# Macbook Pro Laptop running on Windows Xp Pro



## coolday (Jul 6, 2005)

First of all I don't know if this is the right section to post my message ... I came across a Macbook Pro laptop which had Macintosh OS. Now the owner had formatted it and installed Win XP Pro OS. 

It's working fine .... but now he has forgotten the password for the only user. Also there is no Administrator account in safe mode and so I don't have any chance to remove or change the password. One more serious problem is there. The owner had inserted a cd into the drive and now I'm unable to take it out since there is no eject button. There is one on the keyboard, but didn't work. I also don't know the cmos setup key for this laptop, coz it's totally different form other laptops... 

Please help ... It's urgent

:4-dontkno


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## sinclair_tm (Mar 11, 2005)

well, we can't help with the password problems, as its against the forum rules (please do read them all). as for cmos, macs do not have them. as for ejecting stuck cds, you could try holding down the mouse button right after you turn the macbook up and see if that does the trick. once you get the cd out, the only other thing you can do is get the system restore cds for that macbook and reinstall the mac os for it.


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## coolday (Jul 6, 2005)

How to boot from a bootable cd?? Can't I install winxp again???


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## sinclair_tm (Mar 11, 2005)

no, the only way to install windows is vis bootcamp, and to use that, you have to have the mac os installed.


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## coolday (Jul 6, 2005)

Ok how do I boot from a bootable cd??? I don't understand the keyboard layout at all, since I use normal windows based keyboard??? Somewhere while searching the internet I found that if u need to boot from a cd u have to press the command + option + shift + option key ... but where are those keys .... please post a picture if possible ....
Thanks a lot for responding ... waiting for further reply ....


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## sinclair_tm (Mar 11, 2005)

to boot from a cd, you just have to hold down the "c" key right after you hear the bong. this tells the mac to go straight to the cd drive. i believe you were referring to the command-shift-option-delete key combo which tells the computer to look for anything to boot from, and that can take a long time. so to boot from cds just hold down the c key.
but for your info, the command key is the keys to either side of the spacebar with the apple on it. the option key is to the left of the command key on the left side of the keyboard, and it will option on it. the shift keys are the ones labeled shift, and are found in the same places as windows keyboards.


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## coolday (Jul 6, 2005)

Suppose .... I have a Macbook pro notebook with no preloaded OS. Now how will I load an OS. Can OS other than Mac OS can be installed on the notebook. If possible how? I heard that Mac uses the JHFS files system. Is the statement true?? How to create a JHFS file system??? I also heard about a software called BCD with which we can install to different OS ... such as mac and xp or linux


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## scathe30 (Jan 10, 2007)

coolday said:


> Suppose .... I have a Macbook pro notebook with no preloaded OS. Now how will I load an OS. Can OS other than Mac OS can be installed on the notebook. If possible how?


It is impossible I think. This is what virtualization is made for. You can easily run windows or Linux on your Mac. On top of all there's Boot Camp that let's you install windows natively on your Mac. So with Boot Camp you boot into Windows as if it is your OS, and with a VM you just run it alongside Mac OS.


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## coolday (Jul 6, 2005)

Is bootcamp free? Plz post the tutorials??


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## sinclair_tm (Mar 11, 2005)

again, the mac hardware is designed in such a way that unless you have the mac os installed on it (and with intel based macs, that means you need the cds/dvds that came with the computer as apple has not released a retail copy of the os that will boot, and install on intel macs), you can not use bootcamp, vmware, parallels or any other virtualization setup to set up any other os to run on it. and as the macbook is still too new, the main unix distros still don't have a everyday useable live cd/installer, as most still require that os x be installed to start the process from, and are very buggy and unstable.

now, with all you insisting, i'm beginning to suspect that you may have not gotten this macbook in a legitimate way, as every new mac come with the disks required to restore it to new like settings, and if you got it from the owner, they would have had those disks, and should of given them to you as that is part of the EULA of apple.


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## shuuhen (Sep 4, 2004)

I haven't looked into putting Linux on a MacBook much, but the little I've read seemed to indicate that it's still difficult. As sinclair_tm said, you should have received the install/restore discs that belong to that machine. Mac OS X is the easiest system to install on an Intel Mac.

The problem with installing Linux on the MacBook is you will have a hard time getting some of the devices working. It is still a fairly new machine, so there will still be missing drivers.


