MostlyGeek

I recently upgraded to a MacBookPro and I prefer to use virtual machines through VMWare Fusion rather than boot into Windows. In order to get Bluetooth and other MBP bits working in XP inside the VM I need to install the Apple hardware drivers bundled with Bootcamp.

I didn’t want to go through the Bootcamp installation process just to get the drivers. So here’s how to extract the drivers out of Bootcamp.

1. Download the latest version of Bootcamp. It is available as a public beta as of this writing. You can get it here: http://www.apple.com/macosx/bootcamp/publicbeta.html
2. After it is downloaded, mount the .dmg file
3. Inside the .dmg is a .mpkg file: Install Bot Camp Assistant.mpkg
   1. Hidden deep within this .mpkg is the drivers that we need
4. CTL+click Install Bot Camp Assistant.mpkg, and choose Show Package Contents
5. Navigate to: Contents:Resources:BootCampAssistant.pkg
6. CTL+click BootCampAssistant.pkg, Show Package Contents
7. Navigate to: Contents:Archive.pax.gz
8. Copy Archive.pax.gz to a folder on your Desktop
9. Double click on Archive.pax.gz, this will extract an Applications folder
10. Navigate to: Applications:Utilities:Boot Camp Assistant
11. Show Package Contents of Boot Camp Assistant
12. Navigate to: Content:Resources:DiskImage.dmg
13. DiskImage.dmg contains all the Windows drivers

Ok, now with all the drivers you have several options:

1. Burn the .dmg to a CD
2. Mount the image and copy the files to your virtual machine

I prefer the second method. I just created a new folder on my WinXP desktop and drag the files over to there. VMWare Fusion allows for drag and drop copying of files in and out of the VM.

Update:

I should probably note I went through this arduous process to try out a Bluetooth headset in my WinXP VM. Having the Bootcamp stuff made my VM run a little funny so I removed it. The instructions are still good for getting the data out without having to install Bootcamp.

[tags]bootcamp, vmware fusion, drivers[/tags]