Wiped out!

I started loading the window drivers today from the MacBook disk, and it says my Win XP needs to be at SP2. I downloaded that update and proceeded to install. I have 27 GB available, and during the the update installation, that installer said, oops, I need 4MB more space to continue, and then it bailed out. I thought, what the heck, how much room does SP2 need? I deleted some stuff and made about 100 more MB available. Started the SP2 update again, and the same stupid error message showed up. I was so mad, I rebooted into Mac OS, brought up Boot Camp Assistant, and wiped out the Windows partition.

Later I googled for this SP2 (and SP3) error message, and it turned out that I had to manually perform a Windows registry edit to get pass this problem. Mind you, most article says that registry editing must be done carefully. I've done quite a few registry edits,so this not hard thing to do for me, but Microsoft Windows is so stupid. Why doesn't the updater make sure that it really need that space, especially since it went through the motion of checking available disk space for several minutes. But, I am beginning to realize that the sooner I gave up on installing Windows, the better off I am. I'll just keep my Dell 710M as backup machine in case I need to use Windows.

For those that insists to try, here's how I get Windows to install and not get that dreaded message: "Disk Error, press any key to restart." which doesn't really work anyway (Step 3 below is the secret!).

1. Partition your disk using BootCamp Assistant
2. Install Windows XP using an installer disk that gives you the option to REFORMAT that partition.
3. Select that partition, and DO REFORMAT that selected partition (the one that BOOTCAMP created). It will rename the drive "untitled". If you select FAT32, Mac OS can later read/write to it. If you select NTFS, Mac can read from it, but not write to it.
4. Proceed to install and then it will reboot by itself. Unfortunately, you're not done.
5. Turn the Mac power to off (holding the button for several seconds). Turn it back on, while pressing the OPTION key. This will give you a selection on which OS to boot from.
6. Select Windows HD icon, not the Windows CD Installer, an hit Enter.
7. The partial Windows that's already installed will then boot up and ask for the Windows CD.
8. If it is already in the drive, it will resume Windows installation for yet another 20-30 minutes or so.
9. Then it will interactively ask a lot of questions before finally give you the "Tour" menu.
10. Now you got Windows in your Mac. But believe me, it is not worth it.
11. And now you still have to install the drivers so Windows can recognize the Mac components.

Have fun!