MacWindows Report: Boot Camp in Leopard Tips and Reports

Boot Camp enables Intel-powered Macs to boot from Windows. It turns Macs into duel-boot machines: You can either boot the Mac from Mac OS X or from Windows. Unlike virtualization products like Parallels Desktop and VMware Fusion, Boot Camp Beta does not give you access to Mac OS X and Windows at the same time. With Boot Camp and Windows installed, you boot Windows by holding the Option key down while restarting. You then select the drive partition that contains Windows.

The Boot Camp installer assistant "dynamically creates" a hard drive partition for Windows without erasing the Mac data. Boot Camp provides drivers for Windows to support the Mac keyboard and various hardware and peripherals from within Windows. Apple says that Boot Camp runs Windows "completely natively."

Version History and Apple Info

Apple released Boot Camp 2.1 last week to support Windows XP Service Pack 3 on Intel Macs. The update is required to run SP3, and must be installed before updating Windows XP to SP3 on a Mac. Apple said that the update also "improves compatibility" with Microsoft Windows Vista, but did not elaborate.

Last week, Apple posted NVidia graphics drivers for use in Windows running in Boot Camp on Mac models with NVidia graphics hardware, including the MacBook Pro. Apple said that installing the drivers in Windows Vista can fix a problem with a black screen (blank screen), and may fix other video drivers in Windows XP and Vista.

The Apple tech support article describes this is an issue for Boot Camp 2.0, which comes with Leopard, but many MacWindows readers reported this problem with the Boot Camp Beta for Tiger as well as with the Leopard version. We don't yet know if the Windows drivers at the Apple web site will work in Boot Camp 1.4 and earlier, which Apple isn't supporting.

Here are MacWindows reports of NVidia video problems with Vista and XP in Boot Camp that these drivers might apply to:

Apple has posted an FAQ page for Boot Camp 2.0, which is what Apple is calling the version that comes with Leopard. It covers updating from Boot Camp Beta in Tiger as well as some troubleshooting issues. It also lists the Boot Camp drivers for Windows that are on the Leopard DVD.

Last week, Apple released a firmware update for 24" iMacs from late 2006. The update, called the iMac MXM Update 1.0, fixes a video compatibility issue in Boot Camp and Mac OS X Leopard. It fixes a problem where booting from the Windows XP installer CD produces a black screen (no video) instead of the blue installation screen.

Apple is no longer offering a download of Boot Camp at its web site. Although the Boot Camp Beta 1.4 page is still up (at least for now), clicking the download link brings up a Page Not Found page.

Apple will no longer offer Boot Camp for Mac OS X 10.4 users, and will not longer offer updates for the Tiger version or driver updates for 1.4. Apple said that the end user license to use Boot Camp Beta expires today when Mac OS X 10.5 ship. "To continue using Boot Camp at that time, upgrade to Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard," according to an Apple tech article. Boot Camp Beta should, however, continue to function on Tiger machines.

An Apple tech article warns that installing iTunes 7 in Windows Vista can disable the optical drive. The article provides a Registry edit that returns functionality to most Windows applications, but iTunes will be unable to burn CDs. The article doesn’t mention if the problem occurs with Vista running on Boot Camp on a Mac.

A Macworld article from earlier in the year describes using Apple's Bonjour for Windows to enable printing from Windows in Boot Camp or in a virtual machine such as Parallels Desktop or VMware Fusion.

Reader Reports and Tips

TIP: Updating Boot Camp Windows drivers in Leopard when MacDrive is installed | Top of Page |

Thomas Tiedt sent us a tip on updating Boot Camp's Windows drivers after upgrading Mac OS X from Tiger to Leopard:

After I installed Leopard, to update Windows drivers, I put the Leopard DVD in while in Boot Camp Windows. The new driver install did not occur. I also could not find Windows drivers on Leopard DVD. And, while in Leopard and starting up Boot Camp Assistant, there was no longer any way to make a Windows driver CD (or folder).

Then I figured out the hurdle: I had to right-click the DVD drive in Vista, and choose Show Windows Files rather than Show Mac Files. Presto, the setup for Windows drivers appeared.

Tiedt didn't mention if he had Mediafour's MacDrive installed in Windows. If you do, Mediafour says that when you right-click the DVD, you should choose "MacDrive -> Show Windows Files." This is because the Leopard installation DVD is a multisession disc.

Leopard's Boot Camp still hasn't fixed Vista Cinema Display problem | Top of Page |

Monday, October 29, 2007

Jeff Foster reported that the new Leopard Boot Camp has not fixed some issues with Nvidia graphics in Windows Vista:

I ran out to get Leopard hoping the non-beta version of the Boot Camp Windows drivers for my MacBook Pro (NVidia graphics card) would have the correct drivers for an external Cinema Display, but still Apple's failed to support even their own hardware on Windows. The display control panel shows it's connected, but 1024X768 is the highest it will go, and the LED on the ACD just flashes every once in a while to indicate it can't use the input. I was able to make the ACD work with random inf files I'd found in forums, but they killed DirectX or some other video functionality, as all videos in any player would just be a black screen.

Also, in every version of Boot Camp on my MacBook Pro, Vista never seems to know whether it's plugged in to power or not-it indicates that it's running off battery after a while, which depending on your power settings can send it to sleep even though it's really plugged in. Works fine when booted to OSX (as does the external Cinema Display, incidentally).

Did the Leopard fix your Boot Camp display problem with Vista?

NOTE: In late November, 2007, Apple posted NVidia drivers at it's web site. Click here for more.

Windows display settings change to default when rebooting in Windows XP | Top of Page |

Friday, November 2, 2007

Michael Politi reports a problem with Leopard Boot Camp, where the Windows display settings don't stick after rebooting Windows:

I am having a problem using my Apple 23" Cinema Display when rebooting my MacBook Pro. It works well, but I must reset the Windows Nvidia Control Panel display configuration to Clone every time I reboot the machine?

I am using the following system:

MacBook Pro 17" 2.4 GHZ Intel Core 2 Duo, 4 GB 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM
Windows XP Professional in BootCamp with Leopard

If you've seen this problem

Reader reports success with Apple NVidia driver for Boot Camp

Monday, December 10, 2007

Ole Nils Feddersen in Germany reported success with the NVidia display drivers for Windows that Apple recently posted at its web site for use in Boot Camp. He said:

I tested the new display Driver of NVidia for Boot Camp and it works. My 23" Cinema works fine in 1920 x 1200 pixels (Boot Camp + Vista + MacBook Pro 15").

Previously, a number of readers reported problems with Boot Camp and the NVidia graphics hardware in some Mac. These are some of the problem reports that these drivers should address:

If you've tried these drivers how it works for you.

