Installing Windows Vista Rtm With Boot Camp

I guess I'm a few months late on this Vista RTM thing... I'm writing this because I've gotten sick of the Mac OS. It's just too unnatural for me to use.
But, for those of you who have been afraid to install Windows Vista RTM on your Macs using Boot Camp, this tutorial should help you and give you confidence. wifi, Aero, and installation work automatically. Two-finger scrolling works. iSight is actually functional (you can use it).

Part 1: Installing Vista

To install Windows Vista on your Mac, you'll need... (Guess.) A Windows Vista DVD and an Intel Mac. You can get RTM if you have reported a bug during Beta testings, if you're a subscriber of MSDN, etc. Burn the DVD after you've downloaded the image.

Next, download Boot Camp (Beta) from the Apple site. If you already have it, check to make sure that you have 1.1.2, which includes some new drivers and stuff. Boot Camp will help you create a second partition for the Vista installation and give you a few drivers that you will need. After you install it, you can find it under the Utilities folder, called Boot Camp Assistant. When you open it, it'll ask you to burn a CD containing the drivers needed for Windows. Burn one and continue. Then it will ask you to create a partition for Windows. My installation of Vista took about 10GB (Same as earlier versions). Since I've decided to use Vista as my main OS, I gave it 20 GB, which is all the free space I have. Drag the slider and watch as it creates the new partition without affecting your existing data. When it's finished, insert the Windows Vista DVD into that funny disc slot of Macs, and let the installation start.

Your MacBook will restart and boot with the installation disc. It'll start uploading files from the disc to your computer. After some time, you'll see the cool "Install Windows" screen appear. Well, it's cool compared to the black loading screen in XP or earlier versions of Vista. Select your languages, Next, Install Now, enter the product key, Next, I accept, Next, Custom (Upgrade should be disabled). Then you will see the partitions on your drive. Select the one that matches the size you've given to Windows, and install! RTM doesn't require you to delete the 200MB partition anymore, so you don't have to follow those other tutorials.

Vista installation will restart your computer. Whoa, that didn't work. The screen will turn black (but brighter than when turned off), but the hard disk will still be making its sound. You'll need to force it shut by holding the power button. Turn it back on and hold option key. Select the Windows Vista drive (not the dvd) to boot from there. Windows will ask you for information to set up your accounts. Congrats! You've got the basic OS on your Mac!


Part 2: Installing Drivers
This part probably requires a mouse.
If Vista is asking for you to fix some driver problems, ignore it. The following steps will fix that.
Pop out your Vista DVD by going to My Computers and right click the DVD, select Eject. ZZouumZuu. Take the disc out and replace it with the Boot Camp Drivers CD. Now, since Vista isn't officially supported by Boot Camp yet, the automatic installation won't work. You'll have to manually extract the drivers from the cd and copy it onto your computer. Go to the Start menu, and on the bottom left corner is a search query (not unlike Spotlight). Use it to find Run. In Run, type in ["D:\Install Macintosh Drivers for Windows XP.exe" -v -A] with the quotes, but not the brackets. Vista's annoying but useful UAC will ask you for confirmation several times. The installer will come up, and after you're finished with it, it'll ask you where to extract the files to. Create a new folder somewhere and extract it there.

If you've followed the instructions here correctly, Vista should still have the driver problems icon in the notification area on the taskbar. Click it, then "Locate and install driver software" and it'll attempt to fix the problem by itself. It's going to fail. It'll ask you for some help. Select "Browse my computer for driver software", Next, and navigate to your extraction folder > Macintosh Drivers for Windows XP 1.1.2 in Browse... Some devices will work, some will fail.

Go to Device Manager in Control Panel. Under Imaging Devices should be the iSight device. The device is recognized, but it doesn't actually work. Right click it and update the driver > Browse my computer for driver software > Pick from a list > Have Disk. Navigate to the Drivers folder and find the iSight folder. Select the only available file in the folder and install it. Open up any software (Live Messenger, Photo Gallery) that imports from the webcam and you should see yourself on the screen. Don't stare for too long.

If you have a Macbook (like me) or a Macbook Pro, you'll notice that the trackpad is not taking two-finger commands. Under Human Interface Devices, disable and enable each device to see which one makes the trackpad fail. Update that device just like you did for iSight, but this time find the aapltp folder. Your Vista now has the crippled functionality of the trackpad. You can't tap to click, the trackpad is too sensitive and too insensitive at the same time, and finger-scrolling requires you to swipe your fingers at precisely 90 degrees (that also means no horizontal scrolling).