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## scathe30 (Jan 10, 2007)

sinclair_tm said:


> now, with all you insisting, i'm beginning to suspect that you may have not gotten this macbook in a legitimate way, as every new mac come with the disks required to restore it to new like settings, and if you got it from the owner, they would have had those disks, and should of given them to you as that is part of the EULA of apple.


Actually, I was also thinking about this, but, nevertheless, asking such questions is not prohibited here, no matter where you got your Mac from.


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## scathe30 (Jan 10, 2007)

shuuhen said:


> I haven't looked into putting Linux on a MacBook much, but the little I've read seemed to indicate that it's still difficult.
> The problem with installing Linux on the MacBook is you will have a hard time getting some of the devices working.


I havent' tried it myself, of course, I know completely nothing of Linux, but on other forums I saw that people run it successfully on Macs via Parallels.
... 
Well, now I see there are some problems with it, of course. I checked Parallels Support Forum questions related to Linux matters. Here


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## coolday (Jul 6, 2005)

I have the Mac original OS. What other software will I require?? Please post the tutorials??


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## sinclair_tm (Mar 11, 2005)

tutorials to do what? i guess now would be a good time to give us a detailed update as to where you are with the macbook, and what your goal is. this will cut out a lot of guess work on our part, which could lead you in the wrong direction.


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## coolday (Jul 6, 2005)

Tutorials to install winxp and macosx on the macbook pro. How other software will I require to start the process ... for e.g. partitioning software


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## sinclair_tm (Mar 11, 2005)

If you have mac os x installed already, goto Apple's site and download bootcamp. Install it and then run it after reading all of the page you downloaded bootcamp from. It will take you through the steps for a dual boot os x/win xp mac. Just remember, you have to have a win xp sp2 install disk for bootcamp to work. This will be the cheapest way to get os x and win xp on the mac. The other methods require you to buy other software. And the other software doesn't let you dual boot, they infact run win xp in a virtual computer environment within os x, so it will also run slower, but you will not have to reboot the computer to get to win xp. if you'd like to try one of the other software options, just ask, and i'm sure scathe30 will be willing to post a how to and give pointers on using the one called parallels.


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## shuuhen (Sep 4, 2004)

Like sinclair_tm said, Boot Camp is the cheapest way to get Windows on your MacBook. All methods require the XP SP2 install disc. Pay close attention to the minimum version of Mac OS X and required firmware updates (basically all of the stuff under "What you need"). Make sure your computer meets or exceeds all of the requirements (it may already, but this is an important part). Boot Camp is also nice because it makes a partition for Windows while leaving you Mac OS X install intact.

If you want to try using Windows programs while using Mac OS X, you can get either Parallels Desktop or VMware Fusion. I know VMware Fusion allows you to just start using your Boot Camp install. Parallels is supposed to have support for Boot Camp, but they don't seem to elaborate on their web site. Basically you shouldn't have a problem with going with Boot Camp if you decide you want one of the others later.


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## coolday (Jul 6, 2005)

Thanks I'll try ...


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## scathe30 (Jan 10, 2007)

shuuhen said:


> If you want to try using Windows programs while using Mac OS X, you can get either Parallels Desktop or VMware Fusion. I know VMware Fusion allows you to just start using your Boot Camp install. Parallels is supposed to have support for Boot Camp, but they don't seem to elaborate on their web site. Basically you shouldn't have a problem with going with Boot Camp if you decide you want one of the others later.


Parallels has got very firm and good support of Boot Camp partitions. Basically, it is very useful - but not very much for me, only to run Windows from Boot Camp partition for Parallels.
Overall, Boot Camp partition support proved itself to be very stable in Parallels so far...


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## coolday (Jul 6, 2005)

I've installed macosx and winxpsp2 using bootcamp....
I did it this way ....
1) Created a single unpartitioned drive in the hdd.

2) Installed macosx onto that partition.

3) Installed bootcamp and partitioned the single partition and created a new partition for winxp.

4) Started xp installation using bootcamp. (I'd created a winxp driver for mac before-hand)

5) Installed winxp and provided xp drivers for mac from the above mentioned cd.

Actually these steps helped me in not getting confused and everything was done easily and quickly.

Thanks everyone for the help they provided.


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## coolday (Jul 6, 2005)

One more query ...
How can I create a backup of the macosx installation dvd. We don't have the 7.5 gb dvd disks in the market .... only 4.5 gb


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## sinclair_tm (Mar 11, 2005)

i don't even know if you can. making bootable copies of apple os cds/dvds has always been hit and miss, more often a miss. there is no way to do it in windows, and the mac burning apps i know of won't burn a bootable one.


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