Oystein Saebo recommends downloading the nVidia graphics driver from nVidia to solve problems with Boot Camp:

I had the same problem with the 1.4 Boot Camp as well as 2.0 Boot Camp nVidia drivers. These drivers are actually pretty old. Installing the latest nVidia beta-drivers from the nVidia web site will make everything work perfectly.

After booting the correct monitor will be the active one. All resolutions and dual view works just fine.

Watching the Apple nVidia drivers is just a waist of time as they are not updated very often. These drivers makes it possible to play Crysis as well.

Last month, Apple posted nVidia drivers at its web site, and one reader reported that it fixed the problems within Boot Camp that he was having.

Wednesday, March 5, 2008

Responding to our article Reader reports success with Apple NVidia driver for Boot Camp, Geoff Armstrong said that issues still remain with his external projector:

These older drivers posted by Apple did partially fix my problem using an external projector. Previously, using the later drivers supplied with Leopard, the highest resolution I could get on the projector was 1024x768.

With the Apple posted drivers I can go right up to 1920x1080 (Full HD) Unfortunately there is nothing in between 1280x1024 and 1920x1080 available for the projector with this driver.

My projector's native resolution is actually 1400x1050. It seems absurd that I can send full HD to the projector or 1280x1024; but the drivers can do nothing in between.

If I use 1920x1080, obviously I get overscan and this is a pain to correct when watching movies.

If you've seen this problem or have a suggestion

Windows XP desktop reset each boot under Boot Camp with a second monitor

Andrejs Eigus responded to our report describing Boot Camp Windows dual-monitor display settings becoming lost after rebooting Windows.

I am having exactly the same problem with my MacBook (Black/Penryn Feb 2008) 2.4Ghz running Mac OS X Leopard 10.5.5 and Microsoft Windows XP Professional SP3 on my Boot Camp partition. I am using external LG 787LE monitor with both Mac OS and Windows, but every time I start up Windows XP, my desktop is reset to be auto-arranged (read: messed up) and I have to re-set up second monitor to use with "Extended Desktop" all over again each time.

If you've seen this problem

Two readers say that problem of Windows dual-monitor display settings becoming lost after rebooting Windows is not limited to Boot Camp, but that the problem is with Windows XP. Gary Chou said that the problem occurs on a non-Apple PC:

My work laptop runs Windows XP Pro and also resets dual monitor settings after each reboot. I have to toggle the dual monitor setting each time and also rearrange the proper desktop arrangements (i.e. how Monitor 1 is positioned with respect to Monitor 2). I believe this is a Windows issue rather than a Boot Camp issue.

Richard sees this with VMware Fusion as well in Boot Camp:

Similar problem in VMware Fusion as well. I have Fusion 2.0, which allow dual monitor for Windows XP and Vista to use two monitors. In my XP, I setup for two monitor, took a snapshot, then I restart XP with the snapshot. It worked for a few times but then it will switch back to single monitor. I thought it was a Fusion program, but sounds like it's a Windows XP issue.

Thursday, November 20, 2008

John Grubb echoed yesterday's report that Windows XP loses dual-monitor settings not just in Boot Camp, but on PCs:

Windows XP frequently loses its video settings on Dell machines. I am constantly resetting dual monitor preferences for employees with Dells running Windows XP. All of our employees use dual screens, both with laptops (docked) and desktops too.

XP loses the video settings at least every other reboot if not every on nearly every machine. They call it a nuisance. I call it FRUSTRATING.

So any Mac user who sees this issue either in Boot Camp or virtual environment, take heart. It's not your Mac machine. It's another case of broken Windows.

If you know of a fix

Jeff reports that Boot Camp 2.0 has a problem booting into Windows when the Windows partition is formatted in the FAT32 format:

I love the Boot Camp page at MacWindows. I wanted to add an issue with Boot Camp 2.0, which has been posted on the Apple Support site with no real solution available just yet. Basically, on a new MacBook with Boot Camp 2.0 set up, if the Windows partition is FAT32, the icon does not appear when booting while holding Option down. The only way to get into Windows is to restart the Mac OS into Windows.

Some URLs from Apple discussions to look at:

http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=6027130 and http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1280429&tstart=30 and http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1275091&tstart=45

I'm surprised that not much more attention is devoted to this problem since this method the easiest way to get Mac proper read/write access to the Windows drive in Boot Camp.

Apart from this, once booted, Windows XP works absolutely fine.

Readers verify Boot Camp 2.0 FAT32 startup problem; also, clock is being reset | Top of Page |

Friday, January 4, 2008

Two more readers report having the Boot Camp problem with FAT32 partitions (above) where the FAT drive icon does not appear when booting while holding Option down.

Tariq Chowdhury:

I refer to your article titled "Boot Camp 2.0 problem with FAT partitions", dated 14th of December. I too have been having this problem after making a 32GB FAT32 partition on my 250GB Santa Rosa Black MacBook. I'm using Windows XP.

Selim Gencoglu has the problem, as well as a problem with the clock being reset:

I am having the same problem when booting up my computer (new MacBook 2.2 GHz, 2 GB Ram, 120 GB hard drive). Although I have installed Windows XP without any complications, somehow I don't get to see the Windows icon while holding down the OPTION key when starting my MacBook. XP works fine with some minor bugs. FN + Delete does not work, and FN + Up Arrow or Down Arrow to substitute page up and down are not working.

In addition, every time I start Mac OS after I use Win XP, my clock in Mac changes. It is kind of strange. Every time I go back and forth Mac OS X and Win XP, I have to adjust my clock.

We've had more reports of the Boot Camp 2 problem in which a FAT32-formatted partition icon does not appear when booting while holding Option key down. One reader verified a previous report of this problem accompanied by a problem with the Mac clock changing time:

Seeing the same thing here - clock changing and no Windows Icon in Systems Start up. New iMac 24" and MacBook just bought over Christmas both seeing same thing.

Ricky Ng said the problem doesn't occur with NTFS formatted drives:

I too experienced the same problem with Boot Camp. I do not see the Windows icon when holding down the Option key and can only get to windows from the Mac OS System Preference startup panel. However, this problem seems to go away if you create the Windows partition via NTFS as opposed to FAT32 file system.

Doug Stringham said the recent Leopard update didn't fix the problem:

I'm also experiencing the identical problem on an 8-core Mac Pro running 10.5.1.

If you've seen this problem

Wednesday, January 9, 2008

A number of readers are adding to the reports of the Boot Camp 2 problem in which a FAT32-formatted partition icon does not appear while holding Option key while booting. Several users also reported this problem accompanied by a problem of the Mac's clock being changed.

