MP 1,1-5,1 Mac Pro 4,1 (Early 2009) BootCamp Support for Windows XP

[LOLZpersonok]

EDIT: After hours of scouring, I found BootCamp 3 on the Internet Archive. Here's the full link in case the embedded link doesn't work: https://archive.org/details/bootcamp3
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I've acquired an Early 2009 Mac Pro that works rather quite well. I actually got it with a somewhat unusual plan in mind, which was to triple-boot it between macOS, Linux Lite, and Windows XP. It's currently running all three just fine (macOS El Capitan is the latest macOS it can run, and what it's running now), but the big issue I've got is actually finding the BootCamp drivers for Windows XP (32-bit).

I know it sounds silly wanting to run XP on hardware such as this, but the intent was to be able to run some of my older games on this machine, in addition to supporting some of my other Macs. EveryMac notes that the minimum supported Windows version on this particular model is XP SP2. I suppose it may not be correct, but until I get confirmation otherwise I'm gonna keep trying.

Sources online suggested using my macOS install disc while Windows is running to get it installed, but that's not how I installed El Capitan, I downloaded it directly from Apple's website and used one of my other Macs compatible with El Capitan to prepare a bootable drive.

Note for others - As I've discovered, Apple Silicon Macs can't prepare boot drives with older versions of macOS through means I'm aware of, because the Mac OS X install package won't run on an M-series chip (M1, M2), and the application file won't be extracted. To be clear, in order to create a bootable Mac OS X/macOS USB drive, you need to open the .dmg file and run the package file within, which will then create an Install Mac OS X/macOS application in your Applications folder. This application is what's needed to restore onto a USB thumb drive, but when running the package file on an Apple Silicon Mac, it refuses to extract the application file as the computer can't run it.

I've also looked all over for the specific support files, but the only one I've found was specifically for Windows 7 on this system, and using Windows 7 instead of XP could throw yet another wrench into things. The final thing I tried was to download the support files while booted into macOS El Capitan, and then reboot into XP. Well, attempting to run any of those installers basically made my XP installation barf all over itself and it failed to reboot, so now I'm reinstalling XP to the partition I created.

Also, I'm downloading the full 31GB Snappy Driver Installer file onto another flash drive. It's still going, so I can't really report how successful (or unsuccessful) it's been. Other than that, I'm out of ideas and would like some assistance with the matter.

 

[Yebubbleman]

I've acquired an Early 2009 Mac Pro that works rather quite well. I actually got it with a somewhat unusual plan in mind, which was to triple-boot it between macOS, Linux Lite, and Windows XP. It's currently running all three just fine (macOS El Capitan is the latest macOS it can run, and what it's running now), but the big issue I've got is actually finding the BootCamp drivers for Windows XP (32-bit).

I know it sounds silly wanting to run XP on hardware such as this, but the intent was to be able to run some of my older games on this machine, in addition to supporting some of my other Macs. EveryMac notes that the minimum supported Windows version on this particular model is XP SP2. I suppose it may not be correct, but until I get confirmation otherwise I'm gonna keep trying.

Sources online suggested using my macOS install disc while Windows is running to get it installed, but that's not how I installed El Capitan, I downloaded it directly from Apple's website and used one of my other Macs compatible with El Capitan to prepare a bootable drive.

Note for others - As I've discovered, Apple Silicon Macs can't prepare boot drives with older versions of macOS through means I'm aware of, because the Mac OS X install package won't run on an M-series chip (M1, M2), and the application file won't be extracted. To be clear, in order to create a bootable Mac OS X/macOS USB drive, you need to open the .dmg file and run the package file within, which will then create an Install Mac OS X/macOS application in your Applications folder. This application is what's needed to restore onto a USB thumb drive, but when running the package file on an Apple Silicon Mac, it refuses to extract the application file as the computer can't run it.

I've also looked all over for the specific support files, but the only one I've found was specifically for Windows 7 on this system, and using Windows 7 instead of XP could throw yet another wrench into things. The final thing I tried was to download the support files while booted into macOS El Capitan, and then reboot into XP. Well, attempting to run any of those installers basically made my XP installation barf all over itself and it failed to reboot, so now I'm reinstalling XP to the partition I created.

