.. I may be back!

Thanks again.