Andrew Weeks thinks the clock issue is related to the Option-reboot process rather than strickly Boot Camp:

Yep, seeing the same problem. Everytime I reboot (and hold Option key) only get Mac OS X HD access. Have also noticed just today that clock is changing every time I reboot holding the Option key. I formatted to FAT32 primarily for file transfer.

Andrew Abyzov found some info on the web about the Boot Camp clock issue that implies it isn't related to the FAT32 problem:

I also have the clock problem. It seems, that Mac OS supposes that the system clock is set to UTC, when Windows thinks it's local time.

By the way, there is some information about it in Internet (here and here.

Keith Olsen ruled out partition size as cause of the FAT32 problem:

Yes , happened to me as well. I thought it might be the size of the partition I was trying to use so dropped it to 20 gig and still got the same thing. Finally used NTFS and it's all good. I use the the beta version using FAT32 and that works fine.

Jim Dwyer notes that it's only the Windows on the Boot Camp partition, but that Windows on a CD is okay:

I received a MacBook 2.2GHz for Christmas and installed Windows XP with Boot Camp. Even after several reinstalls I do not see the option at start-up for a Windows start-up Disk but only the Mac OS X start-up disk appears. (The Windows XP installation disk does appear, so it would not seem to be a Windows ID problem.)s

More descriptions of Boot Camp FAT drive bug; a theory on the clock issue | Top of Page |

Monday, January 21, 2008

Readers continue to report Boot Camp FAT partitions not appearing when you startup with the Option key down, and the possibly related issue of the Mac's clock being reset.

Graham Ellison, of Belfast, Northern Ireland, describes the startup bug:

I have the problem, too, where the XP icon does not appear at startup when using Boot Camp. I formatted the Windows partition as FAT32, 15GB. The only way I can select to boot into Windows is through the startup drives icon in preferences. The machine is a new MacBook SR, running Leopard with latest update.

James Dwyer, who previously reported the FAT problem, has a theory as to why the time resetting isn't always seen:

Another addition to my report, if of interest: I have now also seen the date on Mac OS being reset by the Boot Camp process. I think this has only happened once to me, but it could be that the Apple time server corrected problems before I noted them earlier. This "self healing" may not have happened this one time because I now require a password on my WiFi network (see below).

Another novelty is that Mac OS no longer seems to remember the password to my wireless set-up via Airport, but Windows does!

I have increased RAM on my machine and expect to use Parallels with the Boot Camp machine, so my problems will probably change now. 4GB memory does, in any case, make a huge difference in the performance of Parallels.

Jeff reports:

I am experiencing the same problem. No Windows startup disk icon when holding down Option on a new Santa Rosa MacBook (installed XP SP2). I cannot confirm the clock bug yet.

Thursday, January 31, 2008

Andrew Abyzov found a way to use an open source utility to work around the Boot Camp problem the causes the Mac clock to reset when rebooting into Mac OS X Leopard. He uses an open source utility called rEFIt, which makes it easier to boot between Mac, Windows, and Linux using Boot Camp. (The EFI chip is what Intel Macs use to boot, as opposed to the BIOS chip of Windows-based PCs.)

Abyzov found a way to use rEFIt to solve the Boot Camp clock problem:

There is a way to set EFI time to local time. I have installed rEFIt to have dual booting. There, in the start screen, you have an EFI console. Using this console, you can type the "timezone -s 01:00" to set your Mac time zone to GMT+1. But this time zone does not affect BIOS (and Windows). So then you have GMT+1 in Mac and GMT+1 in Windows.

If you've tried this suggestion

Reader says rEFIt workaround for Boot Camp clock problem doesn't work on Air | Top of Page |

Ken Krull reported that the suggested workaround of using the rEFIt utility does not fix his Boot Camp clock problem on his MacBook Air:

I can confirm that this does not work in all cases. I have a brand new install of OSX and Vista x64 on a MacBook Air and I use rEFIt.

Currently rEFIt is not loading Vista x64 on the MacBook Air so I must use the 'alt-option' non rEFIt loader to get into Windows. When I go back and forth from Vista to OSX the clock has to be manually reset in each every time. It is possible that if I used rEFIt every time to load Vista that would be fixed, but now I cannot check.

The rEFIt patch for the MacBook Air is in beta. It took like six hours for the author to turn it around and it works great. Input Remapper doesn't work on the Macbook Air but to be fair I haven't had time to catch the author.

Confirmation of rEFIt workaround for Boot Camp/Leopard clock problem | Top of Page |

Zach Phillips confirmed the fix using the rERIT utility for the problem of the Mac OS X clock being reset after booting into Leopard from Boot Camp:

I work at ITS at Western Carolina University. We wanted to address the problem of the Boot Camp clock problem in our labs where the Mac OS X is showing the wrong time after reboot. With using the rEFIt bootcd we were able to go into the shell and manually change the efi time zone, which seems to work perfectly! The best part is that it can be accomplished via the boot CD, then taken out and never messed with again.

Another reader verifies rEFit for Time Zone problem

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Timothy Austin verified a fix for the changing clock problem in Boot Camp:

The rEFIt fix worked great ,thanks! I loaded Vista 64 first and set the time zone for myself "GMT+8" west coast. Then on the restart, I used the "shell" to change the Mac Time "timezone -s 08:00" and it booted with the correct time for the first time in a year.

There are more solutions below.

Current news on the MacWindows home page.

TIP: MacBook firmware update resolves Boot Camp FAT partition issue | Top of Page |

Thursday, May 1, 2008

Jeffrey Choo reports that a recent firmware updates for the MacBook and for the MacBook Pro fix the Boot Camp problem with FAT partitions:

Just thought I'd drop you a quick email with an update that the latest EFI firmware updates for MacBooks fixes the problem of only the Mac OS X drive showing up in the Boot menu. The Windows FAT partition now works fine and shows up as expected under version 1.2. I highly recommend to others who want this boot menu to work properly with both Mac OS X and Windows on FAT.

Pity, though, that the clock problem is still there. It still resets the time by default.

If you can verify this

Free netTime utility aimed at Boot Camp, AD issues | Top of Page |

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Maza Digital has released netTime 1.0, a free utility aimed at preventing problems with Active Directory logins and Boot Camp issues caused by out of sync clocks. The utility updates the date and time at login using the Network Time Server set in System Preferences.

netTime could aid a problem with Boot Camp that causes the Mac OS X clock to be reset when rebooting from Windows. Readers have said that another utility, rEFIt, works around the problem, though we also had a report that it didn't work on the MacBook Air.

