Fusion and Win2000 - not SP 4

[nycfonephreak]

The system requirements for Win2K to work with Fusion mentions SP4. My install CD does not have SP4 already incorporated. It probably doesn't have any SPs incorporated in the install files. Can I go ahead and install that and then apply the SP4 upgrade that I'll download from Microsoft's site - or must the install CD already have SP4 in order for it to install?

[WoodyZ]

I don't have a non SP disc to check from however you could just give it a try and if it works, it works and if not you might be able to slipstream the SP and create an ISO Image to install from.

[admin]

I would give it a try despite what is listed as officially supported. I would also recommend installing Win2k and then SP4 while not connected to the network (if possible), since there's probably a lot of malware out there looking for unpatched systems.

[nycfonephreak]

This is turning out to be more of a challenge. I have a legal copy of W2K - but, the CD was damaged a long time ago and the computer that it had been installed on was long ago taken out of service. I have burned a copy of all of the install files onto another CD (non-bootable) and I have my product key to register with. The problem is Fusion is looking for bootable media and terminates the install. The other option is to install from an image file (I think that's the term). I tried copying the W2K install files to the Mac hard drive and I browsed to that folder while setting up the virtual machine. It didn't recognize any of those files. Being a mac newbie, I'm not sure what it's looking for in an image file. Is this a Mac term or a special type of file? Is there a way for me to create an image file from the install files on my W2K CD?

I may just need to shell out some more $$ for a new copy of WinXP if I can't get my W2K installed.

Regarding staying of the net 'til SP4 is applied - I'm behind a Linksys Router (firewall). Shouldn't that provide enough protection until SP4 gets applied? Of course, this may be a moot point, given the larger problem above.

[WoodyZ]

This is turning out to be more of a challenge. I have a legal copy of W2K - but, the CD was damaged a long time ago and the computer that it had been installed on was long ago taken out of service.

If this is an OEM CD then the licence to use it died with the machine.

Regarding staying of the net 'til SP4 is applied - I'm behind a Linksys Router (firewall). Shouldn't that provide enough protection until SP4 gets applied? Of course, this may be a moot point, given the larger problem above.

Let me use this analogy. Just being behind a router and not connection to the internet is like standing at you front door with it closed. One you connect to the Internet you have opened the front door and if you don't have a screen door the the bugs will just fly in.

For a computer (especially Windows) to be truly safe on the Internet you must employ security in layers. Like keeping the OS and Apps up to date, running Antivirus/Spyware/Firewall software, not going to questionable sites, etc, etc...

Even on a Mac you need to take the proper precautions and to think you have to do nothing is just plain naive.

[tjzeeman]

I have an installation cd for Win2k pre-SP4 (probably even sans-SP) and I've installed two VMs with it. One in the early Beta stages of Fusion and one with the 1.1 release. No problems there.

They have both been upgraded to SP4 and the latest hotfixes for Win2k just after installation so I couldn't tell if there are any glitches if you continue running without SP4.

[WoodyZ]

This is turning out to be more of a challenge. I have a legal copy of W2K - but, the CD was damaged a long time ago and the computer that it had been installed on was long ago taken out of service. I have burned a copy of all of the install files onto another CD (non-bootable) and I have my product key to register with.

If the CD was damaged where did you copy the setup files from? The hard drive maybe C:\I386? If you do have a valid i386 folder you could start the setup using a DOS boot disk. However keep in mind that if the original CD is an OEM, licensing issue aside, most OEM's do not include all the files necessary to reinstall clean from the i386 folder on the hard drive. It's there more for updating a driver or accessory that wasn't installed during the original setup without having to go to the CD.

Note: The DOS boot disk needs CD-ROM Support and you should also have SMARTDRV on it and loaded before you start i386\winnt.exe otherwise the copy portion will go dog slow.

[nycfonephreak]

The CD came from our IT department. The laptop originally came with Win98 installed. We needed 2000 so we purchased a copy. When that CD stopped working, they burned a copy of the install files (don't know from where - maybe from a disk image that they had) and I'd been using that anytime I was prompted to insert the install cd. The laptop had a dual boot setup. I've been looking for the original CD - I'm sure I still have it around somewhere. So far, all I've come up with are unopened Win98 and Win95, none of which will help me now.

