Install Windows 8.1 on Mac OSX

In continuation of my earlier blog, here is a detailed guide and walk through on how to install Windows 8.1 on Mac OS X using Boot Camp Assistant. This guide will help you dual boot your Mac with Windows 8.1 using Boot Camp.

Requirements:

1. Mac OS X
2. Boot Camp 5.0.5033 (http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1638)
3. Windows 8.1 ISO file
4. USB flash drive with 8GB capacity or more

Step-by-Step Guide on How to Install Windows 8.1 on Mac using Boot Camp Assistant:

1. Open Boot Camp Assistant located in Applications/Utilities Folder
2. Click Continue button in Boot Camp Assistant
3. In the next windows, select the appropriate task and click ‘Continue’
4. Connect the USB flash drive to your Mac.
5. Select ONLY the following in the next window and continue:
   1. “Create a windows 7 install disk, if you have a windows 7 ISO file” (We are still installing windows 8.1)
6. Once the bootable USB flash is ready, copy the following to Boot Camp 5.0.5033
   1. $WinPEDriver$
   2. BootCamp
7. Again re-start Boot Camp Assistance and select ONLY the following:
   1. “Install windows 7”
8. Follow the instructions on your screen and continue with partition and windows 8.1 installation.Note that your Mac may restart several times during the installation.
9. Once Windows 8.1 is loaded, run 'Setup.exe' located under the 'BootCamp' folder on the bootable USB flash drive.
10. Restart your system to make the configuration changes made by Boot Camp Services to take effect.

Congratulations! Windows 8.1 is now completely installed in your Mac machine. Hope you enjoy this guide on how to install Windows 8.1 on Mac using Boot Camp.

Install Windows 7 on Mac using Boot Camp

Here is a detailed guide and walkthrough on how to install Windows 7 on Mac using Boot Camp Assistant. This guide will help you dual boot your Mac with Windows 7 using Boot Camp. Boot Camp Assistant prepares you Mac machine for Windows. It creates a partition for Windows and starts the Windows installer. Having a Windows system in a Mac, offers you the advantage of using the two operating systems. There are some cases that the application you want to use can only be run in Windows. In this case, learning how to install Windows 7 on Mac using Boot Camp will help you solve that problem.

In my case, I like both OS and wanted to bet the best of both worlds. With this I decided that dual-booting Mac with Windows 7 would help me more. Below are the steps on how to install Window 7 on Mac using Boot Camp.

Requirements:

            ⁃            Mac OS X v10.7

            ⁃            Boot Camp 4

            ⁃            Windows 7 ISO file or Windows 7 bootable USB flash drive with 8GB capacity or more

Step-by-Step Guide on How to Install Windows 7 on Mac using Boot Camp Assistant:

-       Open Boot Camp Assistant located in Applications/Utilities Folder

-       Click Continue button in Boot Camp Assistant

-       In the next windows, select the appropriate task and click ‘Continue’

Only Select ”create a windows 7 install disk, if you have a windows 7 ISO file, Else you need one Windows 7 bootable USB pen drive with 8GB capacity or more. You can crate the bootable Windows 7 pen drive using the tool (http://images2.store.microsoft.com/prod/clustera/framework/w7udt/1.0/en-us/Windows7-USB-DVD-tool.exe) from Microsoft.

           

Only Select 'download the latest windows support software from Apple' if you have a good Internet connection and have patience. (Most of the time the download fails. As it's about 700MB. Alternatively you can always download the Windows support software from http://swscan.apple.com/content/catalogs/others/index-lion.merged-1.sucatalog directly. But to identify the actual download file link, open the above link and find for 'BootCampESD.pkg'. You will get two or more of this files in your search result. Now for each of the instance, go for the distribution list details, which will be a few lines above the file name. eg. 'http://swcdn.apple.com/content/downloads/42/63/041-4778/K6D5nFM78BPscB3sWqjhRSJrt8FnBtmTyz/041-4778.English.dist'. Open that link and check for 'var models'. You need to locate your Mac version in this. e.g. 'MacBookAir4,1','MacBookAir4,2','Macmini5,1','Macmini5,2','Macmini5,3'. If it's listed, then use that particular BootCampESD.pkg file for your Mac).

-       Let Boot Camp Assistant save the Windows Support Software (“BootCampESD.pkg) and copy the files.

-       Create a partition for Windows, then click Partition button. (Partition size depends on how often you will use Windows. I recommend 100GB or higher in creating a partition for Windows as you do not want having not enough disk space popping up, I had set it to 100GB)

-       Wait for Boot Camp Assistant to finish partitioning the disk

-       From the System Settings, choose the newly created BOOTCAMP partition as a startup disk, and manually restart your Mac

-       Restart your Mac and hold down the Option button at boot and select the BOOTCAMP partition

-       Insert your Windows USB Bootable USB drive, then restart your Mac, and press “C“. (You’ll be seeing a completely gray screen, just wait until your USB drive loads)

-       Proceed in installing Windows 7.