Maza Digital said that netTime also helps resolve issues with Active Directory logins caused by incorrect date and time. The developer said that Active Directory problems can be made worse with Boot Camp:

Since AD requires the date and time to be very close to the AD Servers date and time, any variation in the Macs clock can result in login problems. These problems are more evident in Macs that also use Boot Camp. When switching back from Windows the date and time can be hours out of sync. And since by default the Mac OS only resyncs the date and time once a user has logged in, this causes major problems with AD.

If you've used netTime

Another suggestion for Boot Camp clock problems: Registry edit | Top of Page |

Thursday, July 31, 2008

Karl Kuehn sent in another suggestion for dealing with a problem with Boot Camp that causes the Mac OS X clock to be reset when rebooting from Windows. His solution is an edit of the Windows Registry:

I saw your posting for a program (netTime) to do nntp for the Windows side (there are a number of them out there already). But I think that people are missing the right way of doing this:

The fundamental problem is that Windows defaults to keeping the system clock as the local time, rather than gmt. So the solution to the problem is to tell Windows to keep the system clock at "universal". This will keep the two OS's from fighting. You do this by creating and setting a registry key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE : SYSTEM : CurrentControlSet : Control : TimeZoneInformation : RealTimeIsUniversal

This should be set to a "DValue" of 1. This has been documented a few places. This will solve all of the issues with no downsides. I do think that you should still use nntp on the windows side, but that is because I think you should use nntp on all computers.

If you've tried this approach

A two-year-old free driver called WinACD will let Intel Mac users run Apple's 30-inch Cinema Display from Windows XP in Boot Camp. WinACD installs in Windows XP, giving Windows access to the display's hardware controls. It also installs a Windows control panel.

Michiel Buisman described WinACD:

It's ancient, but works on Windows XP. Now you poor 30" ACD owners can use the built-in hub and the controls on the side; that's right: you can now switch your display off! And quadrupel, no, octupel shame on Apple for not supporting their own flagship display!

If you've tried WinACD in Boot Camp how it works for you.

Kernel panics with 10.5.2 during Boot Camp partitioning | Top of Page |

Monday, February 18, 2008

Bob Estes reports that he and others are experience kernel panics with the Leopard 10.5.2 Boot Camp during partitioning:

I encountered a major problem when attempting to create a Windows partition with Boot Camp Assistant on my MacBook Pro 15" 2 GHz. I have since discovered that others have reported the same or similar problems in the Apple discussion forum on Boot Camp Installation. So far no solution has been posted.

The problem is that a kernel panic occurs during the attempted partitioning. Upon rebooting, one discovers that the portion of the hard drive that was supposed to have been allocated to the Windows partition has been subtracted from the available storage on the hard drive, but there is no sign of a partition. Apple Care was not helpful and could only suggest erasing the hard drive and reinstalling.

Fortunately, I checked the Apple discussions before taking such a drastic step and found that several others had encountered the same problem but that booting from the system install disk and running Disk Utility to repair the disk would restore the missing gigabytes. This did indeed work.

It appears to be a 10.5.2 problem. Almost all of those reporting the problem had MacBooks of some type, but there were a couple of exceptions. Maybe it's a matter of available space on the hard drive and the laptops are likely to have less. There were no cases of anyone actually succeeding with the partitioning once they had encountered the problem, though several evidently repeated the experiment more than once.

Readers verify kernel panics with Boot Camp partitioning, and a suggestion to defrag the hard drive

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

A number of readers have verified our report on Monday of the Mac OS X kernel panics (crashing) while using Boot Camp Assistant to partition a hard drive. The problem seems to have started with the 10.5.2 update.

Bob Estes, who reported the problem on Monday, has found a way to stop the kernel panics:

There is a workaround. After your hard drive has been thoroughly defragmented (I used iDefrag) Boot Camp can do the partitioning. Alternatively, you can totally erase your drive and restore before partitioning, which is probably just another way of defragmenting.

if this works for you.

Meanwhile, Eric Weeks verified the issue:

I'm having the same problem on an aluminum 24" iMac. I see consistent kernel panics well into making a partition with Boot Camp Assistant. I've repeated it three times in a row now (and I'm done). Must reboot via Leopard disk to do a Disk Utility repair to restore missing megabytes. I've tried this with different sizes (32 GB and 21 GB), to no avail. Running 10.5.2.

Patrick Taylor:

I have the kernel panics with 10.5.2 during Boot Camp partitioning. MacBook 2GHz, 2 GB ram, 160GB drive. I was trying to use Boot Camp setup to partition 20Gb for Windows.

Phil W:

I have had the same problem with the Leopard 10.5.2 update, the Boot Camp partition failed.

More on kernel panics with Boot Camp with Leopard 10.5.2 | Top of Page |

Monday, February 25, 2008

Two more readers report on the Boot Camp problem that started with the Leopard 10.5.2 update, where the Mac crashes with a kernel panic while partitioning the hard drive with Boot Camp Assistant.

Stefano Ponti had the problem while trying to remove the partition:

With Leopard 10.5.2, I've encounter a problem when I try to uninstall Windows, using Boot Camp to remove the Windows partition. Boot Camp had a crash, and I needed to force exit from it. After I looked at the info of my Mac hard drive (because the Win HD icon had disappeared) the Windows space was not recovered. The only thing I could do was initialize the hard drive and completely reinstall Leopard.

Johnathon Smith also ran into the problem while removing the partition:

While trying to reinstall Boot Camp after I purposefully removed the partition, I would often get kernel panics. This left my disk damaged because the space was lost. I had to run disk repair from a separate partition on an external drive. Eventually I just wiped the drive and under fresh conditions there weren't any problems. This happened almost immediately after the 10.5.2 update.

If you've seen this problem

Verified: defrag hard drive to fix Boot Camp 10.5.2 kernel panics | Top of Page |

Thursday, February 28, 2008

Gary Bartos has success with last week's suggestion to fix Leopard 10.5.2 Boot Camp kernel panics when attempting to create a partition. Bartos added some detail to last week's report:

After encountering the Boot Camp Assistant kernel panic problem described on your page Boot Camp in Leopard Tips and Reports, I followed the method described by Bob Estes:

Download and pay for the full version of iDefrag from Coriolis ($35 and worth it).
Create a bootable CD using Coriolis CDMaker.
Reboot from CD, then click "Go" in iDefrag using default settings.
Reboot from hard disk.
Run Boot Camp Assistant again, this time successfully. Win XP also installed successfully for me.

Many, MANY thanks both to Bob Estes and to your site for posting his comments.

Gary Moran described the problem:

I had the same problem yesterday. I attempted to use Boot Camp to partition my hard drive, to create a 5 GB partition for Ubuntu Linux. When I re-started it, I had 5 GB less space but no second volume.

