Mac OSX 10.6.6 Boot Camp Removes XP and Vista Support

If you’re running a Boot Camp with Mac OSX 10.6.6 and Windows XP or Vista, you’d better pray you don’t need to re-intall it, because you won’t be able to.

Say Goodbye to XP

According to TUAW, the new version of Boot Camp in the 10.6.6 update removes the ability to dual-boot Windows XP or Vista, instead asking for an “authentic installation disc of Windows 7 Home Premium, Professional or Ultimate”. That’s right, no mention of XP or Vista, meaning Apple has one-upped Microsoft in dropping support for the decade-old Operating System sooner.

The new version also recommends a connect to the internet to install the drivers for your devices, instead of just using the ones on the installation disc. Pretty smart move, I’d say, because it ensures that people have the latest drivers at the time installed, which might save some time on troubleshooting.

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Let it be known that this doesn’t affect already running dual-boots in any way at all, just that any further installs won’t be possible from this point onwards.