Making the Switch: Installing XP Pro on iMac with Boot Camp

Apple have gone to great lengths to make installing Microsoft Windows XP or Vista onto their hardware as easy as possible, and really it’s a win-win situation (except perhaps for “designer” PC hardware manufacturers).

Simply load up the Boot Camp assistant and follow the instructions here, it’s that easy.

The only little hiccoughs I have encountered are:

You need to select “ACPI” during the text-phase of XP installation or Windows will be unable to reboot the system by itself.

When the graphical install starts, hit Shift+F10 or you risk loosing your USB keyboard input.

In order to optimise and streamline the Windows installation I created a custom install CD using the fantastic nLite utility, (found via LifeHacker). nLite is a fantastic tool in the TechGeek’s arsenal for trimming the fat from a standard installtion, creating unattended installations without the hassle of writing the text files, or slipsteaming recent SP and patch updates into the install for better security.

If you are using a “cut-down” version of Windows for the install and you come across any hinkey errors, it could well be that you’ve dropped a component that is required. Unless you’re really familiar with the components your Boot Camp drivers will require, I’d recommend keeping the original Windows system intact, at least to begin with.