Major Complications

I tried posting this problem about a week ago and got no where mainly because I think I was explaining the situation wrong.

Here's the run down....

-I have a MacBookPro 17" and purchased parallels to run my windows apps side by side.
-I ran Bootcamp to partition my 200 GB HD down the middle and installed Windows XP successfully.
-I recieved a malware virus before I had the opportunity to even update to all the SP3 stuff (quick bastards)
-I trashed everything from that partition by selecting all the folders and deleting them.

I thought it would be as easy to just reinstall Windows using the now empty partition... but I got the following errors
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There is no operating system installed in the virtual machine

1. Click the Stop button to stop the virtual machine
2. Insert the installation CD.
3. Click the Start button to start VM again.
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So i figured.. easy enough, inserted the disk, installation ensues, then errors out saying this.

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Setup did not find any hard disk drives installed on your computer.

Make sure and Hard Disk drives are powered on and properly connected

I then am forced to press F3 to quit the setup.

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-What the heck happened to the partition that was made with Bootcamp?
-Why doesn't Parallel's Windows setup see the empty 100 GB?

-Is there a way to merge these partitions into one again and start the whole process again with Boot Camp? I bought ipartition but it's not working nor is the bootable disk template made from it working when you reboot and hold the C key down. Practically everything in the program is nulled out... What a waste of money.

I am really flustered because I've had this new MacBook for a month now and I'm not even finished setting it up the way i want to.

Please help,

Thank you.

 

I suppose you deleted all files from Mac OS side
In order to install Windows in Boot Camp partition, you need to use Boot Camp Assistant, not Virtual Machine.

 

That's the first thing that I tried John.

But all it tells me is that the start up disk must be formatted as a single Mac OS Extended (Journaled) volume or already partitioned by boot camp which I assume it is and takes me no farther than that.

Do you know a work around for this?

 

Hm, it is bad
I suppose GUID somehow crashed
My suggestion is to backup Mac OS to dmg image and reinstall whole Mac (you will be able to restore all data from dmg file)

 

You have to be patient with so forgive me for not understanding how to back my system to a dmg image.

Do I need to buy software to do this?

Ideally it seems the only conclusion that I have is to just back up the favored partition, merge the 2 and reinstall.

If I make a dmg image out of my OS can I reload this safe and sound without having to reinstall all my programs?

 

Let us go more easy way:
1, Backup Mac using Time Machine on external drive
2. Reinstall Mac OS as single partition
3. Restore Mac OS from Backup
4. Use Boot Camp Assistant to install Boot Camp Windows
5. Install parallels Desktop
Do not forget to uninstall Parallels Desktop before Time Machine backup