Mac Forum / Applications / Virtual PC / April 2006

On a iBook G4 with only 40GB HD space, the default 15GB Dynamic Disk file is
just taking up too dang much space. I've only got 3.5GB of data, and I have
defragged, precompacted, and reclaimed space several times to get the drive
down to about 5GB. As I use Windows and it starts throwing around files,
though, the Dynamic Disk inevitably end up back at the 15GB limit with almost
no space left for my "real" stuff back in Mac-land.

So today I decided "I'll just reinstall with a 4GB Fixed Size drive." Wow.
What a headache. Little did I know that not only does the default install
ONLY allow you to create a Dynamic Disk drive (which can be converted to a
Fixed Disk ONLY at the full 15GB size), but there is not a real, bootable XP
Pro disc in the package to do it myself.

Steve J., if you're reading this, I appreciate all the help you've offered
on your site. I created and booted up a new Virtual Machine w/ 4GB fixed size
drive using the series of XP Boot Disk VFDs, and am now at the point of
needing the ISO you describe making on your site.

I've created an .ISO from my "Additional Windows System Files" disc (made a
.CDR with Disk Utility, renamed to .ISO and its sitting on my desktop) but
the contents are read-only and I can't figure out how to "add" the 3 files
you say to add. I then captured it to a writable .DMG which, of course, is in
HFS and not readable by VPC once I add the files and convert it to an .ISO.

Basically, I can't seem to follow step 2 of your instructions where you say
to copy the 3 files to the root of the .ISO, since as far as I know an .ISO
is inherently read-only, and copying the contents out into a writable DMG or
plain folder breaks the structure of the disc.

I can't believe MS would make it so hard to use my LICENSED OS they just
bundled in this fashion. Actually, I guess I'm surprised they included the
3rd disc at all.

iBook G4 1.33, 1024 RAM, VPC 7.0.2, OSX 10.4.6