Running Windows Solely?

[ShadowX22]

Hi,

I just bought a MacBook and actually enjoy using Mac OSX, but after being a lifetime windows user I would like to go back to using it. Is it possible to run it solely, like completely remove OSX from the computer and just use Windows? Or do I have to keep OSX so I can use Boot Camp?

[Steve1496]

I don't see why removing OS X wouldnt be possible. This would remove everything from your mac, but should work..
1. Use boot camp to burn the drivers CD
2. Reboot with the Mac OS X restore CD in, holding C on startup.
3. From the programs menu, go to Disk Utility. From here, select your internal hard drive. Select the 'Erase' tab. Put it in MS DOS format, or FAT32. Select a name if you want to. (WARNING: Here is where all data from OS X AND Windows will be deleted.)
4. Reboot with the Windows CD in, holding option. Now, select to boot from the Windows CD and run Windows setup again. You should see your entire disk free. Just install Windows into unpartitioned space, and you should be OK.

Again, I haven't tried this, but technically speaking I don't see why it wouldn't work.

Good luck :)
Steve

[sjrowe]

I run my MacBook with WindowsXP installed as the only operating system. The method for installation was the same as described above.

1) Burn a copy if the Apple Bootcamp Windows drivers first.
2) Backup any of your files - you will be wiping your hard disk!
3) Boot off the MacOSX Install Disk CD
4) Start 'Disk Utlity' (after you have selected you install language)
5) Repartion you hard drive so you have a single MSDOS partition with the partition type set to BIOS mode (instead of the default EFI mode) - THIS WILL DELETE EVERYTHING FROM YOUR MacBook HARDDISK!
6) Exit 'Disk Utill'
7) Reboot and hold down the Mouse button to eject the MacOSX Install CD
8) Put in your WindowsXP Service Pack 2 Installation CD and reboot again
9) Install WindowsXP as normal
10) Once WindowsXP is installed and you have rebooted - use the Bootcamp Windows drivers disk from Apple to get your hardware working correctly.
11) Install an AntiVirus program, anti Spyware program, turn on the Windows Firewall and make sure you install the large number of Windows security patches, hotfixes etc using Windows Update
12) Repeat step 11 as often as you can in between using your WindowsXp MacBook for 'normal' stuff :)

Simon

[blimpmedia]

I’ve just tried the above instructions however I can’t seem to get my XP disk to show as an install disk when I hold the options key down.

These are the steps I’ve followed:

I inserted the Mac OS X Install Disc 1 and once loaded went to utility then disk utility.

I then selected the 250gig HD and selected erase, I also made sure in format I selected MS-DOS as the file format.

I then restarted my system and ejected the OS X CD followed by placing in my Windows XP CD which has SP2 included and held the option key on start-up.

What happens is while I’m waiting for the disk to start installing a grey folder shows up on my screen with a question mark sign (?).

What could I be doing wrong?

Will I need to update my firmware on the iMac first then do the format?

Or does that not matter?

My Windows XP Professional CD is a July 06 CD

[Selefice]

did u find a solution?
We would like to get a MacPro and use PC graphic cards
(like QuadroFX1500)and use Xp/Linux

i was hoping it would be quite easy to use jut XP on the MacPro...

[Paul2660]

When you formated, did you format to bios mode or EFI. It sounds like you are in EFI mode and XP can't see that.

It's the whole reason with Boot camp, and XP you can't use a tool like parition magic to repartition a drive since your are using Boot camp's overlay to get around the EFI interface on the drive.

Paul C.

[trailboss]

Can win98 or win2000 run on a Mac? Can any linux run too and be the only OS?
thanks
Trailboss

[6200rpm]

i'd like to do this too on my macbook, now i have osx and vista installed. Can i just delete the osx partitions from the disk manager utility ? Will that work ?

[MasReipan]

I have been running just WindowsXP (sp2) on 100 the first IMac Core2 Duo in a production level academic lab now for 5 months. There are a couple of issues to look at when deciding to go this route.

1. BURN THE LATEST DRIVER CD/DVD!:mad:
2. FILE SYSTEM FORMAT!:confused:You want to ensure you are using the NTFS files system for your Windows install this will give you the ability for single file sizes larger than 4 gig, granted boot camp will create a FAT 32 partition by default, here is how I worked around that;
From an install disk or fire wire disk based install run this from the terminal.
(sudo diskutil partitionDisk /dev/disk0s2 2 MBR "MS-DOS" Windows 40G "MS-DOS" STORAGE)The MBR part is important, this converts the HDD'
s boot record from the Apple default "GUID" to the older "Master Boot Record" this made a huge performance increase for me!
Insert the WindowsXP install media and proceed to install the operating system as normal, choosing to format the partition to NTFS on the install.
You may encounter a blinking ? folder on the initial reboot during install in that case hold the apple command key and the select the hard drive from the boot options presented. We will finalize this in a later step.
3. After the install you may need to un-plug and then re-pug in the keyboard in order to get it to work during WindowsXP mini-setup.

4. Install the boot camp drivers and re-bootYou may have to select the boot device manually once more.
5. When WindowsXP finishes loading use the now available boot camp systray icon to set the Windows Disk as the primary boot device. This will escape the blinking ? issue


You should now have a base install of windows ready for updating and customizing. Go ahead and format the storage drive/partition to NTFS using the WindowsXP disk management mmc plug in this will allow you to make some tweaks to folder directions is you need me swap space/page file for gaming.

I then use a combination of the WindowsXP system preparation tool "sysprep" and Symantec Ghost services based solution to mass deploy this above image.

Happy Computing!