Setting up Boot Camp

After going through the setup sequence on the new machine, it's now time to set up Boot Camp. Since I will be doing this again very soon (unless I manage to just clone the disk to the newer, 2.5 GHz, machine on order), I've decided to document all steps thoroughly. Probably no funny reading, but maybe useful to someone...

1. First, a 100 Gb partition for Windows XP is created. I'm hoping to be able to just copy it to the newer machine once it has been delivered, but resizing the Windows partition might be a little tricky, so therefore I set it to 100 Gb right away since I'm targeting a 250 Gb disk. 150 Gb left for OS X sounds like a good idea, since I'm planning on having all my media files on that partition. The iLife package contains some of my favorite apps for managing music and photos, etc., primarily for their ease-of-use and clean user interfaces. And, for me, soon also for their multi-touch support. :-)
   
   
   
   
2. I try to install Windows XP from an OEM disc. This is where I reach my first showstopper! Of course it is related to trying to customize things a bit. I got the tip to reformat the FAT32 partition that Boot Camp creates to NTFS, to avoid running into problems with files larger than 2 Gb, partition size larger than 32 Gb, etc. (Be aware, though, that with Windows on NTFS, you can only transfer files between OS X and XP when VMWare is running).
   
   This is where I went wrong: on the screen listing the available partitions, the partition named BOOTCAMP is listed as FAT32. This caused me to - instead of hitting Enter to continue - delete the partition and recreate it as NTFS. As a consequence, I found out the hard way that repartitioning outside Boot Camp is a no-no: the installation ended in a black screen telling me that Windows could not be started since the "hal.dll" file was missing or corrupted.
   
   So, after reading a bunch of forums, removing the partition using Boot Camp assistant, then recreating it again, I gathered some courage and just hit Enter on the screen listing the partitions.
   
   
   Yes, hit Enter to Install here! You will be given the option to
   reformat the partition in the next screen.
   
   
   And, thank you, there was the option I was looking for! The next screen gave the alternative to reformat the partition to NTFS. I used the quick format option, and it worked for me.
   
   Lesson learned: don't be a coward, always try Enter first :-)
   
   
3. After formatting, the installation continues with the XP files being copied... Done in 33 minutes... *yawn*
   
   
4. Make all the regional settings, enter name, domain, etc.
   
   
5. The machine reboots, and the Windows installation is finalized. For an old G4 guy like me, it feels quite strange to see the XP boot screen on a Mac. At the same time, quite satisfying. There is now a machine that can run any OS I need.

Time for some sleep now, before we move on to installing the drivers.

References:
Boot Camp Tutorial: Install Windows XP on Mac in 5 steps