OSX, Win7x64 and WinXP32bit on one MBP

[dusk007]

Tried the whole evening yesterday to install XP on a third partition and failed.
Problem is after the file copy the install routine on the XP parition won't boot. I tried a few things but it doesn't work.

Before anyone says. Why would you do that??
Well because I want to go to a little lan party and the games we play there often don't work in Win7x64 for some reason. By installing a small gaming only XP partition I am hoping to solve all the compatibility problems. Parallels would probably create more problems than it solves.

I have OSX on the first (visible) partition as always and had Win7x64 on the second.
Now I put a third partition in between the too on which I want WinXP. It messed up the Win7 booting but I could repair that. Everything boots only WinXP gets stuck on a black screen with one blinking cursor. It is doing nothin.

I didn't use the bootcamp assitant as it is utterly useless. It wants to restore to one partition and make a new one. With rEFIt I can boot in theory anything but I don't seem to understand the theory because in my opinion that problem shouldn't be a problem.

I slipstreamed a WinXP SP3 CD which boots fine but the install works as well as with the original SP1 cd, i.e. it doesn't.

I really don't understand how efi works and what I need to do to make it work. My only left solution is to install XP on the same partition as Win7, but that can mess up a lot and might not solve anything. Also I'd have to free up space as that partition is pretty cramped.
I could also use a Win7 32bit but I have no license for it lying around anymore.

Anybody tried this before and has some tips. I cannot find anything over google. It is usually people who have some bootcamp troubles by only adding a third data partition.

 

[murdercitydevil]

In theory it should work like this -

Install OS X on first primary partition.
Use bootcamp to install W7, when installing W7, make another partition, one for XP
Install XP on third partition.

 

[tjb1]

Bootcamp does nothing except make a partition for the people that cant figure out Disk Utility. You can do the same thing by going into Disk Utility and make a partition which will be formatted before you start the install of Windows. I have had Windows 7 32 and 64 on mine, Windows Server 2003 and Windows XP 32... I dont understand what problem your having. rEFIt is just a screen that allows you to choose the boot system like holding OPTION, it doesnt really do anything as far as making one work.

 

[Eddyisgreat]

Op if you've still got the install media for win 7 32 bit you should be good to go. The key is the same and activation will realize it's the same machine and green light you.

 

[rmbrown09]

rEFIt
http://refit.sourceforge.net/

 

[dusk007]

Odd thing. Today I installed a virtual machine and tried a game in their but performance is nowhere close to usable for a 12+ people lan. Still gone a long way though because a few years back they wouldn't work at all. But it really slows down the system when you install something and disc access is high.
I also often had a mouse problem where the left mouse button stopped working.

I already have my 3 partitions. I have enough experience with all kinds of partitions. You don't even need DiskUtility. Terminal and XP install works fine. I just thought something must be odd here as it simply doesn't start up and I guessed it has something to do with the BIOS emulation problem.
I just found a 32bit win7 german dvd. I will try this one next. Unfortunately I didn't write the key on the DVD like I usually do.
Maybe I just kill the x64 and use a 32bit. 64 doesn't really do any good anyways. Still more problems than it is worth and with 4gigs RAM I don't miss out on much.

 

[Eddyisgreat]

hahaha.

Extracting CD-Keys from windows is like taking candy from a sedated baby who actually doesn't care for the particular treat in question and would gladly relinquish it to you. (assuming you can use the one from your current installation)

But I suspect you know this.