I'm about to order an OEM version of Win XP Home Edition w/SP2. Any reason why that should not work?

Back to the Door / Screen door analogy regarding security... I thought a hardware router/firewall is the screen door. When I scanned my system (dslreports - tools - security) it tested very well locked down with no visible ports. Admittedly, that was over a year ago and the world of malware has changed. Since I'm ordering XP w/SP2, this is all moot. But, I am still curious about this. FWIW, on my Windows machines, I am running Nod32 (updated multiple times per day) and MS Defender. I know all of the risky behaviours and i don't do any of them:D

Any thoughts on using the OEM version of XP Home Edition with Fusion? I'll need to access my network drives, but, Home should be able to do this. I've never used anything less than XP Pro. There's a $50 difference between Home and Pro.

thanks again

[rcardona2k · Accepted solution]

It's probably moot that you've ordered XP Home but Microsoft has media replacement services for many of their products including Windows 2000 which is in extended support. Of course if this an OEM copy, which it sounds like it you would have to get the media replaced by the OEM.

XP Home will technically work but it is not supported nor tested by VMware. I have XP home on a Dell box and it can mount shares from workgroup computers or domain-controlled systems. The things I can't use Home for too long without are Remote Desktop, IIS and the FTP server. XP Home has some other quirks but those the main features that make me opt for Pro.

[InflatableMouse]

I have a Win2000 CD sans SP here. Like the other guys I installed it without a problem and ran the SP4 update.

[rcardona2k]

I think the issue with the Win2k CD is that it's not an original, the OP's cd was damaged and he has a "files copy" version not a bootable CD. A cd with the i386 directory is fine for add/removing features but you need a bootable CD to run the OS installer. Rather than go through the trouble of media replacement, starting with XP sounds like a better plan.

[nycfonephreak]

Yeah, I already placed the order for XP Home.

All I need it to do is to be able to run my Windows apps until I can slowly replace them with Mac native versions. That will take a couple of months. Also, I'll use it occasionally to run some apps that have no Mac equivalents. My networking requirements are simple. I'll need to connect to my network drive from XP Home running on the virtual machine in the Mac... open a document or photo.... make changes.... and save it back to the network drive. I don't anticipate doing anything fancier than that. From what I've read, XP Home should be able to handle that. I'm hoping it can do so from within Fusion.

In the grand scheme of things, it's probably not a bad thing that I'm going with XP v. 2K. I remember my 2K laptop taking over 5 minutes to boot and even longer to shut down.

[rcardona2k]

In the grand scheme of things, it's probably not a bad thing that I'm going with XP v. 2K. I remember my 2K laptop taking over 5 minutes to boot and even longer to shut down.

Wow, while i whole-heartedly agree that XP a better choice today (long live XP-SP3!), something sounds wrong about your 2K boot up time. Back in 2002-2003, I lamented how much slower XP was compared to 2000. In fact, in price/performance I think no OS since 2000 has matched it. My 2000 VM is wicked fast, especially without the overhead of System Restore and (lol) "fancy" fade-effects, shadowing in XP. Of course I turned the latter off in XP long ago but 2000 is still very fast. Like everything else it's all relative, the hardware is much faster now (try running NT ) and the same laments are had with Vista (although Vista is seriously broken in multiple dimensions).

I digress, for what you're looking for XP Home will be fine.

[nycfonephreak]

"Like everything else it's all relative, the hardware is much faster now"

I hadn't thought about that. The W2K laptop had only 196MB RAM and the processor speed (was a Pentium3) something like 800MHz or 900MHz. My XP computers are around 2GHz and RAM ranges from 768MB to 3GB. The W2K machine was painfully slow starting and shutting down. I have to admit, though, that nothing I've used in the past starts or shuts down as fast as the MacBook. And, once I get over my fear of just shutting the lid to put it to sleep, life will be even sweeter!

[nycfonephreak]

just wanted to report back that XP Home arrived today and I was able to create the virtual machine and install XP Home.

I have some questions about whether I answered all of the prompts correctly during install and about getting Windows to see my NAS drive. If I can't get those figured out after snooping around here, I'll post under a new thread on Monday.

Thanks for helping me get this far.