Parallels and Fusions -general questions

[VaatiKaiba]

I was just wondering - two scenarios and I'm wondering if I can use either of the virtualisation applications to do the following:

1) I have Windows Vista installed on my Mac via Boot Camp, and I was wondering if there was any way of using either title to access it instead of having to boot in Windows?

2) My parents are considering getting an iMac, but they'd like to keep a lot of Windows stuff available to them. Is there any way of them being able to use either title to access their current Windows hard drive (I can connect them fine, just will the software work with an already-installed OS)?

I think the answers to these questions may be related, but if anyone could help it would be great.

Thanks, and have a happy new year!

[MacDawg]

Yes, if you have XP or Vista installed using BootCamp then Parallels or VMWare Fusion will run Windows from that partition

This will give you a virtual machine instead of having to reboot your computer

Woof, Woof - Dawg http://homepage.mac.com/k.j.vinson/pawprint.gif

[jbussiere]

ok, so if you have windows vista installed already via bootcamp, and you install parallels, does it automatically detect the vista partition? I have read mixed results....

[SnowLeopard2008]

ok, so if you have windows vista installed already via bootcamp, and you install parallels, does it automatically detect the vista partition? I have read mixed results....

You have to point it to the Boot Camp partition, it [fusion or parallels] doesn't automatically assume that you want to run off the Boot Camp partition.