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Parallels or Fusion - Need Setup Information

lugesm

lugesm

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Sep 7, 2007
572
9
My apologies *up front* if this is a dumb question, but I am new to the Mac and even newer to the concept of installing Windows on an Apple machine.

I want to install Parallels or Fusion on my 1.66 GHz Core Duo (2GB memory) Mac Mini. I only have about 25GB of disk space available on the machine, and I don't want to use much of it.

I also have a 50GB external hard drive connected to the mini. Is it possible to install Parallels or Fusion and then Windows on this mini and use the external hard drive for the Windows partition?
 
SaSaSushi

SaSaSushi

macrumors 601
Aug 8, 2007
4,156
553
Takamatsu, Japan
lugesm said:
My apologies *up front* if this is a dumb question, but I am new to the Mac and even newer to the concept of installing Windows on an Apple machine.

I want to install Parallels or Fusion on my 1.66 GHz Core Duo (2GB memory) Mac Mini. I only have about 25GB of disk space available on the machine, and I don't want to use much of it.

I also have a 50GB external hard drive connected to the mini. Is it possible to install Parallels or Fusion and then Windows on this mini and use the external hard drive for the Windows partition?
Click to expand...

Fusion and Parallels create image files for the Windows installations. You can make these any size you like and you can store them on either your primary or external hard disk with no problems.

The Parallels or Fusion application itself would need to be installed on your primary hard disk though.
 
lugesm

lugesm

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Sep 7, 2007
572
9
SaSaSushi said:
Fusion and Parallels create image files for the Windows installations. You can make these any size you like and you can store them on either your primary or external hard disk with no problems.

The Parallels or Fusion application itself would need to be installed on your primary hard disk though.
Click to expand...

Thank you for your help. As I understand your comment, all software, including the Windows XP program itself, will be installed on the external hard drive. The one exception being the Parallels or Fusion program which must be installed on the primary Mac internal hard drive. As you know the Windows XP program occupies a great deal of disk space, so having it located on the external hard drive is a big help.

Thanks again,
L
 
SaSaSushi

SaSaSushi

macrumors 601
Aug 8, 2007
4,156
553
Takamatsu, Japan
lugesm said:
Thank you for your help. As I understand your comment, all software, including the Windows XP program itself, will be installed on the external hard drive. The one exception being the Parallels or Fusion program which must be installed on the primary Mac internal hard drive. As you know the Windows XP program occupies a great deal of disk space, so having it located on the external hard drive is a big help.

Thanks again,
L
Click to expand...

That is correct. I just checked my VMWare Fusion install and it appears to be checking in at about 133MB total. That is all the space you would need allocate on your primary HD. The Windows installation in its entirety resides in an image file which you can put anywhere.

For myself I need Boot Camp because I like to use my machine for occasional gaming so I just use Fusion to open the Boot Camp Windows from within OS X when I need to run any non-gaming apps. This way I don't need to install another image at all.

But if you don't have/need a Boot Camp install the above method is the best one for you.
 
lugesm

lugesm

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Sep 7, 2007
572
9
SaSaSushi said:
That is correct. I just checked my VMWare Fusion install and it appears to be checking in at about 133MB total. That is all the space you would need allocate on your primary HD. The Windows installation in its entirety resides in an image file which you can put anywhere.

For myself I need Boot Camp because I like to use my machine for occasional gaming so I just use Fusion to open the Boot Camp Windows from within OS X when I need to run any non-gaming apps. This way I don't need to install another image at all.

But if you don't have/need a Boot Camp install the above method is the best one for you.
Click to expand...

Very much appreciate your follow-up on this. Very helpful.
Regards,
L
 
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