Boot Camp: Multi-CD Vista Install

For a new standarized test in our district next week, we needed access to Windows. For some reason the test, called MAP, client can be run on Mac OS X but the tool used to upload the data to the testing company requires Windows. Thanks to Apple's Bootcamp software this should have been an easy task, but due to some limitations it wasn't.

My district purchased a multi-seat license for the Business Edition of Windows Vista from CDW. I first needed to reformat my startup disc, since I had mistakenly partitioned my drive for Vista when I first setup the machines instead of waiting to use the bootcamp setup utility. After backing up my data the reformat went smoothing. Installing and running the Bootcamp setup utility was easy as expected, but I ran into problems once I begain the install.

First, after the setup assistant restarted my computer it failed to recognize the CD as a boot disk forcing a restart. After the restart things seemed to go fine until I got the message telling me to insert the second of four discs. You see, with the slot loading drives on MacBooks the only way to eject a CD is by using the eject button on the keyboard but without the drivers installed from Apple the Windows installer doesn't recognize the key leaving me with no way to eject the CD and proceed with the installation. Switching to another machine, I do a quick Google search and find out that Boot Camp currently doesn't support upgrade or multi-cd installs for this exact reason. Doing a little more research I did find a solution on the Boot Camp Discussions page at Apple.com/support

The Solution:

1. Download the windows program Eject found here:

http://win32assembly.online.fr/files/eject.zip

2. Extract and transfer the program to a USB flash drive.

3. Run the Boot Camp Setup Utility and launch the Vista installer.

4. Follow the directions to install Vista until it asks for the second disc.

5. Press Shift - F10 to open a command prompt

6. Navigate to the drive and execute the eject program.

For me the USB drive was e: but I'm not sure if thats standard. If you are not familiar with DOS enter the following on the command prompt to execute the program:

e:
cd\eject
eject

This program will eject all removable media from the machine, which includes the flash drive. So you will need to remove and reattach the USB drive after every disc.

7. Repeat until Vista is up and running. You will want to stay by the computer until you have copied all of the files to the machine, keep in mind you will copy files from all of your disks and then need to return to disk 1 to finish the install.

I have had some problems with Vista already, even running it for less then 30 minutes but I think they were driver issues. Just be sure to install those Mac drivers from the disc you created in Boot Camp right away and you should be fine. I must say, there are parts of Vista's UI that look pretty cool, but its still slow and inconsistant compared to Mac OS X...and those damn clicking sounds are on by default. I was also annoyed that I had to give Windows Update permissions to run every time I restarted. I know the spyware protection is neccessary but couldn't it remember that I had previously approved this program instead of the constant nagging?