How to Solve the Boot Camp Disk Error
Press Any Key To Restart Probem

Here is the Solution to the Boot Camp "Disk Error Press Any Key To Restart"

Boot Camp is a program that will help you to install Microsoft Windows on your Mac with just a few clicks. However, it took me three days to figure out how to do it.

On this page you will find the solution to the "Disk Error, Press Any Key To Restart" problem a lot of boot camp users seem to encounter. I battled with this for 3 days until I finally found the solution.

Background:

The "Disk Error, Press Any Key To Restart" message appears after you have installed windows XP and wait for your Mac to boot into Windows for the first time.

The Problem:

The reason this message appears is that Windows doesn't recognize the file system on the partion where you installed Windows XP.

Boot Camp pre-formats the partion when you first decide how big partion you want. You know the screen where you can choose 32GB or use the slide to determine how big partion you want.

Then when you are running the windows installer (who takes forever to load), the installer determin the partion Boot Camp made as FAT32. Here's the problem. You have to format the Boot Camp partion using the Windows Installer. If you don't do this, Windows will be installed on a file system it doesn't recognize and the "Disk Error Press Any Key To Restart" will appear when the installer is finished and try to boot into Windows.

How To Format The Partion Using The Windows Installer:

Here's where I got stuck and searched for an answer for 3 days before finding out how to do it.

When using the windows installer, you should be given the option to format the file system before windows is being installed. This is not always the case..

Appearantly there are different versions of the Windows Installer Software. Some gives you the option while others just goes ahead and install Windows without asking you if you want to format the partion first.

So the option to format the partion to either FAT32 or NTFS file system, depends on which type of Windows CD you have.

If you already have the option to format the file system before installing Windows, then the fix is easy. Simply choose to format the partion to either: FAT32 or NTFS.

The screen should look like the one below.. You will have a fifth choice which says something like: "Leave the partion as it is" DO NOT CHOOSE THIS OPTION!

You have to format the partion to either FAT32 or NTFS. If you choose FAT32, you will be able to both read and write to the partion. If you choose NTFS, you will only be able to read the partion.

What Should You Do If You Don't Have The Option Format The Partion In The Windows Installer

This is what happened to me.. I didn't get the chance to format the file system after I choosed which partion to install Windows on. The installer just went on and installed directly, and eventually I got the "Disk Error" messsage.

The fix for this is to obtain a different Windows Installer CD which have the option to format the partion.

Now the question arise.. Which Windows CD do you need?

I didn't have the the time or the money going out and buying every kind of Windows CD, just to find the right one. I already have bought a copy of Windows and I didn't want to buy another one.. So I asked a friend, (who uses Windows) to download one from a torrent site..

Now, after a lot of testing he finally found a CD that offered the format option.

I don't know if I'm allowed to link to a torrent site, but the name of the windows CD is: "Windows XP Professional SP2 Integrated Sept 2008" Just do a search for it on google and you should be able to find it. Once you find it then burn it with a program that allows you to burn CD images (ISO) and you have yourself the right CD.

You can also try to buy a new copy of Windows XP, but I can't tell you which one to buy.. =(!

I hope this helps any problem you have with Boot Camp. Below are some links that will help you even further on how to successfully install Windows XP on your MAC.

How to Format Hard Drive and Install Windows Operating System

FORMAT HARDDISK/ HARDDRIVE

Depending on whether you are formatting your master hard drive or slave hard drive the ways of formatting will differ.
To format a Slave Hard drive (Not the hard drive with your current Operating System) you can simply format the drive in two ways, these methods are

1. Simply go into My computers then right click the specific Hard drive you wish to format then simply click Format. From here you can select the format type Fat 32 or NTFS ( NTFS the most common these days as its much faster than Fat 32)

Its also best to click the quick format option as this will dramatically reduce the time it will take to format the Drive. Remember when using this method you must close all applications and files that are being run the computer from that drive otherwise you will not be able to proceed with the format.

2. The next way is to format your hard drive via command prompt. To enter command prompt simply click start then run and enter “cmd” (without the “”) this will then bring up the command line. You can now format from here by simply typing format followed by the drive letter. E.g Format C:/

The next method is for formatting your primary or master drive and the best way to do this is to do it as a part of your windows installation. I will cover the formatting of the hard drive along with the installation of windows O/S below.

Format Hard disk and Install Windows Operating System

Steps

1. The first step is to enter your computers BIOS. To do this when your computer is booting up it may ask you if you wish to enter setup or bios. The most common key to enter your setup/bios is DEL or F1. It may differ depending on what sort of motherboard you have just make sure you look out for the alert to find the appropriate key. If you cant seem to catch the key or if the screen flashes on too quick try pressing the Pause Break key and this will pause the boot up screen for you.

2. The next step is to change the boot up options for your computer. Depending on your motherboard it will be in a different location but it should be quite easy to find with a little searching. When you find it simply change the boot up priority on your computer so that the number 1 priority is to boot from CD or DVD ROM Drive.

3. Once you have setup your boot up priority and saved and exited your BIOS, its time to put your Windows CD into your CD/DVD rom drive and wait for it to do its thing and boot up. You may be presented with an option “If you wish to boot from the CD press any key” where you should press a key for the windows cd booting process begins.

4. Once the windows CD has booted up select from the Menu install Windows. From this point you can choose where about you want to install your operating system files. When starting from scratch the easiest thing to do is to delete all the partitions and start from the beginning. Once you have created the partition sizes you would like (e.g. a 80GB hard drive into two 40GB partitions.) you can select on which partition to install windows. Its always recommended to install windows onto a partition incase one of the partitions fails the other one can be used to retrieve backup data.

5. Now select the type of format FAT 32 or NTFS (NTFS recommended) and once you’ve pressed enter Windows will pretty much take over the rest. You will have to answer a few prompts along the way (admin name, passwords, network settings etc) but that’s about it. The installation of windows usually takes no longer than an 120 minutes , the time taken will depend on how much memory you have, hard drive space and cpu speed.