[ad720]

UPDATE:

I thought the issue might be that the OSX partition wasn't named "disk0s2" so I formatted it and changed it's name to that. Then tried to restore to the SSD from the backup image again - still same problem, when I select that partition in the DellMiniBoot CD I still get to a grey screen with the apple logo where it hangs then eventually restarts.

Any ideas would be most welcome...

[ad720]

Started over from scratch and this time it seems to have worked.

I started with a FAT32 partition for windows but I was getting the kernal error with Darwin so I converted it to NTFS. The first time I tried with the partition formatted NTFS and i couldn't boot OSX.

[IDKwutName]

thanks for the guide, worked great with NBI

[Kadosh]

This is what I did to get Snow Leopard and XP to dual boot with NBI. I have a 10v, 160GB HD. I used an external DVD drive to install XP, but USB for Snow Leopard install.

1) Install Snow Leopard using this method.

2) When Snow Leopard is booting fine, go to Disk Utility -> Partition and add a Volume. Click on the new partition and select MS-DOS (FAT) from the Format list. Click Apply.

3) Boot to the XP setup DVD. Install XP to the FAT partition using the NTFS quick format. Install the hardware drivers needed for XP. After this install XP becomes the primary boot.

4) Boot back to the OS X using the Snow Leopard DVD USB. i.e boot to USB, when the timer is running, press the ESC button and select your harddrive's OS X partition.

5) When in Snow Leopard, run NBI again, just in case any clean up in needed. I don't know if it is. I also check the 'Generate a system specific dsdt.aml file'.

6) Open terminal and type the following from the first post in this thread:

sudo –s (to allow the proper access)
(enter admin password)
fdisk –e /dev/rdisk0
p (should show both partitions)
f 2 (sets the second partition to active for booting)
w (write the changes)
q (quit the fdisk application)

That's it! Thanks for the additions to this thread to make this a simple process.

[Digitaldr]

Kadosh - thanks for the guide - looks like the easiest method. I'm waiting for a friend with to patch my SL DVD for me (will hopefully have it next week). As the Dell Mini 10v is my wife's (as recommended by me) I'll need to have XP as the primary boot as she needs to run windows only software. To do this do I just type f1 in terminal (i.e. set first partition as primary boot)? If this works will I be able to choose to boot into OSX by pushing the Escape key during startup? Also is the XP disc that ships with the mini a full version?

[Kadosh]

Hi Digidaldr. I just tried switching the primary boot over to XP (f 3 in terminal on my machine). It did boot to XP, but I wasn't able to get a boot selection to get back into OS X. I had to boot back into SL using the SL USB. I don't have much knowledge in coding, but I think when making SL the primary boot, you are making Chameleon the mechanism behind which operating system to enter. By switching over to XP, you essentially disable Chameleon. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong, or explain it better if I'm mixing things up.

I think there is a booting option via Windows, but don't recall a name at the moment. In any case, even Windows boot will provide a selection with a timer. It's almost the same thing as on the Mac side. Why not just use Chameleon to make the selection? Just as an alternative. I'm sure there are people here that can provide some great tips to make XP the primary boot and be able to switch back to SL when needed. Honestly, I would like to know as well.

[Digitaldr]

Thanks for checking it out for me Kadosh - your explanation certainly makes sense. I would be more than happy to let chameleon make the selection but I don't think my wife would be ok with it - it's her mini after all!

[b-mang]

the part i am stuck at is installing windows XP. i currently have the macosx setup and its partitioned with a fat partition. how am i able to get XP install on a USB drive? when copying the files directly to a USB drive, it will not boot properly. i tried one of those installing XP on USB tutorials and i will get the hal.dll error. How are you guys doing it? is there a way to backup a windows onto an ISO image or something? Freeware preferred.

[Digitaldr]

Maybe you could "try out" an external DVD drive form your local electronics retailer - preferably one with a generous returns policy! Failing that if you have an internal optical drive you can pick up an IDE to USB converter for very little money on Ebay.

I looked at the install XP from a USB drive guides - seemed very complicated.

[OmgFriday]

Kadosh, thanks for the nice work.

Did you get boot-issue resolved from windows side? I saw the name easyBCD in some other treads, but I am not sure it works or not.