Also, I'm downloading the full 31GB Snappy Driver Installer file onto another flash drive. It's still going, so I can't really report how successful (or unsuccessful) it's been. Other than that, I'm out of ideas and would like some assistance with the matter.

The drivers you'd want for this particular Mac would be on a Snow Leopard Install DVD. Snow Leopard's release predated Windows 7's by a few months, if I'm not mistaken. You otherwise won't find them online. I think that, for any newer OS, Apple started just posting them online, especially during the Lion and onwards era when the Mac operating system stopped coming out on discs. That all being said, if you're going for unsupported Windows releases on that sucker, I can't fathom why you wouldn't want to just use Windows 7 instead.

 

[LOLZpersonok]

The drivers you'd want for this particular Mac would be on a Snow Leopard Install DVD. Snow Leopard's release predated Windows 7's by a few months, if I'm not mistaken. You otherwise won't find them online. I think that, for any newer OS, Apple started just posting them online, especially during the Lion and onwards era when the Mac operating system stopped coming out on discs. That all being said, if you're going for unsupported Windows releases on that sucker, I can't fathom why you wouldn't want to just use Windows 7 instead.

So, basically if I got a Snow Leopard CD, popped it into the drive while Windows was running, I should be good to go then, right? Guess there'll be a little bit of waiting involved, then. Either way I did explain my reasoning in the first post - XP is reported to be supported on this model, and Windows 7, as I recall, has issues with some of my games that ran fine on XP, though my memory is a bit fuzzy on that (it's been a while). If this really doesn't pan out, then I guess I'll forgo the Windows partition entirely, and come up with some other hardware-based Windows XP solution for my games.

 

[Yebubbleman]

So, basically if I got a Snow Leopard CD, popped it into the drive while Windows was running, I should be good to go then, right? Guess there'll be a little bit of waiting involved, then. Either way I did explain my reasoning in the first post - XP is reported to be supported on this model, and Windows 7, as I recall, has issues with some of my games that ran fine on XP, though my memory is a bit fuzzy on that (it's been a while). If this really doesn't pan out, then I guess I'll forgo the Windows partition entirely, and come up with some other hardware-based Windows XP solution for my games.

All Boot Camp does (especially with Macs from before 2015) is split the drive and make the partition underneath think it's on an MBR partition scheme when it's actually on GPT. You can still use the assistant so long as, post XP install, you install the boot camp software from the Snow Leopard DVD.

That all being said, which games are you trying to run? My guess is that, unless they're ancient and were never on Steam, there'll probably be updates that improve the performance/stability on Windows 7, let alone newer.

 

[Yebubbleman]

Incidentally, you can also forego the Boot Camp Assistant entirely if you give Windows its own drive. The Startup Disk Preferences in either OS (assuming Boot Camp Drivers are installed in Windows) will still work to tell the NVRAM which OS you want to be booting from.

 

[LOLZpersonok]

Incidentally, you can also forego the Boot Camp Assistant entirely if you give Windows its own drive. The Startup Disk Preferences in either OS (assuming Boot Camp Drivers are installed in Windows) will still work to tell the NVRAM which OS you want to be booting from.

This is kind of what I've already been doing. I got a 1TB SSD for this purpose, and split it into three equally-sized partitions, one for macOS, one for Windows, and one for Linux. It's worked fine. macOS boots by default, but holding Option/Alt when booting, shows all bootable partitions and it just works.

 

[Yebubbleman]

This is kind of what I've already been doing. I got a 1TB SSD for this purpose, and split it into three equally-sized partitions, one for macOS, one for Windows, and one for Linux. It's worked fine. macOS boots by default, but holding Option/Alt when booting, shows all bootable partitions and it just works.

Right. But XP does need an MBR partition scheme. And macOS/OS X/Mac OS X on Intel (and Apple Silicon, for that matter) has always required a GUID partition scheme. I'm not 100% sure that you'll have a smooth ride on XP with them being partitioned like that on the same drive. 64-bit Windows 7 does support GPT and certainly all versions of Windows 8 through the current release of both Windows 10 and Windows 11 do natively. But XP predates that.

 

[LOLZpersonok]

All Boot Camp does (especially with Macs from before 2015) is split the drive and make the partition underneath think it's on an MBR partition scheme when it's actually on GPT. You can still use the assistant so long as, post XP install, you install the boot camp software from the Snow Leopard DVD.

