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"Clean Install" of Windows XP on an iMac?

post #1 of 4
10/16/09 at 1:16pm
Thread Starter 
At risk of blasphemy, I must ask if it is possible to do a clean install of Windows XP on a 24" iMac.  I have an extra one, and I need to use it in a "Windows" environment, and I don't want to fiddle with Boot Camp.  So I want to put in a fresh hard drive (probably an SSD) and install Windows XP.

I guess the biggest problem will be any needed drivers.  Are there any driver packs that are available for the iMac?  Has anyone tried this before with any success?
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post #2 of 4
10/16/09 at 2:23pm
 You could just have a small Mac OS X system partition (say, about 10GB) and partition the rest of the drive via Bootcamp for Windows. Since the Intel Macs don't use a BIOS but EFI, I don't think there is another way to install XP on your machine. XP knows nothing about EFI, so you couldn't start the install routine, which is exactly what Bootcamp is for.

You can set it up to automatically boot into Windows after the install, so this is the closest you get. All the drivers for Windows are actually on your Leopard or Snow Leopard install DVD.

-Christian
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post #3 of 4
10/16/09 at 4:00pm
Thread Starter 
Great info.  I'll give it a try!

Thanks.
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post #4 of 4
10/17/09 at 5:31am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jonathan Burk View Post

At risk of blasphemy, I must ask if it is possible to do a clean install of Windows XP on a 24" iMac.  I have an extra one, and I need to use it in a "Windows" environment, and I don't want to fiddle with Boot Camp.  So I want to put in a fresh hard drive (probably an SSD) and install Windows XP.

I guess the biggest problem will be any needed drivers.  Are there any driver packs that are available for the iMac?  Has anyone tried this before with any success?

No matter what, you need to use BootCamp. It's straightforward, though I recommend reviewing the Bootcamp instructions as there are few decisions to be made. And doing so is a "clean" install, as you'd be installed it fully onto a new partition. There's no upgrade process like going from WinXP to Vista.

The official Apple support says you can't install Bootcamp on an external drive nor boot Bootcamp from an external drive. (http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1656 & http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3777). But perhaps Christian's idea will work; I've never tried it.
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