Another vote for iDefrag for fixing Boot Camp kernel panics | Top of Page |

Monday, April 7, 2008

Matt Towers verified the iDegrag workaround for the problem of Mac OS X kernel panics while using Boot Camp Assistant to partition a hard drive. He reported:

The iDefrag workaround did the trick for me. I tried doing a quick (online) defrag first but it did not solve the problem. Booting from an iDfrag disk and doing a full defrag was the solution. This workaround was a huge help.

Boot Camp Kernel Panic fix verified, with a suggestion | Top of Page |

Thursday, May 29, 2008

Mauricio García verified a fix for Boot Camp Kernel panics, and described how to make the fix work:

Thanks for the posts, I was just one step to reset my whole hard drive. For me iDefrag made the trick, all you need is patience.

First I bought the software iDefrag, after some easy steps to get it I decided to prove it. I made a quick online defrag (which took around half an hour or less) and tried making the partition with Boot Camp again. As I expected kernel panic occurred again and my GB of the partition got lost in the space, so I did repair my disk once again with the installation disk.

So I created my bootable disk with the software provided with iDefrag called CDMaker and started my computer from there. The disk worked fine and once in the application, I chose a full defrag, and clicked GO. I waited for around 4 hours to be completed. After that I restarted my computer and this time Boot Camp worked just fine, XP installation was successful.

Two more workarounds for Boot Camp kernel panics | Top of Page |

Wednesday, March 5, 2008

Readers have contributed two more suggestions for getting around kernel panics in Leopard 10.5.2 when using Boot Camp to partition a hard drive. A previous suggestion, defragmenting the hard drive, has been verified by several readers.

Timo Jääskeläinen suggests booting from the installer DVD to do the partioning:

I have had the same problem with partitioning for boot camp on 10.5.2 as you described on macwindows.com on Feb 18.

I was able to overcome this problem by booting from my Leopard installation DVD (which is 10.5.0), and doing partitioning from there and it went fine without kernel panics. No need to download/pay for additional software.

Shawn Hart suggested using Time Machine to roll back to 10.5.1:

I have experienced the problem with 10.5.2 and boot camp partitioning. I'm running a MacBook pro 15 inch on 2.2 GHz processor. I have not been able to be it to work. But a friend said he used Time Machine to go back to 10.5.1 and it worked.

If you've tried these suggestions

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Luke Patrick confirmed a previous report that going back to Leopard 10.5.1 from 10.5.2 fixed the problem of Boot Camp kernel panics while partitioning. Patrick used a different method of back-grading to 10.5.1 than the previous report:

I also had success with repartitioning when I reverted to 10.5.1. I did this by reinstalling Leopard from the install disk rather than rolling back in Time Machine. The only problem was that after I loaded windows, something was preventing a startup in Mac OS. The Leopard partition was recognized, but wasn't coming up with the option key startup, or when set as the default in the windows bootcamp control panel. What I finally ended up doing was reinstalling Leopard a third time on the new, non-windows partition. My files and settings were saved, and now I can start up in Windows or Leopard as intended.

Will Tisdale has a theory as to where the bug is:

I have 4 drives in a Mac Pro. The disk that I was using for Boot Camp has 200GB remaining free space. However, the disk is in a fairly bad state of fragmentation due to all sorts of junk being put on and off it over the last 6 months or so.

I started the Boot Camp Assistant and within about 20 seconds of it attempting to partition, the machine had a kernel panic. So, I switched it off and booted off the install disk and verified all the hard drives, all came back with no errors. So, I then decided to try first partitioning it in Disk Utility, and then delete the partition, restore the drive to full capacity and THEN run the Boot Camp assistant.

Having set it to give me a partition of a modest 60GB in disk utility, it started, and then 30 seconds later came up with a "Not enough space left on device" error. I thought, odd, as there is 200GB free. So I tried a 10GB partition, and it gives the same error.

The conclusion I drew from this was that although there is space on the drive, there isn't any free space at the end of the drive where you are trying to create the new partition, and iDefrag confirmed that the free space on the drive was all in the middle. It is obviously a bug of some description in diskutil, which prevents the creation of new partitions when there isn't enough contiguous free space at the end of the volume.

Boot Camp partitioning kernel panic: try small partitions

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Srinivasan found that the Leopard 10.5.2 kernel panics with Boot Camp partitioning didn’t occur with smaller partition:

I ran into the same issue with kernel panics: I was trying to get a 15 GB FAT32 chunk. I was on the verge of giving up, but since an earlier attempt to partition the my 120 GB MacBook HD running Leopard to get a 12GB partition for Windows was successful, I gave it a shot again, and it worked. Maybe with smaller partition sizes, the kernel doesn't panic. It worked for me.

Further reader problems with Boot Camp kernel panics with 10.5.2

Thursday, March 27, 2008

Patrick Zirngast was having the problem of kernel panics with Leopard 10.5.2 while using Boot Camp Assistant to partition his drive. He tried two fixes listed on our Boot Camp Tips and Reports page. He no longer has kernel panics, but is still having problems:

I tried to fix the problem via the DVD Disk Utility; this solved the problem with hard disk, though Boot Camp would still not run the partitioning.

So I bought iDefrag and did a 5-hour defragmentation. I was then able to partition the disk; but when I tried to install Win XP SP2 my screen started to flicker on startup and the system stopped... That's the status so far.

As soon as I find some time, I will go back and reinstall everything from scratch.

Carbon Copy Cloner workaround for Leopard 10.5.2 Boot Camp kernel panics

Tuesday, April 1, 2008

Steve Lin offered another workaround for the Leopard 10.5.2 problem of Boot Camp partioning causing kernel panics. He offers an alternative to defragmenting the hard drive:

If you have an external drive you can simply use Carbon Copy Cloner to duplicate your boot drive and then start up with the external drive and do an erase/restore. This is much faster than trying to defrag, and CCC is free (donation is suggested).

Not connected to CCC in any way, just a satisfied customer.

I used combination of CCC and Disk Utility to expand the Boot Camp partition without Windows reinstallation.

Reader's video driver crashes under Vista on iMac | Top of Page |

Friday, March 21, 2008

David Humphrey is having a problem with a video driver in Windows Vista and Boot Camp:

I have a problem that happens in Vista Ultimate running on my 24" iMac, 2.4GHz, 4 GByte memory (purchased in November). When running Vista from Boot Camp, the video driver appears to crash on occasion. It can happen from as little as twice a week to three times a day (assuming my PC runs an average of 10 days per day). The screen goes blank, but the Mac doesn't shut off. To get out of the situation, I hold down the power switch for a long time (5-10 sec), which seems to shut off the machine. After that I switch power back on and get the screen that offers to start up Windows in safe mode, which I skip over.

