Installing XP on Parallels 9 MacBook Pro

Hello.

Noob here. Have a licensed Win XP disc. Installation went fine. However, in the attempt to download updates, I got a blink of the IE website, and then it disconnected with an error.

Has anyone had this problem and solved it? Or Is XP just too darn old at this point?

Thanks!

 

I'm sorry, NeilW9, but this is not true, MS will only stop supporting XP with updates in 2014, reference: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/endofsupport.aspx

AdrianF, the reason why you got that error is because of some other reason besides XP 'being too old'. I don't exactly understand what is your problem, what do you mean by "IE website"? IE is a browser not a website, do you mean you navigated to http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/internet-explorer/download-ie and got an error?

The problem isn't correctly formulated, or at least in a way that I can help, but I'll just reference you to the link in my signature that refers to Network Troubleshooting, I hope that helps.

 

Sorry I wasn't clear. My issue seems to be right after I install Windows XP with Parallels 9. When I attempt to download the Windows updates, Internet Explorer initiates the process and then crashes. I don't know where it's hanging up. Was just wondering if anyone else has seen this.

I really want something small in size that doesn't take up too much disk space. I'm only using Parallels to access XP for a Data base that runs in windows. I don't need to play games, or anything of the like. I don't even really need it for surfing the web. It looks like OS Chrome will work just fine for this. I really only need XP to work with MS Word, Excel, and Access files -nothing more.

Any ideas?

Thanks!

 

If this is a Windows XP pre-SP1, SP1 or SP2 I suggest you download SP3 from Microsoft on OSX, move it to Windows XP and install it prior to running any updates.

 

Could you please explain how to do this?

I am not using a partition on my MacBook. I'm just installing Windows straight from the Parallels 9 Windows installation prompts.

Thanks!

 

Via Shared Folders or Drag and Drop in Window Mode, Parallels Tools must be installed for either to work. Or you can just google in Windows for: Windows XP SP3

 

Thanks!

But while I'm on the topic...

I was wondering if any of you experts out here know if there's a better way for me to meet my objective:
Again, I'm just looking at accessing a few programs, namely MS Office to do what I need to do. I realize that I need a windows "shell" , if you will, but am wondering what may be more efficient. I would only be using windows for a narrowed and specific task. I don't need to surf the internet etc. Is XP the most streamlined way to go as far a HD space? Or am I better off using something like Windows 7, 8, Linux, etc. I purchased Parallels because my MacBook OS cannot access the data base to use MS ACCESS, Word, Excel. Now that I have Parallels, I'm half-way there, but now, I'm looking for the most efficient, condensed, bug-free Windows platform. Again, I'm trying to conserve disk space.

Thanks for your time!

 

You may not need Windows just for that, get LibreOffice, it's free and runs on Mac OS X.

 

Or he could get MS Office for Mac, the problem with either is that NEITHER have MS Access, only the Windows version of MS Office. And Access appears to be one of the user's requirements.

 

Yes, Thank you. I have Office for Mac, which helps me in the OS environment. But when I need to use Access and the company data base, I need to use Windows.
Now, I was talking a good friend of mine who recommended getting a version of Windows known as PE. i.e., Windows 7 PE or 8 PE etc. Apparently, this is PreInstallation Environment that is used to set up Windows without the complete install. Computer programer's and tech's use this for trying out software and diagnostics to see if their programs will run without all the other fanfare of a full windows install. Apparently it's easy, and there is a way to set this up if you have an Windows installation disc. Again, this is bare bones and just uses windows as a shell. This sounds perfect for what I need, but I'm not sure if XP has this feature; if not, I will have to purchase windows 7, and make a PE version from there. This seems like the most efficient, streamlined version of Windows that hardly takes up any disk space. Has anyone here heard of this?
I realize this is something that should probably be posted in a Windows forum, but I thought I'd ask here, just to check.

Thanks again for all of your help, folks!

 

Post in the Windows forum.

 

Done!

Thanks, I'll let you know what I find.

See you soon.

 

Hello folks!

Installed win xp on my MacBook Pro with Parallels 9. The PVM reads 8.26 GB, which is a little much, and I'm still playing with options to make it smaller. However, that said, will the VHD dynamically change in size if I add or delete files from within XP? or is this what's been allocated on my hard drive?

Thanks for your time!

 

Again, post in the Windows forum, create a new thread as this is a new issue.