Question with installing windows

[Joehays]

I just received my macbook pro retina display today and I am trying to install the windows 8 preview with bootcamp. I bought an external hard drive which I plan on storing all of the windows files. It is a 1TB drive that I have partitioned in half, one for windows, one for storage. I'm completely new to Mac OSX and I am having issues with this install. It only lets me use the drive if I make it a single partition. Also how am I supposed to make a windows install disk with no drive? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

 

[qpiqp]

I just received my macbook pro retina display today and I am trying to install the windows 8 preview with bootcamp. I bought an external hard drive which I plan on storing all of the windows files. It is a 1TB drive that I have partitioned in half, one for windows, one for storage. I'm completely new to Mac OSX and I am having issues with this install. It only lets me use the drive if I make it a single partition. Also how am I supposed to make a windows install disk with no drive? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

You can make an install drive by downloading the ISO. You can only use this to install windows in bootcamp on the primary hard drive, you cannot run windows off an external.

Also, to my knowledge, the only way to run Windows 8 right now is through a virtual machine (VM Fusion, Parallels), because Lion only supports Windows 7 with Bootcamp

 

[esskay]

You can make an install drive by downloading the ISO. You can only use this to install windows in bootcamp on the primary hard drive, you cannot run windows off an external.

Also, to my knowledge, the only way to run Windows 8 right now is through a virtual machine (VM Fusion, Parallels), because Lion only supports Windows 7 with Bootcamp

I installed Windows 8 Release Preview via an ISO that I burned to disc on my Bootcamp partition just to check it out. It worked fine (I'm running Lion).

 

[wethackrey]

I just received my macbook pro retina display today and I am trying to install the windows 8 preview with bootcamp. I bought an external hard drive which I plan on storing all of the windows files. It is a 1TB drive that I have partitioned in half, one for windows, one for storage. I'm completely new to Mac OSX and I am having issues with this install. It only lets me use the drive if I make it a single partition. Also how am I supposed to make a windows install disk with no drive? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

While I think Lion may (unofficially) actually support Win8 in Bootcamp I think you'll find Bootcamp a less than optimal way to run Windows on a Mac. Take a look at either VMWare Fusion or Parallels. Both are very good. I'm currently running VMWare Fusion and have a bunch of VMs available on my Mac: Ubunto; Win7Pro; Solaris 10; Windows 2008 R2 X64 Server; Scientific Linux and Win8 Preview to name a few. It isn't unusual for me to have my primary Win7 VM and a Linux or W2K8 server VM running concurrently while I'm doing most of my work in Mac applications.

The really cool thing is that VMWare will operate in "Unity" mode with each OS supplying windows in a unified MacOS environment. Other than windows from a Windows application looking like Windows windows and Mac apps running in Mac windows, it's all one environment. You can be running the Mac version of Word right alongside the Windows version of Microsoft Project. Very slick.

I think you have to give me credit for most use of the word "windows" in a single sentence back there.

Seriously, if your jumping in with both feet with a retina MacBook Pro, do it right and run Windows as a VM.

 

[Slivortal]

While I think Lion may (unofficially) actually support Win8 in Bootcamp I think you'll find Bootcamp a less than optimal way to run Windows on a Mac. Take a look at either VMWare Fusion or Parallels. Both are very good. I'm currently running VMWare Fusion and have a bunch of VMs available on my Mac: Ubunto; Win7Pro; Solaris 10; Windows 2008 R2 X64 Server; Scientific Linux and Win8 Preview to name a few. It isn't unusual for me to have my primary Win7 VM and a Linux or W2K8 server VM running concurrently while I'm doing most of my work in Mac applications.

Seriously, if your jumping in with both feet with a retina MacBook Pro, do it right and run Windows as a VM.

This. Virtual Machines are an absolute joy to use on a Mac, especially full-screen with three-finger swiping through Spaces.

I also recommend VirtualBox as a free and open-source alternative to VMWare Fusion and Parallels.

 

[wethackrey]

This. Virtual Machines are an absolute joy to use on a Mac, especially full-screen with three-finger swiping through Spaces.

I also recommend VirtualBox as a free and open-source alternative to VMWare Fusion and Parallels.

I've not tried Virtual Box, or even newer versions of Parallels -- primarily because of inertia I suppose. I have a bunch of VMWare VMs and use vSphere a great deal as a cloud architect so I don't have a lot of incentive to change at this point. I've used Parallels in the past and I'm running an installation of Parellels hypervisor for a client. Pretty impressive. And I have a friend at Cisco using Virtual Box who likes it. Have you used it?

 

[Joehays]

Hey thanks for the replies everyone, the reason that I wanted to use boot camp is because I'm not sure that a VM can handle gaming as well. Basically my question is, no matter where I end up installing windows, how do I use boot camp when I cannot make a boot disk with no optical drive? I know I could buy the super drive, but are there any other alternatives available? (also I guess this thread belongs in the windows section, sorry)

 

[squeeks]

Here ya go.

How to make a bootable windows install USB

 

[Slivortal]

I've not tried Virtual Box, or even newer versions of Parallels -- primarily because of inertia I suppose. I have a bunch of VMWare VMs and use vSphere a great deal as a cloud architect so I don't have a lot of incentive to change at this point. I've used Parallels in the past and I'm running an installation of Parellels hypervisor for a client. Pretty impressive. And I have a friend at Cisco using Virtual Box who likes it. Have you used it?

I've used it. Never used Windows, but it works great for all of my Linux distros.

 

[Rocky244]

Hey thanks for the replies everyone, the reason that I wanted to use boot camp is because I'm not sure that a VM can handle gaming as well. Basically my question is, no matter where I end up installing windows, how do I use boot camp when I cannot make a boot disk with no optical drive? I know I could buy the super drive, but are there any other alternatives available? (also I guess this thread belongs in the windows section, sorry)

The problem you want a solution to (how to install windows without an optical drive) is an easy one to fix, you just use a USB drive.

The other stuff people are reading in your post is where the actual problems are coming in. For instance, wanting to install Windows via an external drive, and wanting to install Windows 8 via Boot Camp.

Not having an optical drive is not the primary issue.

 

[Joehays]

Okay, so I can make a boot drive with USB (8 Gig enough?) and I have read that the windows 8 preview works fine with boot camp. But there is no way to install on an external drive? So I need to do the 20 gb partition on my internal to boot it?

 

[KdParker]

Okay, so I can make a boot drive with USB (8 Gig enough?) and I have read that the windows 8 preview works fine with boot camp. But there is no way to install on an external drive? So I need to do the 20 gb partition on my internal to boot it?

I think 20 gb partition is the min....might need more to keep Windows 8 running smooth.

 

[takeshi74]

While I think Lion may (unofficially) actually support Win8 in Bootcamp I think you'll find Bootcamp a less than optimal way to run Windows on a Mac.

It really depends on what one intends to do and what one expects. I use both Boot Camp and Parallels. Each has its use.

 

[wethackrey]

It really depends on what one intends to do and what one expects. I use both Boot Camp and Parallels. Each has its use.

Can't disagree with that. I don't do all that much gaming these days so the balance leans to VMs for me.