Help with Win 2K install (Mac noob here) *Long*

[Getwild2]

I am brand-new to the Mac world so please bare with me.

I have recently installed Parallels and wish to run Win 2K for those rare occasions when I need something Windoze-specific. I am a system administrator and there are some things that I must run Windoze for, unfortunately.

After successfully installing Parallels I began my 2K install. The point that concerned me was when the Windoze setup informed me of the "other" incompatible OS installed on the HDD already and that continuing may destroy the "other" OS.

Out of curiosity I continued to the partitioning table as I was curious to see what the partitions looked like because I knew if 2K had its own partition all would be well. Hopefully. In viewing the partition table in 2K setup all it showed was 32GB of unpartitioned space. This is the point at which I stopped the install to call upon the experts.

Having never dealt with OS X until Friday, and Parallels until yesterday, I am uncertain if this is normal or not. I just didn't want to continue and potentially harm my OS X as I have everything how I want it.

Is it as simple as partitioning some of the 32GB for Windoze and continuing? I notice in the documentation that you are supposed to partition for a W98 install. Just wanted to check with you guys before proceeding, thanks so much in advance for your help!!

-Cory

 

[itsdapead]

Is it as simple as partitioning some of the 32GB for Windoze and continuing?

The 32GB "virtual hard drive" you are seeing only exists as a regular disc file under OS X. Its not your Mac hard drive and you can repartition and format it however you like without touching OSX. The warning sounds like the standard one that Win 2K gives for a brand new unpartitioned hard drive. Provided you haven't chosen "use boot camp" for anything you can just plough ahead.

With Win2K and up I don't even think you need to manually partition - there should be an option (probably the default) to use all the unallocated space for win2K. I wouldn't waste time creating multiple partitions (as you might with a "real" PC) either.

N.B: there are optional features in Parallels to work with Boot Camp that do access the hard drive directly and should be treated with a bit more caution - but since you're seeing a 32GB drive, the default size for new virtual hard drives, it doesn't sound like you've accidentally turned those on...

 

[Getwild2]

The 32GB "virtual hard drive" you are seeing only exists as a regular disc file under OS X. Its not your Mac hard drive and you can repartition and format it however you like without touching OSX. The warning sounds like the standard one that Win 2K gives for a brand new unpartitioned hard drive. Provided you haven't chosen "use boot camp" for anything you can just plough ahead.

With Win2K and up I don't even think you need to manually partition - there should be an option (probably the default) to use all the unallocated space for win2K. I wouldn't waste time creating multiple partitions (as you might with a "real" PC) either.

N.B: there are optional features in Parallels to work with Boot Camp that do access the hard drive directly and should be treated with a bit more caution - but since you're seeing a 32GB drive, the default size for new virtual hard drives, it doesn't sound like you've accidentally turned those on...

That's EXACTLY what I was looking to hear! Thanks so much!!! I really appreciate your insight!!

I'm not working with boot camp, so that's not a worry here. I'll just continue through the prompts and let it do what it will. I figured the warning was just a general W2K warning since it sees a fresh drive but I wanted to make sure before continuing and destroying everything I've done so far.

Thanks again!!