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Problems Installing OEM Windows XP in Bootcamp-

EricaV

EricaV

macrumors regular
Original poster
Sep 20, 2008
140
5
So I was told that OEM versions of Windows would install no problem in bootcamp. I bought an OEM version of XP (full) w service pack 2- it has it's own key and is licensed for multiple installs- presumably on any kind of machine (i.e. this is not a version that came with another PC). I did install it on an old Dell PC I own without any problem.

I'm trying to instal this on a brand new Macbook.....Here's where I'm getting stuck- Install seems to go well until you get to the point of choosign the partition for the install. Here, it is only recognizing one partition (the "unknown" partition 1). I've partitioned it for bootcamp several times and you can see its presence on the mac side, so the partition seems to be taking hold.

The size of the single Partition that is showing doesn't seem consistent with either my mac hard drive or my bootcamp partition- but it's certainly larger than the 32 g that I paritioned for bootcamp.

The folks at apple care are just telling me "sorry- OEM is the problem and it just won't work", but frankly I think they're taking the easy way out and simply don't know what to do.

I've heard of others being able to use OEM versions this way without difficulty.

Can anyone save me the trouble of re-buying Windows XP and paying for the retail version ?

would love to know if anyone has worked their way around this- or have any other solutions.

thanks much
Erica
 
I can't answer your question, but I installed XP Home SP2 with no issue at all. I did, however, download the bootcamp documentation and followed it closely; some things did not seem as evident as they should have, and seemed somewhat contradictory to what I would have done on my own. You might take a look at the documentation just to be sure.
 
Thanks- was your XP OEM ?

danny_w said:
I can't answer your question, but I installed XP Home SP2 with no issue at all. I did, however, download the bootcamp documentation and followed it closely; some things did not seem as evident as they should have, and seemed somewhat contradictory to what I would have done on my own. You might take a look at the documentation just to be sure.
Click to expand...
 
I can also confirm that XP Home OEM with SP3 works equally as well as the OEM with SP2 does. There is no question that the Apple store folks were very wrong on this call (fortunately for you since there is no need to buy more expensive versions).

The only thing that stands out on your post that makes me curious- when you mention the installation going well until you can only see the 1 unknown partition. When I installed XP on my latest machine using the Boot Camp Assistant, the partition it made for Windows was specifically named "BootCamp" which the XP OEM disk recognized immediately. As danny_w mentioned did you download the BootCamp manual and follow it in detail when you ran the Boot Camp Assistant? I think it might well be time to re-run the BC Assistant and set your drive back to a single partition, reboot and then try running it from square one again.
 
last post was great - yes, I have heard OEM versions work, but there are different ones (I've heard 26 possible versions at one point in time for XP alone).
As long as it is a 32 bit version and a retail one disk copy, it should work.
In a lot of cases OEM has been generalized to indicate it came with a PC but that's too general. Believe it or not, that may be why you were told it wouldn't work. Only way to know for sure is to test that disk on another mac.

The partition is recommended to be around 7-10 GB just to install XP or Vista before including applications or data and the partition should be created in Bootcamp, not disk utility.
Installing Windows on the partition varies a little between XP and Vista where Vista auto recognizes the format to install, where Bootcamp has one extra step.

The best step is too, as the last post indicate, try again with repartitioning.
Sometimes having a genius bar at an Apple store might help. :apple:
 
Yes, the ones that I refer to as OEM disks are ones that Microsoft actually calls "System Builder" disks, such as this one at newegg-- System Builder/OEM Windows XP Home.

And you are certainly right- the System Restore type of disks that accompany some new PCs won't work, even though some people call them OEM. Good point.

To the original poster, did you try to create the partition for Windows with Disk Utility as kimtrpt suggested may have happened (I hadn't thought of that possibility)? If so, that is certainly the problem as the partitioning has to be done using the Boot Camp Assistant program in your Utilities folder.
 
I can also confirm that OEM works fine. I had installed XP Pro SP2 OEM on my MacBook. I now have Vista but thats not the point. You should partition and it will ask you to reboot after. Just click start installation now or something and it will reboot. Insert the disk in before tho. Then just hold option key when you hear the chime, until you see Macintosh HD and Windows (cd icon). use arrow keys to navigate to the cd icon and hit enter. the cd should recognize the bootcamp partition, OEM or not. good luck!
 
thank you all for your helpful comments. I did partition with bootcamp assistant for 32 gigs, also rebooted- went through this whole sequence about 5 times ! none of which did the trick. I bought this OEM version on line from "cheap software" or some such company. It says "corporate edition" on the disk and is supposed to be licensed for multiple installs. I think trying it on another mac is a good idea. I'm still having the problem that the partition labeled "bootcamp" is not showing up.


thanks again everyone and by the way- any other thoughts would still be helpful. I have both a 1:1 program as well as apple care (about $300 worth of support I've bought from Apple) and I'm being told they none of them (nor the genius bar) can help me as they are "not allowed" to help with this windows installation- very frustrating.

