Parallels and Vista?

[Maynerd]

Is anyone running Parallels and the final release of Vista?

Are there any issues?

I'm considering doing this. Is it difficult to install and use vista with Parallels? How does the install work, my HD is not formatted FAT so how does vista recognize the drive?

[robbieduncan]

To answer the question regarding your drive: Parallels uses a file on your drive that it makes appear to be a drive to Windows. This virtual partition can be formatted however you want by the Windows installer. Vista is unlikely to like FAT drives much. It probably requires NTFS.

[balamw]

Note that the EULA for Vista Home (Basic or Premium) does not allow for use in a virtual environment, so if you're planning to run Vista under Parallels get Business or Ultimate.

B

[Maynerd]

To answer the question regarding your drive: Parallels uses a file on your drive that it makes appear to be a drive to Windows. This virtual partition can be formatted however you want by the Windows installer. Vista is unlikely to like FAT drives much. It probably requires NTFS.

Hmm...so you are saying that parallels creates a virtual drive of sorts that vista thinks it is on a NTFS partition but really is on a Mac formatted HD? Or do I have to create a partition on my drive specifically for the install? What happens when I want to install an application that is only useable in vista? How does this thing work? :) Sorry I'm a newb

[Maynerd]

Note that the EULA for Vista Home (Basic or Premium) does not allow for use in a virtual environment, so if you're planning to run Vista under Parallels get Business or Ultimate.

B

Interesting I did not know that. I was planning on getting ultimate anyways. Thanks for the heads up!

[peterjhill]

The current version of parallels does not emulate ACPI which Vista requires for installation. Look for an updated version of parallels, but not in near future. It could be months away from what I found.

As for NTFS versus FAT, parallels creates a virtual hard drive. It is possible to convert FAT to NTFS. If it was a requirement, vista installation would do it for you.

[miker51]

The current version of parallels does not emulate ACPI which Vista requires for installation. Look for an updated version of parallels, but not in near future. It could be months away from what I found.

As for NTFS versus FAT, parallels creates a virtual hard drive. It is possible to convert FAT to NTFS. If it was a requirement, vista installation would do it for you.

Vista will install under Parallels just fine, so long as you do a clean install. You can't do an upgrade from XP to Vista under Parallels without some trickery.

[peterjhill]

Vista will install under Parallels just fine, so long as you do a clean install. You can't do an upgrade from XP to Vista under Parallels without some trickery.

I will have to try that.

Will report back soon
Peter

[Maynerd]

I will have to try that.

Will report back soon
Peter

Please do! :)

[peterjhill]

It turns out that the version I can get from work is the upgrade only verson.. I am out of luck I guess. I dont feel like actually paying for vista

[Maynerd]

It turns out that the version I can get from work is the upgrade only verson.. I am out of luck I guess. I dont feel like actually paying for vista

Darn! :)

[laidbackliam]

yeah, i've got vista (final) premium running on my mac right now.

here's a shot of it in coherence mode

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a51/laidbackliam/Picture3.jpg

[Maynerd]

yeah, i've got vista (final) premium running on my mac right now.

here's a shot of it in coherence mode

http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a51/laidbackliam/Picture3.jpg

What is coherence mode? What version of parallels are you running?

[g808]

Coherence allows you to run VM apps along side Mac apps. The latest beta supports this feature:
http://www.parallels.com/products/desktop/beta_testing/
http://lifehacker.com/software/parallels/hack-attack-how-to-run-windows-and-mac-apps-sidebyside-with-parallels-221002.php

[peterjhill]

Coherence mod rocks...

Basically it hides the windows desktop. You have a start bar at the bottom of your screen. Windows apps appear next to mac windows.. It feels like you are running windows applications without running windows.