Installing Windows XP on MacBook Pro

waiting_for_OSX

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I've installed Windows XP Pro on a MacBook Pro, however, there are no drivers for the ethernet adapters so I can't access the internet to install SP2 or more current drivers. How do I get around this problem?
I am not using Bootcamp, this is a straight installation from scratch. Please don't tell me to use Bootcamp if you don''t know how to solve this problem otherwise.
 
If there are no drivers, there are no drivers, and you cannot use the ethernet port then. How, exactly, did you install Windows XP on there without BootCamp? If it's from the hack going around the internet, I would suggest reformatting the drive and using BootCamp -- that way, you'll have Apple-supported drivers for most all of the hardware.
 
Ah, I see... well, since there are no drivers for the Intel-based Macintosh hardware included with Windows XP, you may want to download BootCamp just to have it create a driver disk for you. You can then use that disk in Windows XP to install the drivers for the hardware.
 
You'll find out that BootCamp provides these drivers.
"For your convenience, Boot Camp burns a CD with all the Mac-specific drivers for Windows:
Graphics
Networking
Audio
AirPort wireless
Bluetooth
The Eject key (on Apple keyboards)
Brightness control for built-in displays
This CD also installs a Startup Disk control panel for Windows. To find it, look for Startup Disk in the Performance and Maintenance section of the Windows XP Control Panel. "
 
I used bootcamp to create the Mac Drivers disk. However, when I run the Mac drivers disk in Windows XP Pro on the MacBook Pro, I get the error message

feature transfer error
error -1603 Fatal error during installation.
Consult Windows Installer Help (Msi.chm) or MSDN for more information.

and the installation fails. The video driver did install properly, but no network drivers!
 
Have you installed SP2, yet? The drivers require that first, I think. That's why there's a lot of tips about slipstreaming SP2 to the installer disk. Maybe you have to install SP2 before you can expect success with the driver installs.

Ah, fun with Windows.... :)
at least this kind of error is an easy Google search (guessing it's typical for WinXP installs?)
Try some or all of the fixes on this page: http://consumer.installshield.com/kb.asp?id=Q111019
 
i tried intalling win xp using boot camp and an xp pro .iso i downloaded from bittorrent (to avoid the hassle of slipstreaming it myself) and it doesn't respond to keyboard input at all. tried this with two different versions of win xp. any ideas? anything i should be doing? would the language version of the win xp cd make a difference?
 
The error came from the fact that I was installing Windows XP Pro from a disk that pre-dated Service Pack 2. I purchased a new copy of XP Pro that included Service Pack 2 and everything installed flawlessly.
 
this may seem silly.... but can i ask why you bought a MacBook Pro then completely removed Mac OSX to put windows xp on it???

seems crazy to me...
 
Freedom of choice never hurt computer users.

I for one welcome the great alternatives to VPC I now have on my shiny new Intel Powerbook. At last I can get rid of Virtual PC! Personally I like Parallel's approach since I don't need a Wintendo but rather want to run a number of Win-only apps I am forced to use for various jobs. Ah, and did I mention Office for Windows where certain macros REALLY work? Sadly, Office 2004 for OS X is still not 100% compatible to the Windows version (or vice versa???) so that I encounter problems all the time, especially with macros involving file paths. Being able to run Win Office means one less PITA in that department.

As for running Windows only: Let them have it! Before too long they'll (re-)discover the advantages of the Mac OS. And if they don't, at least Apple sold them a machine. Much better than people running hacked versions of OS X on their DIY-homebrew, Dull or Gateway PC.
 
I, too, am baffled that you have chosen to name yourself "Waiting for OS X" and then completely remove OS X to install Windows.

I also can't understand why you needed to buy a Windows slipstreamed SP2 disc when you could have just installed SP2 yourself on your other XP disc?
 
New macs, unless I am misinformed, are just Intel computers with slick packaging and an EFI instead of a BIOS......which means that most (maybe not airport) of the hardware in your computer is standard Intel Centrino stuff....Hell, even the Core Duo chips are simply dual-core Pentium-Ms;anyway, any 3rd party hardware is obviously also featured in PCs, meaning that finding Windows drivers for them won't be a problem. Your problem, though, is not knowing what you have in the first place.

What you need to do: Get a hardware identification utility like Driver Wizard (easily found on google) and run it - it'll tell you all the stuff you've got and the drivers you'll need for them; it'll even make a report which can be sent to it's website where they'll give you urls to the required drivers.......................

Also, search online for a "dissection" of a Macbook where the reviewers would have mentioned all the hardware......................
 
I bought Macs for the main reason that I don't like giving up 30% of my CPU to mandatory virus protection software and having to drop YET MORE cash on monthly subscriptions to keep it updated.

Yes, Microsoft still fundamentally owns the retail computing market's OS, however I find the user experience much better on the Mac. I have a MacBook Pro because I want to boot Windows for ONE piece of software that I can't get for the Mac. Well, and because it's a very cool and sexy machine, but that's beside the point :)

But to buy $2k(+) of Mac hardware *JUST* to run Windows seems not only silly and a bit of a slap in the nuts (or geek bragging rights), but it's a collosal waste of money, considering there are *LOTS* of sub-$1k notebook computers that are nearly as fast ( and have bigger screens and work just fine and come with nice gadgets and software and... ) as the MacBook Pro.
 
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