I recently bought an OEM version of Windows Xp Professional with Service Pack 3. As all of you know it is not possible to install the Bootcamp drivers with SP3. I need to know if there is a way around this or if I just need to give up. I've already tried to go into Add/Remove Programs to get rid of the service pack but that didn't work because it doesn't even show up, not even when the show updates checkbox is checked. I assume this is because the Service Pack is embedded in the OS on install. Is there any way to get around this? I really don't want to find out that I wasted my money buying that OEM. I'm a little mad I didn't look into bootcamp more closely and learned this beforehand. Any help would be great though.

I'm not promoting piracy here, but I suggest you hit up a popular torrent site and download an OEM disc image for XP PRIOR to having SP3, then simply use your genuine key that you purchased. It should work, and I don't consider that stealing at all(IMHO).

Ok thanks I'll try that out then, thanks for the help. Mac is so much better than PC anyways ha ha.

One more question though, after the drivers have been installed is it then safe to use SP3 or does it mess with the system? If so is SP3 worth it?

My Windows XP installer is SP2, and I have had no issues using Windows XP SP3 Update on it. My windows was an unbranded OEM, however was a 10 - Pack site license. (from the Microsoft Action Pack Subscription)


I don't know if that is an issue or not. I assume if it is a branded OEM, then the Windows XP may see that you are installing it on the wrong computer.

If it matters, I am on a MacBook 2,1

Check the post by a guy called "Fast RAID" here: http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=9789281

@mikecwest: Seemingly, the Leopard 10.5.7 install DVDs already include SP3-Support, but most people still just have a 10.5 DVD.

I have installed SP3 to several computers without a problem. Bootcamp drivers loaded just fine...

ok so I tried installing an earlier version of windows. Its xp pro with SP2 but I still couldn't get the exe file to open to install the bootcamp drivers. Any ideas as to what the problem could be?

Could you be more specific? Are you receiving some sort of error? Try to walk us through your experience.

Curious, since I had no problem at all installing sp3 and bootcamp cd loaded fine, was wondering if the older macs don't support sp3? Since I have the new iMac Silver intel core 2 duo 3.06GHz, I had not problem installing sp3 there, this mac only supports leopard and newer, maybe this is the reason Win xp sp3 is supported for the newer macs, but not sure.