Installed windows xp using bootcamp- Now its the only OS- HELP!

A

aquila14

Registered
Hi,

I'm a fairly new mac user and I messed up windows xp installation on my mac using bootcamp.

I made the partition (FAT32 32GB) using bootcamp, then inserted the XP professional SP2 installation CD. Once I completed the configuration, the system tried to restart but said there was a disk error and I had to manually restart the system using the power button and the setup started all over again. I tried to get the disk out but couldn't (eject button wouldn't work). I made a few more tries like this and finally got wise and pressed the trackpad button while restarting and the CD popped out. As soon as the CD popped out XP installation also started.

Once installation was over, I put in the OS X install DVD and it automatically started and installed all the required drivers. Then i had to restart it again and I thought everything was going fine, but then the mac started booting from the install CD and it said OS X couldn't be installed. So I manually restarted again and did the thing with the trackpad again and out popped the CD. Then I restarted and held down the option button, but instead of showing Windows and Mac, it showed only windows. When I clicked on it, windows started up fine and its working fine. But when I put in the OS X CD again to install it, since I realized I might have erased it, it wouldn't install.

After that, I tried the Disk Breakup (or something like that) from the Utilities toolbar and tried to erase the other partition. But that didn't work either. So now I'm stuck with just windows and I can't seem to install OS X on it again. Help! I miss my OS X!! What do I do now?!

P.S: I also noted that before windows starts, it asks me to select between two windows XP professionals. I tried to figure out what that was about and did something (don't remember what) and when the dos popped up, it gave me an option to choose between C:/windows or D:/windows. Is it possible I installed windows on both partitions?
 
aquila14 said:
...an option to choose between C:/windows or D:/windows. Is it possible I installed windows on both partitions?
Click to expand...

That sounds like exactly what happened. You installed Windows on the Boot Camp partition, then installed it again on (or, rather, over) the Mac OS X partition -- leaving you with two Windows partitions and no Mac OS X partition.

Simply use Disk Utility when booted from the Leopard Install CD/DVD to format one of the partitions back to HFS+, then reinstall Mac OS X on that partition.
 
ElDiabloConCaca said:
Simply use Disk Utility when booted from the Leopard Install CD/DVD to format one of the partitions back to HFS+, then reinstall Mac OS X on that partition.
Click to expand...

Diablo,

Thanks for your response.

How do I format using Disk utilities? When I selected the partition other than bootcamp, I wasn't able to repair or verify the disk, nor could I access the repair or verify permissions. Also, remember I erased that disk? Now it shows that its not mounted, and when I try mounting it, it shows that it can't. Restore doesn't work either (well not now, but I tried it before I erased the disk). The partition type shows that its windows NTFS.

Any ideas?
 
You can't repair or verify an NTFS disk. Veryfing permissions is only for Mac OS X system volumes. You can _erase_ one of the partitions. I would, however, start over completely, actually. Which means: In Disk Utilities, you select the _device_ instead of one of the volumes and hit the "partition" tab. Let it create _one_ partition as "Mac OS Extended Journaled". Within the options button of the partitioning setup, select GUID partition table (GPT). After repartitioning, your complete harddisk is erased and you can reinstall Mac OS X and later use the BootCamp assistant again. Print out the assistant's manual so you have it ready at the time of choosing the correct partition for Windows.
 
How did you screw up the simple instructions of making a Boot Camp partition?

1. IMPORTANT step. Before running /Applications/Utilities/Boot Camp Assistant run /Applications/Utilities/Disk Utility and Verify your hard disk and Repair Permissions.

2. Launch Boot Camp Assistant and create either a FAT32 or NTFS partition of the size you want.

3. Buy a legal copy of XP2 or better and load it on the BOOT CAMP PARTITION like you would normally install it.

4. While in the Windows Boot Camp Partition put in the legal copy of Leopard (or Better) in the Windows environment and it will have Windows Drivers for all the little stuff in your Mac. It also will put in a new Windows Control Panel called "Startup Disk" like just like that is in OS X (System Preferences->Startup Disk). Neat isn't it?

5. The keyboard startup shortcut is to hold down the "option" key while starting up to choose what partition to boot into.

Now how did you screw up such a simple process? I ask because as others point out, by the way you describe the predicament it sounds as if you erased the Mac partition and created two Windows partitions.