Sometimes the screen goes blank, but the driver seems to catch itself and recover with a message like "The video driver just crashed but was able to restart".

Much more rarely I get a blue screen that doesn't stay displayed long. After that, Vista reboots by itself.

I have searched for an update to the driver in the device manager, but received a message saying that I already have the latest version.

If you've seen this problem

Boot Camp partitioning losing hard disk space | Top of Page |

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Russell Vickery in New Zealand lost some hard disk space when partitioning his drive for Boot Camp:

I've installed Boot Camp on my Mac Book Pro with Windows XP Pro release 2. I partioned the drive using Boot Camp Assistant to have 30 GB for Windows and the Mac OS X to have 50 GB. The installation went smoothly and I thought I was up and running. Then I found that the PC drive has only 5 GB while the Mac Book had the full 50 GB. The Windows partition lost 25 GB.

I then reinstalled Boot Camp, creating a partition of under 30 GB and it appears to be working well, but now I've lost 20 GB from my Mac partition.

If you've seen this problem or have a suggestion

TIP: Fix for Boot Camp loss of hard disk space during partitioning | Top of Page |

Thursday, March 27, 2008

Mike Goodfellow responded to our report of a reader who had hard disk space disappear when partitioning a drive for Boot Camp. Goodfellow sent us a fix:

I have seen this problem and know how to solve it. Startup the Macintosh in question from another volume, such as the Leopard DVD or startup external hard drive. Run Disk Repair. This will fix the problem and give you your missing hard drive space back.

If you've used this tip

Several readers reported their experiences with the new Vista Service Pack 1 running on Macs with Boot Camp and with Parallels Desktop.

Jeff Julian runs Vista SPI in Boot Camp and is happy with it:

I have been running SP1 for a month now (Microsoft Developer Network subscription) on two different MacBook Pros (17-inch) and have had no issues at all. In fact, I believe it performs better than before, but I have no statistics to back it up.

Glenn Josephson had a good experience updating Vista in Parallels Desktop:

I installed SP1 on Vista from a CD on my MacBook Pro 2.33 Core 2 Duo 17" and had no problems with the install or with operation so far. I'm running OS X 10.5.2 with all updates, and Parallels 3.0 build 5584. Happily, I don't use any Symantec software on it. The update took around two hours and required several reboots of the virtual machine. Because I'm using Parallels I was able to continue working on the Mac side while Vista updated, so that was a plus.

Michael Kennard updated Vista to SP1 in Parallels but had problems:

I have to now restore from backup. It said it would take an hour and I didn't believe it. Anyway it tried installing and failed, next it was removing the update and rebooting then it tries again. After the third time I realizeds this was an endless loop.

about your experiences running Vista SP1 on a Mac with Boot Camp, Parallels, or VMware.

Thomas Tiedt remarks that while the Leopard 10.5.2 update made OS X slower, the Vista SP1 update made Windows faster in Boot Camp. He also thinks that Vista in Boot Camp runs faster than Leopard:

I have always found that Windows in Boot Camp acts snappier than OS X on a Mac box. I'm referring to window opening and program starts. For example, Safari and Firefox take several seconds to open on my Mac Pro, a meticulously maintained computer with only essential programs ever installed, and never antivirus. Vista's SP1 exaggerated the relative snappiness of Vista [in Boot Camp] over Leopard on 13-month old Mac Pro. On a Mac Mini, matters are substantially worse for OS X vs. Vista/XP). Nevertheless, Leopard is better in snappiness than Tiger, and only since Leopard did OS X become my default OS on the Mac Pro.

The 10.5.2 update slowed things down for OS X, notably Office 2008. Office 2008 installed on a fresh Leopard 10.5.0 was faster to start Word than after subsequent Leopard updates. Now, the benefits of faster starts of Word 2008 over Word 2004 are gone.

about your experiences running Vista SP1 on a Mac with Boot Camp, Parallels, or VMware.

Reader says Boot Camp 2.1 fixed Bluetooth keyboard, mouse issues | Top of Page |

Monday, April 28, 2008

Leigh Wilson reports that installing the Boot Camp 2.1 update fixed some Bluetooth problems with Windows XP SP2:

I just updated Boot Camp to version 2.1. It fixed the issues I was having with my Apple Bluetooth keyboard and mouse going in and out of commission. When filling in blank boxes or copy pasting I would have to turn off the mouse and restart it to get the Bluetooth hardware to pick it up. I have both Apple and a Microsoft mouse. I could use both on the Mac OS X, but could only use the Microsoft mouse in Windows.

With Boot Camp 2.1 I can now run the Apple Bluetooth Kkeyboard and mouse in Windows. The F1-F12 keys are functional as well.

Apple has indicated that the version 2.1 update was mainly to provide compatibility with Windows XP Service Pack 3.

If you've seen Boot Camp 2.1 fix some problems

Reader says Boot Camp 2.1 doesn't help with Bluetooth

Friday, December 19, 2008

Corey Steffen's Bluetooth devices don't work in Windows Vista under Boot Camp. Unlike a previous reader's experience, upgrading to Boot Camp 2.1 did not help:

I installed Boot Camp 2.0 on my MacBook Pro (Mac OS X Leopard) and installed Vista (32) in the Windows partition. Everything seemed okay until I rebooted Vista, at which time my Bluetooth mouse and keyboard would stop working (in Vista). They would show up as configured Bluetooth devices but not work until I would remove and re-add them. This happened each time I rebooted Vista.

I read on your website that the Boot Camp 2.1 upgrade helped others with Bluetooth problems on XP, so I gave it a try and upgraded to Boot Camp 2.1, but the same problem exists. I can configure my Bluetooth devices just fine, but after I reboot, they stop working.

If you've seen this

Current news on the MacWindows home page.

Boot Camp problem with AutoCAD licensing | Top of Page |

Monday, April 28, 2008

Leigh Wilson finds that an AutoCAD license in Windows via Boot Camp keeps getting lost:

I am having problems with my AutoCAD revit license staying intact on my registry. It gives a licensing error message and then asks me to get the software registered or it will expire in 7days. The problem occurs only on boot camp and not in Parallels, which also has my AutoCAD software loaded on it.

I can't utilize the AutoCAD revit software in Parallels since it only has 512 BM memory and a puny virtual graphics card. When AutoCAD is running in Boot Camp With Windows on my Mac, it performs very well. I just can't keep it registered there.

An AutoCAD has a blog that says that they are working with Apple to fix this.

I believe that Boot Camp may be rearranging or cleaning the registry, causing the licensing error. It has to be Boot Camp since I am running the AutoCAD software in Parallels with no problem other than those caused by no graphic card over 50mb (virtual gc). I also use external drives, but don't see how this is the problem.

