Installing Windows

messiahmessiah
Posted:
in Genius Bar edited January 2014
I seem to remember that Apples instructions for installing Windows via Boot Camp stated that the full version of Windows XP, complete with SP2, was required.



Is this the case, or is Apple just covering their own backs here?



I have an old (legal) upgrade installer for the original version of XP ? basically this installer allowed me to upgrade from Windows ME to XP back in the day.



I'm wondering if I could get away with buying another upgrade, complete with SP2 (to save me having to fanny around) ? or as Apple states, do I need the full package?

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 2
    jccbinjccbin Posts: 476member
    COmplete and honest discussion of this might just fall under the Warez/illegal piracy parts of the TOS for AI, but....



    There are folks who have called MSFT and ordered an XP SP2 disk for just a few dollars. They had to prove that they were licensed for XP (the serial number). I think the total cost was under $10.



    There are also folks who used their XP original CD or HD install and their upgrade SP2 cd, via an external CD drive to "slipstream" install onto the Boot Camp partition. While this may be outside the letter of Apple's requirements, it is legal if you own the licenses to XP.



    Are there other ways? Probably.



    Hope this helps.
  • Reply 2 of 2
    messiahmessiah Posts: 1,689member
    I'm fairly sure that what I'm doing is legal because:



    ? the XP upgrade was a shrink wrapped retail version (not OEM) that I purchased for personal use

    ? the ME software was a shrink wrapped retail version that I purchased for personal use



    I'm not installing XP on two machines and running them simultaneously ? I have one licence and I want to install the software on one computer.



    The sticking point is SP2. You need SP1 installed to download SP2, but MS were no longer allowing 'original' users to download SP1. The result was that if you were one of the early adopters of XP (like me) you would have to pony-up for a full version of XP again (£189/$349).



    Fuck that for a game of soldiers!
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