I have a Mac Mini Core Duo running OS X 10.4.6, on which I've installed the release version of Parallels Desktop. I also have a Windows 2000 Pro installation CD, and 4 floppies needed on my old PC for installing Windows 2000. I understand that earlier versions of the Windows software came in this CD+floppy fashion, as the floppies contained a rudimentary system and the CD drivers. So this is not an uncommon configuration for a Windows user, right? So where is the procedural documentation for adding Windows 2000 to my Mac Mini? Parallels won't boot from the CD, and I've been having trouble deciphering the well-meaning but sketchy hints offered in these forums. OK, I went to bootdisk.com and got the 4 floppy .img files and the two make*.exe files. I got one of the two screen shots showing Parallels configurations. Now what? It would be immensely helpful if someone (why not Parallels, since they're charging for this product) put the step-by-step procedure down, complete with some screen shots. As in, where do I put those downloaded .img files? Does Parallels Desktop use them as is, or must they be converted somehow to something else (if so, how)? What's this about filenames ending in .fdd for virtual floppy disk drives? Required or optional? Do I just rename the *.img files to *.fdd? OK, so someone explains what files, in what format, with what extension, to put where, in order to get ready to install from my W2K CD. Then what? How do I boot from one of those floppies, and how do I indicate to the newly booted OS how to move from one FDD to the next, until it's time to move to the CD? I really can't understand how there could be so much documentation available about Parallels, and so little about actually installing an OS under it!
Floppies..... no, that isn't typical. Not today. The system CD you need for Windows needs to be a self-booting, self-contained OS CD. You press the Power-On arrow on Parallels, insert your 2000 CD, and if it is a self-booting CD, it will launch. I don't think what you are trying to do will ever work, but I'm probably wrong. Even my Windows 98 self-install CD launched perfectly. No floppies here. Basically, it was just a turn-key install for me.
I had no trouble installing Win2k. There is a directory on the install CD with a program (batch file) for making boot floppies. that directory also contains four floppy images. Just insert the Win2k disk and use the finder to copy those four files to a folder in OSX (I used the folder where I created the VM) and change the extensions to .fdd. Configure the VM with a floppy, using the first image. Set the VM to boot from the floppy. Start the VM, and let it load the first floppy image. When it asks for the next floppy, use the toolbar or menu in parallels to assign the next floppy image to the floppy drive, and hit enter in the VM. Repeat until all four floppy images have been read. Win2k will then start reading the CD (which you cleverly left in the drive). That's how I did it.