That all being said, which games are you trying to run? My guess is that, unless they're ancient and were never on Steam, there'll probably be updates that improve the performance/stability on Windows 7, let alone newer.

I've had a hankering to play SimCity Societies + Destinations as of late. It's not a well-liked game, but I've always enjoyed playing it, despite its flaws. I haven't been able to get it running on Linux (there is no community support for that game whatsoever, but it might run through my Lutris Origin setup if I purchased through Origin, which isn't happening), and in my experience it's always been a somewhat better time on Windows XP. Mind you, I haven't run Windows in a long time and it's been years since I actually played SimCity Societies, but that's the impression I've always had with that game. Could be mis-remembering.

I can't really think of the others I've been meaning to put onto it, I still need to dig them out, but I'm thinking at least one of them has trouble with newer versions of Windows, particularly early-2000s stuff. I think Shrek 2 has issues. Plus, there's the experience, right? Get it? eXPerience...?? Anyways, it's also a bit of an interesting challenge, and I've always had fun fooling around with unconventional computer setups... a lot like this Mac Pro running three different operating systems.

 

[LOLZpersonok]

Right. But XP does need an MBR partition scheme. And macOS/OS X/Mac OS X on Intel (and Apple Silicon, for that matter) has always required a GUID partition scheme. I'm not 100% sure that you'll have a smooth ride on XP with them being partitioned like that on the same drive. 64-bit Windows 7 does support GPT and certainly all versions of Windows 8 through the current release of both Windows 10 and Windows 11 do natively. But XP predates that.

That's definitely true. While my experience with XP so far is limited, it does seem to run alright, but only time will tell, provided I get this working the way I want it. It's for this very reason that I was contemplating just straight up using a separate hard drive for XP, but as of right now I'm missing the drive rails for the machine, making hard drive mounting a no-go. I put the SSD into the optical drive bay and screwed it into the cage really tight with the one screw that lined up, because I wasn't content to just leave the drive hanging off the motherboard (even with tape - adhesive hates heat!), even though it'd probably be fine as long as I don't violently move the machine around.

 

[Yebubbleman]

I've had a hankering to play SimCity Societies + Destinations as of late. It's not a well-liked game, but I've always enjoyed playing it, despite its flaws. I haven't been able to get it running on Linux (there is no community support for that game whatsoever, but it might run through my Lutris Origin setup if I purchased through Origin, which isn't happening), and in my experience it's always been a somewhat better time on Windows XP. Mind you, I haven't run Windows in a long time and it's been years since I actually played SimCity Societies, but that's the impression I've always had with that game. Could be mis-remembering.

Not sure I remember those, to be honest. I would figure that you might even get a smoother mileage (and maybe greater control over blocking unwanted traffic) doing that via a VM on a newer Mac. But certainly, I can't fault you for wanting to get it working in that way. I'm guilty of all sorts of similar techie projects of that sort!

I can't really think of the others I've been meaning to put onto it, I still need to dig them out, but I'm thinking at least one of them has trouble with newer versions of Windows, particularly early-2000s stuff. I think Shrek 2 has issues. Plus, there's the experience, right? Get it? eXPerience...?? Anyways, it's also a bit of an interesting challenge, and I've always had fun fooling around with unconventional computer setups... a lot like this Mac Pro running three different operating systems.

Triple-booting an Intel Mac isn't that unconventional. That was honestly the main appeal of the Intel Mac era to begin with! Other than being able to boot Windows and x86/x86-64 Linux, it's just another hardware platform running macOS. Though, I think you'll still want to get a different drive for Windows, assuming the version of the Boot Camp assistant you have on whatever post-Snow Leopard OS isn't playing ball with splitting the drive accordingly. Then again, the Boot Camp assistant was always pretty limited in this regard.

 

[Yebubbleman]

That's definitely true. While my experience with XP so far is limited, it does seem to run alright, but only time will tell, provided I get this working the way I want it. It's for this very reason that I was contemplating just straight up using a separate hard drive for XP, but as of right now I'm missing the drive rails for the machine, making hard drive mounting a no-go. I put the SSD into the optical drive bay and screwed it into the cage really tight with the one screw that lined up, because I wasn't content to just leave the drive hanging off the motherboard (even with tape - adhesive hates heat!), even though it'd probably be fine as long as I don't violently move the machine around.