E

sickmacdoc said:
I can also confirm that XP Home OEM with SP3 works equally as well as the OEM with SP2 does. There is no question that the Apple store folks were very wrong on this call (fortunately for you since there is no need to buy more expensive versions).

The only thing that stands out on your post that makes me curious- when you mention the installation going well until you can only see the 1 unknown partition. When I installed XP on my latest machine using the Boot Camp Assistant, the partition it made for Windows was specifically named "BootCamp" which the XP OEM disk recognized immediately. As danny_w mentioned did you download the BootCamp manual and follow it in detail when you ran the Boot Camp Assistant? I think it might well be time to re-run the BC Assistant and set your drive back to a single partition, reboot and then try running it from square one again.
Click to expand...
 
Yes, I did create the partition with bootcamp assistant. I was just told by someone at the genius bar (who did actually help me) that sometimes partitioning more than once can create problems resulting in having to reinstall the whole OS- not sure if others have had the same experience.

It was recommended by both the Genius bar and Apple care to wipe and reinstall the mac operating system. Unfortunately I just did exactly that, reinstalled OS X, partitioned using bootcamp- once...... and eventually got the same response during windows installation (only one non- boot camp partition showing).

sickmacdoc said:
Yes, the ones that I refer to as OEM disks are ones that Microsoft actually calls "System Builder" disks, such as this one at newegg-- System Builder/OEM Windows XP Home.

And you are certainly right- the System Restore type of disks that accompany some new PCs won't work, even though some people call them OEM. Good point.

To the original poster, did you try to create the partition for Windows with Disk Utility as kimtrpt suggested may have happened (I hadn't thought of that possibility)? If so, that is certainly the problem as the partitioning has to be done using the Boot Camp Assistant program in your Utilities folder.
Click to expand...
 
EricaV said:
thank you all for your helpful comments. I did partition with bootcamp assistant for 32 gigs, also rebooted- went through this whole sequence about 5 times ! none of which did the trick. I bought this OEM version on line from "cheap software" or some such company. It says "corporate edition" on the disk and is supposed to be licensed for multiple installs. I think trying it on another mac is a good idea. I'm still having the problem that the partition labeled "bootcamp" is not showing up.


thanks again everyone and by the way- any other thoughts would still be helpful. I have both a 1:1 program as well as apple care (about $300 worth of support I've bought from Apple) and I'm being told they none of them (nor the genius bar) can help me as they are "not allowed" to help with this windows installation- very frustrating.

E
Click to expand...
Have you tried installing on another mac as someone suggested? I am afraid that the source of the disk may mean that it is not a genuine disk and the install may fail for that reason. Other than that I am out of ideas.
 
danny_w said:
Have you tried installing on another mac as someone suggested? I am afraid that the source of the disk may mean that it is not a genuine disk and the install may fail for that reason. Other than that I am out of ideas.
Click to expand...

I agree with you here- I would certainly imagine the source and type of the disk (as the cheapo sites only send you a home burned copy of the disk and a volume license number normally- certainly not the hologrammed official MicroSoft disks like true System Builder/OEM disks). Since that is specifically a violation of the MS volume licensing agreement you can't hope for much help from the source of those copies! :(

The fact that so many people here have posted that genuine MicroSoft System Builder/OEM disks work fine (like the link I provided above for $89 which are the ones I have purchased about 15 copies of for clients who have requested to have Windows installed on their machines) I would have to guess that the disk provided by the knockoff software supplier is the cause. There is very little else that it realistically could be since apparently the partitioning has worked correctly, and all proceeds fine up to the point of actual Windows installation and the disk not being able to see the existing BootCamp partition. :(
 
Corporate Edition means it's pirated, since it's against the license agreement to sell to individuals.
 
knock off OEM was the problem

Thanks again for all the responses. Unfortunately my $55 OEM copy of windows seems to be the problem- it looked semi-legit but definitely didn't have a hologram on it.

Out of sheer anxiety and paranoia I bought a retail version of XP pro, though I trust a legal OEM version would have worked- I guess I'm just a humble end user who was just done taking chances !

I'm installing MS Office now but can't wait to roll on to Parralels.... hmmmm I feel another thread coming on.

Cheers
Erica
 
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