Turn an Intel Mac Mini into a Windows Media Center - Offically
by Matt Burns 
posted Apr 5th 2006 at 11:36AM
In case you have been under a rock for most of
the morning and missed the biggest news of the year, you can now install Windows XP on an Intel Mac with a little
program directly from Steve Jobs. (maybe not directly...) Boot Camp allows a user to install Windows XP on any of the new Intel
Macs, making this a nice, if not temporary, option for those looking for a media center program for their Mini. We
would still like to see an OS X media center but the Windows one is nice too. Here comes the classic question of "How does this make you feel?"
Side note: Windows will not support some of Apples own products, including the new Apple Remote...lets see how long that lasts.
UPDATE: Shahn - I didn't even see that. I read over everything 3-4 times but my excitment just over took me. It turns out Media Center is not supported yet...
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Shahn Hogan @ Apr 5th 2006 11:43AM
I thought the notes stated Media Center is not supported currently.
Shahn Hogan @ Apr 5th 2006 12:00PM
Yeah, I thought that might make a great Media Center system with an external USB TV Tuner too. I'm sure someone will get it to work!
hmurchison @ Apr 5th 2006 12:26PM
Very nice. It's going to be a standard component of OS x 10.5 also. I may give it a whirl.
zelig2 @ Apr 5th 2006 1:56PM
I'm quite excited for Apple on this. I think it's a great move. If more people start buying macs since they can run their old Win programs along with having OSX it's only a matter of time before they stop using windows all together.
I can't wait to try it out when they release a 64bit Intel PowerMac. Until then I'll have to just sit back and watch everyone else play with it.
Brian @ Apr 5th 2006 2:32PM
Windows Media Center is nothing more than WindowsXP with the extra Media Center software. The ONLY difference is that Windows Media Center cannot join a Domain like XP Professional can. I would be VERY surprised if you could not install MCE on a Mac Mini. During the install process, MCE is identical to XP...
I'm sure someone will try it and let us know for sure within a few days.
Mike @ Apr 5th 2006 9:28PM
I finish paying for my current Mac in July '07. Lets hope I can hold out 'til then - this is just one more thing pushing me towards an MBP.
I'd hazard a guess that the reason multi-disk XP installs aren't supported is that there's no way to eject the disk until the driver for the eject key has been installed (at least for the iMac and Mini, I'm not sure if there's a manual eject on the MBP (would an MBP owner care to enlighten us on that one?)). You can probably get around this by using an external drive.
Shahn Hogan @ Apr 5th 2006 11:55PM
Looks like Steve Makofsky from Microsoft has Media Center installed on a MacBook Pro already.
http://www.furrygoat.com/2006/04/apples_boot_cam.html
Brian Hoyt @ Apr 6th 2006 9:44AM
MCE is not supported for a trivial reason. It comes on 2 CD's and during the XP install process there is no way with a Mac to eject the disc. You can make a disc that has both MCE discs on one and it can install fine. Just won't work out of the box.
NNTPgrip @ Apr 6th 2006 10:00AM
Isn't there a place to shove a paperclip somewhere to force eject a disc? Theres your way to get a 2-CD install to work. Also, making a custom install disc on bootable DVD instead will fix the issue, or network install via RIS using PXE boot(if supported).
They need Virtualization software built into 10.5 as well that supported booting that same Windows partition. That way, if you needed access while in OSX you could have it, but if you needed all the performance (say in a game) you would restart the box. I haven't run a multi-boot scenario on my PC since I found VMware and VirtualPC.
CorpSpy @ Apr 6th 2006 12:41PM
#9: Virtualization is already here. Parallels has released its Beta today.
Chris Adams @ Apr 6th 2006 3:12PM
MCE on a Mac Mini is possible ... check out http://www.furrygoat.com/ for more details.
"I used a single Media Center 2005 DVD to install from, rather than 2 CD's. Basically, I copied the bits from both CD's to a folder and used Nero to make a bootable DVD."
portorikan @ Apr 7th 2006 4:52PM
I'd love to be able to use Media Center through my xbox 360 with this. I unfortunately don't have an intel mini or mac.