Filed under: Hardware, OS, Software
New Vista build is Boot Camp friendly
A blog post that has risen through the digg ranks reports that a pre-RC1 release of Vista (build 5536) can now be installed easily on Intel Macs via Boot Camp. No more messy instructions, just a good clean install and (apparently) smooth running. Reports indicate that most of the fancy schmancy Aero effects are supported, even on a regular MacBook (Aero, for those who don't know, is a hardware-intensive new UI for Windows Vista with a lot of flashy effects and Transparency Everywhere™ technology).
Microsoft has announced a Release Candidate 1 of Vista for September, for which we believe another public rollout and serial code registration process will be available. Those who manage to get ahold of a copy of build 5536 will need a registration code from the recently-closed beta 2 offering in order to install it.
While we aren't quite sure how Microsoft worked around the EFI limitation in Vista (EFI support was axed along with many other features some time ago), but this Vista + Intel Macs development is good news for anyone who needs to build apps and test websites for Microsoft's new Windows version.
![TUAW [Cafepress]](http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.tuaw.com/media/tuaw-cafepress-promo.png)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Jon said 10:05AM on 8-28-2006
Well, it works on Intel Macs now but apparently it's the buggiest beta that Microsoft has ever released (quite a record):
http://www.appleinsider.com/article.php?id=1985
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jason said 10:24AM on 8-28-2006
is this the build that was show on here previously that we could win a free copy of vista by answering some poll at microsoft?
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jds17j said 10:38AM on 8-28-2006
that appleinsider link is for the Beta 2 that came out months ago... this story is about the pre-RC1 that was released last week. There is a big difference between the two. The newer version is much more stable and usable. The beta 2 was very buggy. RC1 looks like it might be pretty good.
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Christopher Williams said 10:42AM on 8-28-2006
@ Jon
Although I don't doubt that the beta 2 of Vista is terrible, it seems that the report may be questioned. There are no sources used, a cardinal rule when one writes "Sources state" as part of an argument. AppleInsider, a horrible rumor site, isn't the best of sources.
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Dan Warne said 11:12AM on 8-28-2006
You don't know how Microsoft worked around the EFI limitation? That'd be because Apple added BIOS emulation to its EFI firmware. That's basically the guts of what Bootcamp is -- it's simply the addition of Intel's BIOS CSM (Compatibility Support Module) to the EFI firmware. It was always an option for Apple -- they made a conscious decision not to include it on the first release Intel Macs, and then they backflipped on that when they released BootCamp. The rest of Bootcamp is: (a) a utility that can repartition your currently active startup volume (b) a tool that makes it possible to choose Windows as a startup disk (c) a thingy that burns a CD of Windows drivers and (d) the Windows drivers themselves.
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Jon said 11:12AM on 8-28-2006
#2: I think that was Office, not Vista.
#3: The story came out on Wednesday.
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Brendan said 11:33AM on 8-28-2006
what's the story with drivers? If one get's a torrent, and then unlocks this release with their keycode, but then what about drivers?
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Brendan said 11:35AM on 8-28-2006
@2. That was Vista, but i'm not sure if it was this build.
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Leonard Nimrod said 12:08PM on 8-28-2006
Dan Warne,
What you said about BootCamp is true, but it doesn't explain why earlier versions of Vista required a bunch of hacks to get installed when XP would boot easily.
I'd check with www.onmac.net to see if this easy install of Vista on Intel Macs is due to BootCamp 1.1 or this new release of Vista.
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jason said 12:27PM on 8-28-2006
yeah number six, indeed it was vista, and the survey was posted on tuaw aug 22, so i guess their is a chance ms will be shipping rc-1 to us then, anyone got theirs yet?
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Jon said 12:52PM on 8-28-2006
Ah yeah, I was getting it confused with the beta that people had to pay money for. That was Office.
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Brendan said 1:38PM on 8-28-2006
I'm in over my depth, what about Vista drivers?
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Bophojones said 2:16PM on 8-28-2006
Ok, so if it works on boot camp, has anyone tried it with parallels?
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Leonard Nimrod said 2:33PM on 8-28-2006
Bophojones,
Yes, it works with Parallels. Check out www.onmac.net for details.
Brendan,
Some of the Bootcamp's XP drivers may work wtih Vista and the clever people at ww.onmac.net may have some solutions, but there is no offical support at this time.
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Rufo Sanchez said 2:35PM on 8-28-2006
I haven't looked into it, but the only problem with installing Vista on the MBP was one had to delete the hidden EFI partition, as it confused the Vista bootloader (Vista can read the true GPT-partition table and see all three partitions on the drive, but the Vista bootloader could only read the older MBR provided for Windows, which caused it to be unable to find the partition you installed Vista on).
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jds17j said 5:06PM on 8-28-2006
@ Jon
But they are still talking about the Beta 2 in that article... This article is talking about a totally different version that is not public... the pre-RC1. If you have tested both, which i have, you would see a huge difference in the two in speed, installation, stability, etc... a lot of bugs have been worked out. So even though that is from Wednesday, it's talking about the Beta 2. Especially since the build in this TUAW article wasn't released until friday. Even the name of the article you pointed to tells you this: "Windows Vista Beta 2 features bugs and blue screens." If you read the above article, you will see pre-RC1 (build 5536), which is not the Beta 2. I don't think i can be any clearer than that.
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Mike said 6:52PM on 8-28-2006
I just finished installing Vista RC1 onto my Macbook Pro and its running amazing. I used the bootcamp drivers cd and my audio, video, networking are all functioning properly. It's very fast!
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jimmie geddes said 12:27PM on 8-30-2006
I know it says that the drivers for Apple's keyboard isn't working, has anyone gotten them working? I have the newest drivers apple released with the latest bootcamp. Does the keyboard not work at all in Vista? Thanks.
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Wendy said 11:24PM on 8-30-2006
I would like to second that I'm running Vista RC1 on my Macbook Pro with absolutely no problems.
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Greg said 8:29PM on 8-31-2006
Wendy and Mike, did you guys load xp first to get rc1 to load? I can't get boot camp to recognize my vista disk.
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