-       From the Windows 7 installation screen, accept the license agreement

-       Select Custom (advanced) installation

-       Choose the BOOTCAMP partition

-       Click on Drive options (advanced), then select Format, click OK

-       Proceed with the installation by clicking the Next button

-       Windows 7 will continue to install, just wait until the Windows installer finish the necessary steps. Note that your Mac computer may restart several times during the installation.

-       After Windows 7 installation is complete, you will have to enter some information like User Name and Computer Name, proceed in doing so.

Windows 7 is now running in your Mac. But before the celebration, do the steps above to fully complete the installation.

-       Insert your USB drive that contains the Windows Support Software files

-       Install the Windows Support by running the setup.exe found in the WindowsSupport folder. Doing the step above will run the Boot Camp installer.

-       Proceed with the install, by clicking Next

-       Accept the Boot Camp license agreement, and hit Next

-       Select the Apple Software Update for Windows feature, and click Install (This will install the Apple Software Update, which contains the necessary files and drivers for your newly installed Windows in your Mac)

-       Once Boot Camp installer is completed, click Finish to quit the installer.

-       Restart your system to make the configuration changes made by Boot Camp Services to take effect.

Congratulations! Windows 7 is now completely installed in your Mac machine. You have successfully dual boot Mac and Windows. You may now get to use Windows 7 together with your Mac OS X. Boot Camp Assistant provides us with great help in partitioning the Macintosh HD, adding a Windows partition in the Mac machine. It prepared our Mac for the Windows 7 installation. Hope you enjoy this guide on how to install Windows 7 on Mac using Boot Camp.

It's Worth A Try. You Never Know

Eventhough I wished, I was not able to spend time with the books I got from my Libary(http://justbooksclc.com). Most of the time, I get home late, play with my daughter and then  dive onto bed. And I did not find it easly to read them in my Office cab(I spend about 2-3 hrs every day). And during weekends I always find better ways to spend my time. keeping reading miles aways. But I always knew I was missing something and I always wondered if there was a ways I could read something I like to in a way that I would enjoy in my current lifestyle.

My research provided me with two options. First was the E-Books (.PDF's) and the second was Audio books(MP3's on iPOd). Both of them exicted me. But, I was still wondering if I can really enjoy them as I would enjoy reading a Print book. First I started with an E-Book and I found this option really intresting. Because in a day, most of the time I used to spend in front of a computer and it was easly for me to read it when ever I got some timeout. Having read about two E-Books, I was now planning to try the Audio-books option. And to do this I picked up 'The Broker' by John Grisham.

When I started, I used to listen to the Audio book when I was communiting in my office cab. But, after sometime, when the story turned intresting, I could not resist myslelf and also started spending time with the E-book version. This also ensured that every leisure time I had was spend on something I liked.  And after this, the next book I tried was 'The Firm' again by  John Grisham. Even this book was read(E-book) and listened(Audio-book) to.

And today I do believe that this is one of the best options I have if I wish to read the books I like and would suit my current lifestyle. In other words, I would like to say It's worth a try. You never know what would work best for you.

A Walk - Not Often Taken

It was a sunday and bro wanted us to make a visit to Chickpet(the wholesale maket for sarees, textiles and dress materials). I think the last time I had visited this place was few years back for my wedding shopping( mostly people in b'lore visit this place only for their wedding shopping).

As none of us had any other plans for the day, we all (the entire family) decided to  make a visit to Chickpet. As after our b'fast we drove down to Avenue road hoping to find some place to park our car. But, as expected it was a No-Parking zone. Our next try was BVK Iyengar road. But, again we went out of luck. Left with no other options we got onto a narrow lane hoping to park our car somewhere. But, just after wet got into the narrow lane we got a feeling that it was a real bad idea. Coz, there were a bunch of vehicles following us and there were cattle walking down those narrow lanes. Now more than parking, it was more important for us to somehow get out of those lanes. Finally we got to hit back on Avenue road. It was a big relief to escape from those narrow lanes. But, we were sill hunting for some parking space. Finally we took a long drive toward the jail road and finally found some space to park our car.

It was a good 2km walk for us to finally reach Chickpet. But with the kids and family members walking together, we did not actually realize the distance. And then it was the place which never seems to have changed even a bit since the last time I had visited. There was the usual chaos and packed streets. Packed with humans,cattle and sales men. It was tough to walk straight on those streets. You need to be really careful with your belongings on these steeets. But, once you are in this crowd, u become a part of it and slowly u get used to it. Even though we did not do any major shopping, but we did get lucky to get some good deals which made this visit make some sense. It was a walk not taken often, but I still believe it was a visit which can stay in my momories for sometime.

