Bootcamp, WindowsXP and the WPA

[jhgravelle]

I'm having problems getting my bootcamp partition up in fusion. When i run the bootcamp partition, windows pops up with the windows product activation (because significant hardware changes), however I can't click yes or press return to let it go ahead and activate it. I can't install the tools because WindowsXP is not up and running. What do I do?

[borisdusek]

Well, the very first click you do into the window does not work. You must let Fusion grab the keyboard and mouse to do input in the virtual machine. You let Fusion grab the input by clicking anywhere into the window area where you see Windows is running. To "ungrab" keyboard and mouse when you are finished, press "Ctrl + Apple". Sorry if I misunderstood your problem (I am not quite sure I understood it correctly).

[rcardona2k]

Is this the first time you started up Windows in Fusion? XP usually gives you a few days to activate it but if you return to native Boot Camp for longer than the grace period you can be forced to activate immediately upon booting into Fusion.

Even without the VMware Tools, you should have access to a working keyboard or mouse. Try quitting all other applications, since one of them might be using the secureinput api locking you out of the VM. Another useful tip is to make XP login automatically to the desktop, the easiest way to do that is to use "start > run > control userpasswords2". You can undo this after you install the VMware Tools and activate Windows if you don't want autologin.

If you are forced to activate before getting to the desktop, unfortunately you will have to reactivate again after you install the VMware Tools so that activation "sticks" when you switch between Fusion and native Boot Camp.