One of Autodesk's blogs says that one way around this problem would be to get a single seat network license--another $1000.00. They will not officially say they are supporting Boot Camp, or any other AutoCAD /Revit software on Mac.

Here and here are two AutoDesk blogs that talk about Boot Camp issues. There's also an Apple Discussion Forum thread and this other discussion thread on what is causing this licensing error.

If you've seen this problem

Another report of problem with Boot Camp problem with AutoCAD licensing

Monday, September 29, 2008

Phil Arnold verified the previously reported problem with AutoCAD licenses disappearing in Boot Camp installations of Windows:

Do you know if this problem has been solved? License goes away every 7 days.

If you seen this problem

Boot Camp 2.1 and Windows XP SP3 | Top of Page |

Reader can't install Boot Camp 2.1 update

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Ariel del Aguila reports problems installing the latest Boot Camp update:

I have tried all possible methods for installing the 2.1 update of Boot Camp for Windows XP. The installer refuses to complete the installation on a MacBook Pro. I am running version 10.5.2.

If you have a suggestion

TIP: fix for Boot Camp 2.1 failing to install: remove video adapter drivers

Monday, September 15, 2008

Alin Pilkington has seen the problem with the Boot Camp 2.1 update failing to install. The solution he found was to uninstall any Windows video adapter drivers that Boot Camp did not install:

I had this same problem and found the answer at this blog, which was to uninstall added video drivers in Windows. How hard would it have been for Apple to have displayed the source of the error and then quit instead of just aborting the 2.1 install without any clue as to why?

If you've tried this suggestion

Reader reports success with Boot Camp 2.1, XP SP3

Friday, May 16, 2008

Derick in England reports that the Boot Camp 2.1 update and Windows XP Service Pack 3 work well, and may have performance benefits:

I have 24-inch iMac just over a year old. I have over time installed the different versions of the Beta Boot Camp and then upgraded to Leopard. When offered the Windows XP SP3 update I tried to install with no success. Kept getting the advice that I had insufficient C: Drive space. although I knew there was at least 50 Gb available.

I checked on the Mac Download web site and found the Boot Camp 2.1 update. I installed this and then the Windows XP SP3. Now there's no problem and I find that Windows XP operation has improved and running faster that in the past.

TIP: Fixing Win XP if you accidentally install SP3 before Boot Camp 2.1

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Bill Heintzberger inadvertently installed Service Pack 3 in Windows XP without first updating Boot Camp to version 2.1. Version 2.0 is incompatible with SP3. Here's what he did:

We accidentally installed Service Pack 3 before updating to latest version of Boot Camp on a 24" iMac. We'd get a black screen with blinking cursor when booting after installing SP3. The problem was that we neglected to install latest version of Boot Camp before installing SP3.

The solution was to boot Windows in Safe Mode and use the Window Restore function to roll back operating system prior to installation of SP3. I then installed the newest version of Boot Camp, and reinstalled SP3.

Reader report: Boot Camp claims insufficient drive space during partition | Top of Page |

Tom Treadwell reports a Boot Camp problem where an error message reports not enough disk space to partition, even though there is:

I'm having a frustrating time trying to use Boot Camp on a MacBook Pro running Leopard 10.5.2. The program starts to partition the drive then, when it's apparently finished, puts up a message saying that the computer must be restarted by holding down the Power button. When this is done and the computer reboots, Boot Camp produces a message saying that there is insufficient space on the drive for a partition (actually there is plenty). I'm only trying to create a 5 gig partition.

Restarting from a start-up CD and running Disk Utilities restores the correct volume space, but I still can't get beyond this stage to install Windows. I believe others have run across this problem, but have no idea what causes it or what the solution might be.

If you've seen this problem

TIP: Fix for Boot Camp claiming insufficient drive space--defrag the disk

Thursday, July 3, 2008

Alex Maurer sent in a suggestion for fixing the problem of Boot Camp reporting insufficient drive space during partitioning, even when there is plenty of free space. Maurer suggest defragmenting the drive:

I too have come across the error message that reports about not having enough disk space to partition, even though there is. This is due to some files being in the area that boot camp assistant is trying to use to partition and can be solved by defragmenting the disk with programs such as iDefrag ($30).

Since Mac OS X doesn't have its own defragment-program, it's only possible to do such operations with third party programs as I have mentioned above.

Interestingly, running iDefrag fixes another Boot Camp partitioning problem, that of kernel panics. We've only had reports of the problem (and the fix) with Mac OS X 10.5.2. If you've seen the problem with 10.5.3 or 10.5.4

TIP: Workaround for Boot Camp insufficient drive space issue (or, How to install XP SP3 in Boot Camp)

Monday, May 19, 2008

Jim Birkenseer offered a workaround to Friday's problem of Boot Camp Assistant claiming there isn't enough drive space to partition a drive, when there actually is. Birkenseer reports:

I had the Boot Camp Insufficient Drive Space Issue just yesterday when installing Win XP Pro SP3 on a Mac mini. I found the workaround at this link. The workaround is a Windows registry thing. The poster of the message claims that the solution is from Microsoft. In case the above link fails for you, here is the solution that worked for me:

Click Start, click Run, type regedit, and then click OK.
Locate and then click the following registry subkey: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Setup
On the Edit menu, point to New, and click String Value.
In the text box under the Name column, type BootDir and press ENTER.
Right-click the name BootDir, and then click Modify.
In the Edit String Value dialog box, type the drive letter for your system drive, and then click OK. For example, if your system drive is C:, type C:\.
Close Registry Editor.

If you've tried this workaround

Two other readers send a previously report suggestion that works for a different problem, one of kernel panics during partitioning.

Merlin Sanders:

I seem to recall that boot camp requires that the free space needed to create the new partition must be all at the end of the drive. Boot camp does not defragment the hard drive, so if any files are within the size of the new partition then boot camp can not create the partition. Hope this helps.

Alvin Chao:

Not sure of the cause, but a resolution is to run a defrag on the disk using DiskWarrior or the like of that tool. Another alternative is to create a clone, wipe your drive and reinstall and import the cloned image. Again, these both defrag and give contiguous space for the partition which is what I think Leopard is complaining about.

Clarification on suggestion for Installing XP SP3 in Boot Camp

Friday, May 30, 2008

A reader sent a clarification of a tip sent in by another reader describing how to install Windows XP SP3 in Boot Camp:

Regarding the "Workaround for Boot Camp insufficient drive space issue" from Jim Birkenseer.

Clearly, a registry edit can't address the problem of the Boot Camp Assistant saying there is insufficient drive space since you are unable to create the Boot Camp partition, and therefore Windows is not yet installed.

