Windows XP Pro install fails every time on 3.0 b5160 on 2.4Ghz MBP

I wanted to make sure the right people saw this so I am posting it here as well...

I am an Apple technician and part of the Apple Consultant Network. I have a client with a brand new MacBook Pro 2.4Ghz w/ 2Gb of ram and a 256mb Video card (current 15" glossy top model.) I have a brand new copy of Windows XP SP2 purchased just an hour ago. I purchased (via download) Parallels v3.0 Build 5160 and installed today.

Every time I try to do an express (or custom) install the install fails as soon as the initial blue screen install process says "Starting Windows XP" there is a flash of BSOD type of junk and then it kicks me to the main Parallels Desktop screen.

When I click start it gets to "Boot from hard drive .... _" and does nothing more than eat my processor.

I have tried deleting the virtual machines and doing express and custom. I have not changed any default settings.

This MacBook Pro is BRAND NEW and is running OS 10.4.10 - but the build is probably different than yours...I have build 8R4061a not the general build of 10.4.10. This is the only thing I can think of as a possible cause of failure.

PLEASE ADMINS HELP. I am not going to pay for tech support when your product isn't working properly with this new mac.


And my follow up post was....


I wanted to update that I managed to get a screenshot of the windows error

"A problem has been detected and windows has been shut down to prevent damage to your computer

SESSION3_INITIALIZATION_FAILED

If this is the first time you've seen this stop error screen, restart yoru computer. If this screen appears again, follow these steps:

Check to make sure any new hardware or software is properly installed.
If this is a"

That's all I could grab, but it is same message over and over. I've tried typical, custom and express installs. They all result in the same error.



Nothing I can do is fixing this issue. Is this something anyone has seen before?

 

Windows XP installation issue

If your Win XP installation fails, you can take the win XP cd and create an ISO image using Mac's disk utility. I have done this and the installation works flawlessly. Parallels has instructions for creating the ISO image. When you launch parallels, make sure you change the CD settings to reflect the ISO image for installation. I am not sure why the installation fails, but this is the answer.

 

Hello, barefootpanda,

joe the mac guy is right. You can try to install Windows using an ISO image. All instructions you can find here.

Best regards,
Stacey