Boot Camp also has some other software to improve your Windows experience. Well, it improves it from almost unusable to O.K. These programs are in the extraction folder > System32. You'll need Brightness and Apple Time. Go to their Properties > Compatibility tab and make them run compatible to XP SP2. Also Run as administrator. Then copy them to Windows>System32. Create a shortcut and put them in the Startup folder. Search for the folder. It's in "C:\programdata\microsoft\windows\start menu\programs". Once you have Brightness running, hit the brightness keys on your keyboard together with the fn key to change the brightness.
Oh, you'll also need the Apple Keyboard. It is at the extraction folder\program files\Macintosh Drivers for Windows XP 1.1.2\Apple Keyboard. Run the installer and you can now use the fn+del and eject and stuff.


I'm so happy that iSight works in this version. It didn't work in RC1 (I didn't try RC2), which is one of the reasons that I uninstalled it. I'm still looking for a way to make tap-clicking work, but other than that, Vista is working find on my MacBook. If you have anything to add or have any questions, just reply.

 

 

 

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good tutorial. Does it work with every version of Windows Vista?

xboxrulz

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No, it does not. Before RC2, you had to delete the 200MB partition created by Boot Camp in order to install Vista. If you want to install Vista RC1 and any other versions, you'll have to delete the partition, then format your Windows partition, then install. iSight and did not work. The special trackpad functions did not work when I was testing RC1 with Boot Camp 1.1.1, but they may work now with 1.1.2.

One thing I forgot to mention in the tutorial is that Brightness and Apple Time will be restricted by UAC (possibly because they are unsigned?). If you want those programs to start at startup, you'll have to disable UAC. This only happens when you run them with admin privileges, which I found out wasn't necessary.


EDIT: Ohh. Yes, all the SKU's work. The main difference between those version are different programs and features.

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I meant by versions as in the different SKUs.

Home, Home Premium, Business, Enterprise, Ultimate etc.

xboxrulz

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OK, I have found solutions to 2.5 1.5 more problems. If you have tried my tutorial, you should notice that there is still another failing device in device manager, called "Human Interface Device". That is the IR receiver for your Apple Remote. Another bug that you might not have noticed yet (and I didn't notice until after I've written the tut) is that after your Vista goes to sleep, the trackpad fails. The .5 problem is that the trackpad is really hard to control since it skids across the screen like ice skates.

I stumbled across the driver for the IR receiver while looking for a way to fix the trackpad-sleep problem. It is created by a Chinese developer on the InsanelyMac forums. The topic can be found here and the source code here. After you download the zip, extract it onto your hardisk. Update the HID using the method I described above for iSight, but this time navigate to your new extraction folder. After a successful install, you should get a Safely Remove Hardware icon in your notification area. Then, create a shortcut for MacIR.exe and place it in the Startup folder. Run it. The volume and forward/backward buttons are for up, down, left, and right. Play/pause is Enter, and Menu is Backspace. Since the commands are taken directly by the OS, you can't use it on just one particular program (i.e. you can't press the +/- buttons to directly change the volume). It only controls the currently focused program. However, that means that you can even use the remote on your browser!
The driver is still being developed, so you could expect some new features in the future.

The trackpad fix, aptly named Awake Trackpad, was written by a Japanese developer. You can download it at this page, at the top right corner. Just put it on your hardisk and copy it to the Startup folder. I don't know why, but when I first ran it, I got the Blue Screen of Death and had to restart. But after that, it ran perfectly fine. The trackpad now works after waking up. If you don't want to try this app, however, you could just do what I had always done before:
I have gotten the BSOD twice running this program. You'd be better off going to device manager every time the computer wakes up, and disabling then enabling the trackpad driver.

The trackpad may sometimes tremble or not respond at all, and even when it is functional, it is difficult to control. There is a fix for the last problem. Go to the Mouse settings in the Control Panel. Go to the Pointer Options tab, and uncheck the "Enhance pointer precision" option. Sounds counterintuitive. However, after you do this, acceleration will be turned off so that the trackpad will go where you want it to go. Scrolling also improves. However, doing this will turn off acceleration for your usb mouse too, so... Get your priorities straight.


I have not checked whether UAC blocks these programs at startup or not. I will have to try that later.Awake is blocked at startup, but the IR receiver isn't. Also, the last failing driver, the Performance Counter, is still not fixed. I'm guessing that it is the device for checking your computer's internal temperature.

 

 

 

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