So unless you have a backup you really screwed yourself and you lost all your music and pictures, etc. You will have to wipe the whole disk, reinstall Leopard and then set it up and go through the Boot Camp steps again (in order this time).

Lastly buy an external Firewire 800 drive (the easiest, fastest connection) like one of these and run a free backup program (that will make a boot able backup) like [urlhttp://www.bombich.com/software/ccc.html]Carbon Copy Cloner[/url] or shareware like Superduper and regularly backup. This way you could have covered your formating mistake.

Lastly don't cry because Mac developers have come through again about cloning a windows partition with the program Winclone without even booting into Windows to back it up.

So the moral of this whole story is ALWAYS have a backup, just in case. I hope you learn the fact of computing that has taught computing people since the beginning that having backup is a bacon saver.
 
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Thanks all for your replies. Haven't had a chance to try them out but will tomorrow.

@Satcomer.. Fact is, its my 10 yr old nephew's mac, and the kid was too impatient to load windows so he could play maplestory. He didn't wait for me to install it. So after he screwed it up he came running to me. So no data losses. :D
 
Thanks all for your replies. Haven't had a chance to try them out but will tomorrow.

@Satcomer.. Fact is, its my 10 yr old nephew's mac, and the kid was too impatient to load windows so he could play maplestory. He didn't wait for me to install it. So after he screwed it up he came running to me. So data losses are fine. :D
 
Satcomer said:
Lastly don't cry because Mac developers have come through again about cloning a windows partition with the program Winclone with even booting into windows to back it up.
Click to expand...

Winclone is a great app. Have used it several times for transferring bootcamp partitions to different HDs for some clients. Just make sure whatever Bootcamp partition you are transferring is setup as NTFS because FAT32 has sizing issues. The way to solve those issues is by converting the Bootcamp partition to NTFS and recreating and re-restoring the bootcamp partition. Not trying to hijack the thread, just giving the app credit.
 
Installing Windows with Boot Camp is not exactly simple. People sometimes get confused during Windows installation. Windows asks what partition to install Windows on and lists the size of the two partitions in bytes or KB instead of GB. People pick the wrong partition unaware of the potentially disastrous implications. It's very easy to hose OS X.

Satcomer, you need to think back when you didn't know much about computers. I'm guessing that it was long enough ago that computers weren't nearly as complex as they are now. For me, it was ~20 years ago.

Bot
 
ex2bot said:
Installing Windows with Boot Camp is not exactly simple. People sometimes get confused during Windows installation. Windows asks what partition to install Windows on and lists the size of the two partitions in bytes or KB instead of GB. People pick the wrong partition unaware of the potentially disastrous implications. It's very easy to hose OS X.

Satcomer, you need to think back when you didn't know much about computers. I'm guessing that it was long enough ago that computers weren't nearly as complex as they are now. For me, it was ~20 years ago.
Click to expand...

Not to sound elitist or anything. But if one doesn't know the difference between a bit, byte, KB, MB, GB, TB, etc, maybe they shouldn't be messing around with repartitioning their HD while sensitive data sits on an active partition? In terms of active volume repartitioning it has never really been easier. Just a few years ago it would have been unheard of to repartition while actually booted to the drive you are repartitioning let alone do it while expecting your data would still be on the other partition afterwards. I think it all goes back to take precautions such as back up your data. And secondly RTFM.
 
Good points and fair enough. But I think it's a bit of a stretch to call Boot Camp Windows install "simple." For me it was reasonably simple. But I'm a computer geek.

Bot
 
fryke said:
You can't repair or verify an NTFS disk. Veryfing permissions is only for Mac OS X system volumes. You can _erase_ one of the partitions. I would, however, start over completely, actually. Which means: In Disk Utilities, you select the _device_ instead of one of the volumes and hit the "partition" tab. Let it create _one_ partition as "Mac OS Extended Journaled". Within the options button of the partitioning setup, select GUID partition table (GPT). After repartitioning, your complete harddisk is erased and you can reinstall Mac OS X and later use the BootCamp assistant again. Print out the assistant's manual so you have it ready at the time of choosing the correct partition for Windows.
Click to expand...

Fryke,

The partitioning went off well. Verification also says that the partition looks ok. But when I try to install OS X, it says it can't be installed. Now I have a complete blank HD with no OS. Any ideas?
 
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