I'd imagine the drive sleds shouldn't be too expensive. OWC actually makes a pretty good one for the 2009-2012 Mac Pros for attaching an SSD. It's blue and fits like a glove!

 

[LOLZpersonok]

I'd imagine the drive sleds shouldn't be too expensive. OWC actually makes a pretty good one for the 2009-2012 Mac Pros for attaching an SSD. It's blue and fits like a glove!

Thanks for turning me onto that! I've ordered one off eBay, but it'll probably be here sometime in the next millennia, so I might just check that out.

 

[LOLZpersonok]

I'd imagine the drive sleds shouldn't be too expensive. OWC actually makes a pretty good one for the 2009-2012 Mac Pros for attaching an SSD. It's blue and fits like a glove!

I found them... glad I did! They're normally $30 (presumably USD), but on sale for $7.75?! I think I'll be grabbing four, instead of the one I ordered from eBay!

 

[Yebubbleman]

I found them... glad I did! They're normally $30 (presumably USD), but on sale for $7.75?! I think I'll be grabbing four, instead of the one I ordered from eBay!

Nice! Glad I was able to direct ya to those. They work well and are much better than the NewerTech ones that were necessary for adapting to the older 2006-08 Mac Pros. Apple definitely made the right call by overhauling the Mac Pro in 2009 from that earlier internal design.

 

[LOLZpersonok]

Nice! Glad I was able to direct ya to those. They work well and are much better than the NewerTech ones that were necessary for adapting to the older 2006-08 Mac Pros. Apple definitely made the right call by overhauling the Mac Pro in 2009 from that earlier internal design.

That probably means I made a good decision when I opted for a 2009 Mac Pro as opposed to the dozens of 2008 models I saw floating around. Also means I get DDR3 RAM. It's a local eBay store that I browse, they usually sell business machines sent to them when a company upgrades, they often have lots of listings for mostly business-class Windows machines but also plenty of Apple stuff too. Older stuff, I should mention. It's where I got my Power Mac G5, lots of MacBooks, and other miscellaneous computer stuff. In case you're interested, their eBay page is calgarycomputerwholesale. They're not the cheapest vendor around, and sometimes their pricing is out to lunch, but other times they have some pretty dramatic markdowns too. I do recommend them if you're looking for computer stuff, even though they don't have everything. They only occasionally get properly retro hardware.

 

[LOLZpersonok]

Nice! Glad I was able to direct ya to those. They work well and are much better than the NewerTech ones that were necessary for adapting to the older 2006-08 Mac Pros. Apple definitely made the right call by overhauling the Mac Pro in 2009 from that earlier internal design.

Problem Solved!

Well, I've finally done it. I've found the software package I've been looking for to install all appropriate drivers for Windows XP to run properly on my particular Mac Pro. Just the BootCamp package, no OS installer. For anyone else looking, I found it on the Internet Archive. I'm glad that I finally have a copy of Windows XP installed and running, and alas, my setup with this Mac Pro is complete! It's running fully functional copies of macOS 10.11, Linux Lite, and Windows XP. Everything works in XP, even WiFi - though it won't be going online any time soon with XP. It's kinda gnarly hearing Windows XP noises coming out of a Mac Pro tower.

 

[startergo]

Right. But XP does need an MBR partition scheme. And macOS/OS X/Mac OS X on Intel (and Apple Silicon, for that matter) has always required a GUID partition scheme.

That is what Bootcamp Assistant does. Creates a hybrid GPT which from the perspective of the Windows installer is seen as an MBR disk and not as a GPT disk. Also from within Windows the EFI partition cannot be accessed in such a partitioning scheme although it is there physically and can be accessed from the HFS+ partition.

 

[Yebubbleman]

That is what Bootcamp Assistant does. Creates a hybrid GPT which from the perspective of the Windows installer is seen as an MBR disk and not as a GPT disk. Also from within Windows the EFI partition cannot be accessed in such a partitioning scheme although it is there physically and can be accessed from the HFS+ partition.

You're not telling me anything I wasn't already telling the OP.