Apple Eliminates Windows XP, Vista Support from Boot Camp 4.0

Apple is no longer supporting the decade old Windows XP, nor the troublesome Windows Vista in the Boot Camp software that ships with OS X Lion, according to a knowledge-based article posted by the Mac maker this week.

To use Boot Camp 4.0 Mac, owners need the following, according to the technical note (emphasis ours):

· An Intel-based Mac.
· 2 gigabytes (GB) of RAM.
· Internet access.
· Mac OS X v10.6 Snow Leopard, or OS X Lion.
· A USB keyboard and mouse, or a built-in keyboard and trackpad.
· An authentic, single, full-installation, 32-bit or 64-bit Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium, Professional, or Ultimate disc.
· A built-in optical disc drive or a compatible external optical drive.
· 16 GB of available hard disk space for 32-bit or 20 GB of available hard disk space for 64-bit (see Does my computer support 64-bit?).
· Administrator account in Mac OS X to configure Boot Camp Assistant, located in /Applications/Utilities/.
· A blank CD or DVD, USB storage device, or external drive formatted as MS-DOS (FAT) to install the downloaded drivers.

Apple explains that if users are required to format an external drive as MS-DOS (FAT), they can employ Disk Utility in the Utilities folder.

Users of Boot Camp 3 who haven’t yet upgraded to Lion and would like to preserve their Windows XP / Vista installation can do so.

The Mac maker specifically outlines that “If your Mac has a Boot Camp partition with Windows XP or Windows Vista, you can continue to use your Boot Camp partition, but you can’t upgrade to Boot Camp 4.0.”

Those who may run into trouble are not going to get any support from Apple, as the company does not provide technical support via phone for installing, using, or recovering Microsoft Windows.

“Support is available for using Boot Camp Setup Assistant, as well as installing or restoring Boot Camp software while booted into Windows. Support articles and discussions may also be available on Apple's support website,” Apple concludes.