Re-imaging Windows 7 on Apple Macs

So, we are now trialing a newer system for deploying Windows 7 on to our Apple Macs. Previously we've used Deploystudio, but as our Apple Server is too old, it is no longer up to the task.

For the rest of the PC's we use the Microsoft Imaging technique (whatever this is), and we're trying it with our macs.

Here's a step by step of what to do with the installer disk:

1. insert disk
2. set the default boot disk to be Windows (assuming Windows was previously installed)
3. reboot and hold ALT
4. select the CD
5. Press ANY KEY
6. log in with own credentials
7. Select task sequence
1. to determine which volume to boot from you need to run DISKPART. Type:
1. SELECT DISK 0
2. LIST VOLUMES
3. SELECT VOLUME (type the volume number)
4. LIST PARTITIONS
8. Select to install BootCamp drivers
9. Put name, domain details in
10. Go!

Imaging Windows XP on a Mac - filling (expanding) the partition

So, came to a machine today which I'd just re-imaged with windows XP using DeployStudio. Windows thought the partition was only 30Gb's  but was actually 110GB's. I had seen this before but never written down how to fix it.

First thing I tried was the Disk Checking utility. This did not fix the problem.

After this I didn't know what to do. I turned to google and found this forum answer. Turns out when re-imaging there is an option to "Auto Expand" windows to fill the partition but sometimes does not work. To fix, use WinClone. Unfortunately the latest version of WinClone now costs $19.99, but the older V2.2 was free. I eventually found WinClone V2.2 here.

You also need NTFSProgs so OS X can understand NTFS partitions. WinClone downloads them automatically, here is the link it uses.

Here's a screenshot of it in action:

WinClone Expanding windows file system

Go to Tools > Expand Windows file system.

Takes around 8 mins.

Worked. Cheers.

Getting VirtualBox to use Bootcamp partitioned Windows XP on a Mac

So, I really wanted VirtualBox to use the Bootcamp partitioned windows XP. After a bit of trauling I found this but had a slight error "resource_busy" and found this with a reply sorting it out. Turns out you have to unmount the disk to create the .vmkd file.

1. make a new machine
2. when asked about disks, load up the terminal
3. find the disk and partition with windows installed
1. diskutil list
4. unmount it
1. I did this in disk utility
5. change permissions on it
1. chmod 777 /dev/diskXsY  (replace X and Y with numbers)
6. go into the folder where your new VirtualBox machine is
1. cd ~/VirtualBox\ VMs/VirtualComputerName
7. make the .vmkd file
1. sudo vboxmanage internalcommands createrawvmdk -rawdisk /dev/disk0 -filename "winXP.vmdk" -partitions 3
2. you have to find out how many partitions are on the harddrive. I've got 3
8. change permissions of the files created
1. chmod 777 winXP*
9. in VirtualBox, select the disk file you created.

Sorted.

Turns out the error I got was from not reading the bit where you have to unmount it.

No Drives were found - installing Windows 7

So, just trying to fix a friends computer. There's just one SATA HD inside, and he wants it nice and fresh, so I just started the windows 7 install disk and, after booting off the disk and getting to the "Disk Selection" stage it came up with the information:

No drives were found, Click Load Driver to install a Mass Storage Driver

Ridiculous I thought. I had a quick look in BIOS and found it not listed in the HD's. I later found out that it was originally RAIDed with another (which broke) so I turned off RAID from BIOS so that it treated it as a normal HD again. It now appeared in the HD list in BIOS.

But still the same error in the Windows installer! So, now BIOS can see it, what is the problem. Well, I finally found this forum which suggested looking at this Microsoft Help Page, particularly Method 8.

1. Insert the DVD into the DVD drive.
2. On the disk selection screen, press SHIFT+F10. A Command Prompt window opens.
3. Type diskpart, and then press ENTER to open the diskpart tool.
4. Type list disk, and then press ENTER. A list of available hard disks is displayed.
5. Type sel disk number, and then press ENTER. number is the number of the hard disk that you want to clean. The hard disk is now selected.
6. Type det disk, and then press ENTER. A list of partitions on the hard disk is displayed. Use this information to verify that the correct disk is selected.
7. Make sure that the disk does not contain required data, type clean all, and then press ENTER to clean the disk. All the partitions and all the data on the disk is permanently removed.
8. Type exit, and then press ENTER to close the diskpart tool.
9. Close the Command Prompt window.
10. Click the Refresh button to update the disk selection screen. This step lists the disk.
11. Run Windows Setup to perform a clean installation of Windows.

Firstly I couldn't believe the fact that you still need to use a Command Prompt for such a simple thing as cleaning a Hard Drive. Mac OS users have had a "Disk Utility" on the install disk since OS X came out, which was 2002, maybe even "Drive Setup" which came out in 1995! 12 years on and Microsoft still uses a command line utilities on it's install disk for disk formatting!

Not only that, but SHIFT+F10?! Why not a button which says "Command Prompt"! Have they ever heard of of the word "Intuitive".

And now I've just got to step 7, typed "clean all" and it looks like it's frozen. No user feedback to say what is happening!

Microsoft, can you please design things, it'd make everyones jobs and home life much better. Instead you seem to have just patched things together. I guess at least you seem to have created a large job market for computer technicians, but you seem to make their lives pretty hard too.

After waiting 25 mins on a none-changing screen, it's finally popped up saying "Disk Part succeeded in cleaning the disk". A little long for a simple clean. It now appears in the list. But now another error!

Windows cannot be installed to this disk. This computers hardware may not support booting to this disk. Ensure that the disk's controller is enabled in the computers BIOS menu.

So, after restarting the machine, it seemed to accept the disk.

It's now installing, I need a coffee.

Mac Pro RAID setup on 2 x 1TB drives (for HD editing)

So, I've several nice Mac Pro's which have 2 x 1TB drives. They will be used for HD video editing and storage. I always have the OS on a separate volume (160GB) so if it needs re-imaging no storage will be lost. What are my options?

• Have first drive partitioned into two, to have OS and storage. The second is just more storage.
• RAID 0 - stripped, for good performance and then partition this into two

I tried to do the later but when I RAIDed it in disk utility it created a volume which couldn't then be partitioned! Just read this post explaining that OS X does not support partitioned software RAID (doh) and this is what I was trying. You need RAID hardware to do it natively. There is software which does do it - Soft RAID.

As the first option isn't too bad I'll just go with that.