I think Jim may be conflating two distinctly different issues. The issue he links to is one where in order to install XP SP3 in Boot Camp you need to either apply the registry edit suggested, or apply the Boot Camp 2.1 patch which is now available, before applying XP SP3.

Another reader, Alan Brown, reported success with Birkenseer's directions:

Regarding installing SP3 in Boot Camp; the instructions you give worked very well -- SP3 is installed OK.

Mike Walsh verified a tip on how to install Windows XP Service Pack 3 in Boot Camp:

The Jim Birkenseer workaround worked for me. It took me a long time to locate your tip.

With this problem, Boot Camp reports that there isn't sufficient drive space to parition, even when there's plenty of space.

Diana Winkler says that she had success with a previously reported workaround for the problem where Boot Camp Assistant falsely claims that there isn't enough drive space to partition a drive:

Thanks for the tip in MacWindows Report: Boot Camp in Leopard Tips and Reports regarding the workaround for Boot Camp insufficient drive space issue. I was trying to install Win XP SP3 and as getting that error. I had to do 2 things:

First install the Boot Camp update 2.1 with the original Mac OS 10.x disk in the CD drive.
Then I did the registry workaround described on your page.

I'm now all up to date.

If you've tried this

With Mac Pros holding up to 32 GB of RAM, Mac users are wondering why they're only seeing Windows XP and Vista use 2 GB of RAM. Reports of plots by Microsoft or Apple to keep Windows off of Mac hardware aside, there does seem to be a logical explanation...

Although Boot Camp requires Windows XP SP2 or greater, Ashley Cheng mistakenly installed Windows XP without SP2 into Boot Camp. She corrected the problem using a MacWindows tip for SP3:

I was not installing SP3 but the tip "How to install Windows XP SP3 in Boot Camp" worked for me in a related way. I mistakenly installed, what I thought was a copy of Windows XP SP2 but actually was, a copy of Windows XP on my Mac mini. It booted fine but when I tried to install boot camp drivers it failed because the Windows XP was not actually an SP2.

Instead of reinstalling with an SP2 installation disc, I tried to upgrade the installed XP to SP2. I then encountered the "insufficient disk space" problem that was described when people trying to upgrade from SP2 to SP3. I tried Jim's tip and the problem was solved. The upgrade to SP2 was successful and I could then install Boot camp drivers v2.0 and subsequently v2.1.

If you've tried this

Cathal Gallagher responded to a report about what to do if you accidentally install Windows XP without Service Pack 2 in Boot Camp. Gallagher has a suggestion on how to use a pre-SP2 XP installer: 070908c

If you want to install an older version of XP on you Mac (such as might be the case if your site license does not recognize Windows boot discs with SP2/SP3 preinstalled), you can create a version that "slipstreams" the service pack during the installation using a program such as nLite.

If you've tried this approach

Reader interrupted Vista update in Boot Camp, now won't boot

Brian Johnson interrupted an update of Windows Vista in Boot Camp, and now can't get it to boot:

I was running Vista (32-bit) via Boot Camp on my Mac Pro 2.66 w/5GB ram, 10.5.4. Everything on the Mac side is up-to-date.

I thought I had completed all of the Vista updates a couple of weeks ago. The last thing I remembered was the PC side telling me to restart -- and I recall letting OS X boot up instead.

After two weeks, I decided this morning to visit the Dark Side to play World-in-Conflict, and I received a message that said in essence "Vista is configuring your update, Stage 3 of 3. Do not turn off your computer." After about 5 or 6 seconds, I received a new message that "Windows is shutting down." I must have gone through this sequence about 5 times before it dawned on me that something was very, very wrong.

I do Windows mainly for the games, but it had been two weeks, so I'm not a fanatic or a system tweaker. I rarely use the internet on the PC side, and I use the latest Norton anti-virus SW. In so many words, Vista ran w/o any incidents.

If you have a suggestion

A couple of readers responded to our report about interrupting an update of Windows Vista in Boot Camp, and then being unable to boot.

Michael Sneider offered an explanation:

This was a bug in either the first version of the Windows Vista SP1 release or one of the updates right before the SP1 release. I don't recall all the specifics, but I do distinctly remember reading about the endless Stage 3 boot recycle. The solution, I think, was to reinstall Vista all over again. The broken MS updates have since been replaced with corrected versions.

Mike Vidal suggested doing a "repair install" of Windows Vista and then trying the upgrade again. However Vista does not have XP's Recovery Console, and does not have a repair install. But Vista does have a "repair your computer option." We found some info on Windows Vista repair here. There's some info here about reinstalling Vista.

If you reinstall Windows in Boot Camp, you'll need to reinstall the Apple drivers.

Ben Staveley reported a blurred screen in Boot Camp, but drivers fixed it:

I recently installed Windows XP on my Mac Pro. When I was in Windows, all the text is half blurred and hard to read. I played around with the resolution settings but it didn't solve the problem. When I go back to the Mac side, it's all fine.

I sorted out the problem: installing the Nvidia drivers made it work.

If you've seen this

Monday, August 25, 2008

James Smith reports having the fuzzy display with Windows in Boot Camp. Unlike our previous report, Apple's Nvidia drivers did not help. Smith reports:

I have Win XP SP2 on a 24-inch iMac. My card is an Nvidia GeForce 8800 GS. I have the same problem with blurry text. Everything looks fine on the Mac side, including in Parallels. When I try to install the Nvidia driver from the Apple site, I get the following message:

The Nvidia Setup program could not locate any drivers that are compatible with your current hardware. Setup will now exit.

If you've seen this problem

Boot Camp, Vista, and dual monitors: one display is dim

Monday, August 25, 2008

Kyle Matrosovs is having a Boot Camp problem with Windows Vista and two monitors in which one of the displays is dim:

My Mac Pro has Boot Camp 2.1, Vista SP1, and two Apple displays with ATI drivers.(The video card is the ATI Radeon X1900 that it shipped with.) When I boot to Vista, the second display immediately drops to its lowest brightness setting. The primary display is unaffected. It starts with whatever setting I gave it when last in Mac OS X. I cannot brighten the dim second LCD - there are no software brightness controls in the Vista display settings, and the hardware buttons on the panel itself have no effect in Vista. When I set its brightness to maximum in Mac OS X, it promptly forgets this and goes dim on the next Vista session. Going back to Leopard after Vista, the monitor stays darkened until reset with the Displays system preference pane. I have the latest of all drivers and system updates, on both the Mac and Vista sides.

It worked just fine until the latest updates to B

Boot Camp in Leopard: Tips and Reports

Booting a Mac from Windows using Apple Boot Camp 2.0

About Apple Boot Camp 2.0

Version History and Apple Info

Reader Reports and Tips