An appointment with nature

I had to cancel my 2 days planned leave to Guruvayur(GVR, kerala) to celebrate my wedding anniversary as Richard ( my project Architect) had planned to come over to Bangalore for a short visit. And as I was pretty sure to have some hectic weeks at work, I though of making a short visit to GVR.I started friday evening and reached GVR saturday early morning. As I was to start back to bangalore the next day; I wanted to make the most of my visit. The purpose of my visit was to spend some time with Esha and Divya (as they had gone to GVR for vaccation after our exams).Though saturday went off fine with me spending most of the time with Esha and then calling off the day with Bacardi.

I started my sunday with visiting GVR temple and then spending most of my time with Esha. Around evening, my family along with my brother in-law & family and two of Divya's cousins were scheduled to visit one of Divya's uncle who lived in Manaloor (About 1/2 hr drive from GVR).Divya's uncle had organized us a Vaanchi (small boat) ride for us. This ride lasted for about and hour and half. But, this was one of the best boat rides I ever had after the house board ride in Vaayanaad Kaayal (near Alleppey, kerala).

The weather was nice and it was absolute fun going around the lake with family members. The best of all, none of us knew swimming and we could hardly stand on the boat as it was only couple of feet long and wide. If we stood, the boat would go out of balance. But, I think in about cople of minutes all of us got confortable with the boat and just enjoyed the ride. Looking at the pictures i have posted you can figure out the beauty of nature that we witnessed.

It was a day I wish I could see more often. Though this was a short visit, it was enough for me to feel good. It was a day..........i'll remember as my appointment with nature. As I still belive......nature had shown me what it had to offer.......some momements I would always cherish.

In pursuit of something more

(At a restaurant after last exam)

This pursuit began in the year 2007 when Divya wanted us to take up some higher education. Down under she wanted us to do MBA. She kept forcing me to explore various options and to take this up more seriously. Like always I wasn’t much inclined to this idea and I kept dragging this for a long time. But then Divya was right behind chasing me every moment.


Around July I finally made my decision and I closed down with Bharathiar University. Both of us joined together and we had consecutive enrollment numbers. Our classes started around August. The PCP(Personal Contact Program) center was located at Queens road, which was around 45 minutes drive from home during weekends (weekdays was unthinkable). Around the same time we also got the good news that Divya was pregnant with Esha. We were all excited, and did not realize this would be challenge while pursuing our higher education.

There were times when I even thought about having Divya take a break until Esha was a little older. But then I had the encouragement and support from various family members which kept us moving. During the first two semesters( we had to take them together as our batch started late), we had to go for classes every weekend which was a real pain. We were fortunate enough to have some good batch mates though. Most of them were from Tamil Nadu and were very friendly and supportive. We also created a yahoo group id just to communicate within our group.

Though we used to attend weekend classes during our first and second semester, for the third and fourth semester we hardly attended any classes. Frankly, I still believe both of us were really lucky to have got through in the first attempt for our last three semesters. I am really thankful to many for that miracle. But, one of the most interesting was our Project Viva trip to Coimbatore (University Campus). This was the first time I ever visited the University Campus. To attend Viva, we both along with Esha had traveled down to Coimbatore where my in-laws had come over from Kerala. After Viva we all went to Kerala.

The one things that always surprised me we was, the turn of events around the semester examinations. We both had many challenges to face during our exams. But finally.......Here comes the day when we both wrote our last exam of fourth semester. Another wait.......for results would continue from here. But, it was really fun to have done this with Divya. I still remember the days when she used to try her best to stay awake during late nights when I was all charged up to study. Then were days when I was dead tired and wanted to jump over to bed, when Divya was all charged to study. But, I still believe It was Divya's support and effort that helped me get to this date........And i'm happy to have written this last exam sitting next her her like how it was for all other exams........... I hope we both get good results.

A journey to Cloud9

(Me outside the
Labor room)

It had all began with me reaching Trichur in Train around 3:15am after a hectic day of work @ Bangalore. Aachan (Father-in-law) was just in time to pick me up from the Railway Station and took me to 'Mother Hospital', where Divya was waiting for the D-Day. Divya was accompanied by Amma (Mother-in-law) at the hospital while Aachan was bringing me down to the room where they were taking rest. After I reached, around 4:30am Diya was taken to Labour room for checkup and was given some medication for pain inducement. Then around 8:30am Divya had got on to Labour room. 

(Outside Labor room)

Then started our long wait. There were tense, anxious and quite moments. Myself, Amma and Aachan were waiting outside the labour room with some other people who were also there for the same reason. There was some anxious moments when the nurse came down to us and provided us with various updates on Divya. It all concluded around 6:30pm when a Nurse came down and informed Amma that Diya has delivered a Baby Girl. All of us were thrilled and on top of the world. 

After some time baby was given to Amma and I had my first look at my Esha. She was looking like an sweet Angel. Then, close to 10:30pm is when Diya was brought out of the Labour room. This day showed me many colors, from Quite anxious tense moments to being on Cloud9. The day ended with me going to Home with Aachan and having a deep relaxing sleep.

(Room which was allocated to Divya)

(The Labor room Exit)