Windows XP on MacBook Air Early 2014

[Regalia776]

Hi everyone,

I saw a similar topic already for the Mac Mini 2014, however installing Windows 7 is not an option for me.

I already have a Mac Mini M1 as a daily driver and therefore no longer need my MacBook Air for Mac-related work or fun. I’m soon gonna be spending a lot of time traveling and would like a lightweight laptop for retro gaming and the MacBook Air seems perfect for it. The model has only 4GB RAM and 128GB SSD which makes it even better for Windows XP. The main reason for wanting XP is that it’s far more lightweight.

I’ve already gathered all the drivers, but the Air doesn’t have a DVD drive and my XP pen drive is not recognized. I already created a 60GB FAT partition ready to be NTFS formatted for the installation.

Is there any chance for WinXP on my device and if so, what would I need to do?

Thanks in advance for any help!

 

[sracer]

Installing Windows 7 on that MBA would be a better idea but since you prefer XP you should be prepared for a whole circus-full of hoops to jump through.

I suggest that you get a USB CD/DVD drive for your MBA. You'll save yourself a lot of headaches if you can build a XP install CD that has SP3 and AHCI drivers slipstreamed into the image.

Another option you might want to consider....
When I owned a 4GB/128GB MBA, I used Oracle VirtualBox and created a Windows XP virtual machine. I assigned 2GB RAM to the virtual machine (32-bit XP can only effectively use 2GB of RAM). It ran flawlessly and performance was every bit near the performance when running it natively.... more than enough for vintage titles.

The added benefit to this approach is that I've since moved on to 3 different Mac OS systems and I've been able to take that VM image with me to the system after that and the one after THAT.

 

[bogdanw]

I’ve already gathered all the drivers, but the Air doesn’t have a DVD drive and my XP pen drive is not recognized. I already created a 60GB FAT partition ready to be NTFS formatted for the installation.
Is there any chance for WinXP on my device and if so, what would I need to do?

Microsoft:
"Whether Windows XP x64 can read, write, and boot from GPT disks
Windows XP x64 Edition can use GPT disks for data only.

Whether the 32-bit version of Windows XP read, write, and boot from GPT disks
No. The 32-bit version will see only the Protective MBR. The EE partition will not be mounted or otherwise exposed to application software."
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/manufacture/desktop/windows-and-gpt-faq

 

[MajorFubar]

I’ve already gathered all the drivers, but the Air doesn’t have a DVD drive and my XP pen drive is not recognized. I already created a 60GB FAT partition ready to be NTFS formatted for the installation.

Spend £/$/€20 on a USB DVD drive, it's way less hassle than trying to load it from a stick or hoping to find some way to download a legit XP directly to the machine that isn't riddled with trackers and viruses.

 

[Regalia776]

Spend £/$/€20 on a USB DVD drive, it's way less hassle than trying to load it from a stick or hoping to find some way to download a legit XP directly to the machine that isn't riddled with trackers and viruses.

I do have a USB DVD drive, I just don’t have anything to burn my ISO with anymore. My old XP DVD is scratched up and even if it wasn’t, I wouldn’t risk installing it. The POSready updates make it at least a bit safer.

After I failed miserably at loading Win XP from USB, I did try with Win 7 now and while it went fine through the first step of the installation, it afterwards only boots to a black screen without anything. Even the initial splash screen takes about 3 minutes to show up. Once I’m on on the black screen, all I can do is restart, hit Option, and I can either choose to restart the installation or boot back into the black screen of death. I’m almost certain XP would give me even more trouble, even with a modified ISO like Integral.

At this point I’m thinking it might almost be better to install a lightweight Linux distro and run games via Wine than to go through the hassle of installing XP.

 

[chrfr]

At this point I’m thinking it might almost be better to install a lightweight Linux distro and run games via Wine than to go through the hassle of installing XP.

I doubt you'd ever get XP to run on this computer, but you can run Wine in macOS without having to go to the trouble of getting Linux running.