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Moving Windows 7 from Fusion to Boot Camp without losing files and software?

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tirexstorm

macrumors regular
Original poster
Oct 22, 2007
157
21
Last night I installed VMWare Fusion and Windows 7 on my Unibody MBP running SL. When I use Fusion, my computer slows to a crawl. I spent a few hours getting Windows set up and installing software last night.

I would like to try using Boot Camp instead, but do not want to lose all of the software and files that I have installed. Is it possible to set up Boot Camp, and keep the same Windows setup?
 
Darth.Titan

Darth.Titan

macrumors 68030
Oct 31, 2007
2,905
753
Austin, TX
That would pretty much be like trying to run one windows install on two different computers. i.e. it won't work well (if at all)

As far as Windows is concerned, your VMWare virtual machine is a completely different computer with different hardware (and drivers) from your MacBook Pro. Cloning the VMWare install to a Boot Camp partition will at best give you a "cluttered" OS.

If I were you I'd bite the bullet and do a clean install of Win7 on your Boot Camp partition. Also be prepared for the hassle of the manual activation by telephone. Windows will balk at activating the license on a "second" computer.

P.S. Have you tried troubleshooting to see why your VM isn't performing well? Win7 runs fine in a virtual machine on my unibody with Snow Leopard. Do you have enough RAM assigned to the VM? Maybe you have TOO much RAM assigned to the VM. Just thinking out loud here...
 
T

tirexstorm

macrumors regular
Original poster
Oct 22, 2007
157
21
I have 4gb of ram and assign 2 to each system. It only slows down when I use Windows to play poker online (that is all that I use it for.) I play on a dozen poker tables at once and have other software running in the background.

I do not mind doing a clean install of Windows 7. But is there an easy way to move all of my files, data, and programs over to the bootcamp partition?
 
CylonGlitch

CylonGlitch

macrumors 68030
Jul 7, 2009
2,956
268
Nashville
Easy transfer won't work because he doesn't have an actual partition. He has a virtual drive setup within Fusion. Since Fusion won't be running in Bootcamp, there will be no way to read the information from that virtual drive.

Windows has never been very good with allowing you to move / backup or copy apps from one machine / partition / system to another. For the most part, you have to reinstall all of the apps and then copy your data over. It's a pain in the butt but that is one of the big complaints of Windows stuff.

Sadly it doesn't have to be this way, you CAN code it up easily so you can just copy the application directories from one machine to another; I mean Blizzard did it with WoW, but it is just easier for the developer to NOT do this. Thus few actually do it.
 
balamw

balamw

Moderator emeritus
Aug 16, 2005
19,366
979
New England
CylonGlitch said:
Easy transfer won't work because he doesn't have an actual partition. He has a virtual drive setup within Fusion. Since Fusion won't be running in Bootcamp, there will be no way to read the information from that virtual drive.
Click to expand...
I was under the impression that Easy Transfer could work with an external HDD as well.... like in the cases where you are doing a custom install from XP to 7, but I have no direct experience with it.

B
 
CylonGlitch

CylonGlitch

macrumors 68030
Jul 7, 2009
2,956
268
Nashville
balamw said:
I was under the impression that Easy Transfer could work with an external HDD as well.... like in the cases where you are doing a custom install from XP to 7, but I have no direct experience with it.

B
Click to expand...

Yes, it does, but in Fusion you are running OSX and then running fusion under that. If you don't have a partition made, it allows you to create a virtual drive on your OS-X partition and stores all of the data there. But when you reboot into Bootcamp you don't have access to this "virtual drive" because it is not a real drive and you're no longer running Fusion.

You could copy the file (the image from the Mac) to the windows partition (as long as it isn't FAT32) and then use Fusion for Windows and access there data there. You MIGHT be able to share the whole hard drive and then use Easy Transfer from there. But that isn't the easiest thing to do and will take some time. But it actually, might work.

For my work we used Fusion files all the time to install different versions of tools in. The free windows Fusion doesn't allow you to create images; but the Mac version of Fusion does (you need the $299 version of Fusion for Windows to do this) and the files are cross compatible.
 
balamw

balamw

Moderator emeritus
Aug 16, 2005
19,366
979
New England
CylonGlitch said:
Yes, it does, but in Fusion you are running OSX and then running fusion under that. If you don't have a partition made, it allows you to create a virtual drive on your OS-X partition and stores all of the data there. But when you reboot into Bootcamp you don't have access to this "virtual drive" because it is not a real drive and you're no longer running Fusion.

You could copy the file (the image from the Mac) to the windows partition (as long as it isn't FAT32) and then use Fusion for Windows and access there data there. You MIGHT be able to share the whole hard drive and then use Easy Transfer from there. But that isn't the easiest thing to do and will take some time. But it actually, might work.

For my work we used Fusion files all the time to install different versions of tools in. The free windows Fusion doesn't allow you to create images; but the Mac version of Fusion does (you need the $299 version of Fusion for Windows to do this) and the files are cross compatible.
Click to expand...
Thanks. I know how Fusion works, as well as both the free and non-free offerings from VMWare. (FWIW only the Mac version is called Fusion).

My question was is it possible to run the version of Win 7 currently installed in VMWare. Run Easy transfer to neatly package the files and data onto an external hard drive. Install new Windows 7 in Boot Camp and then import the Easy Transfer package.

Looks like it should work based on the guide here: http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/3179/migrate-xp-to-windows-7-with-easy-transfer-and-a-usb-drive/

On the Fusion version, select "This is my old computer" and dump to an external drive. On the Boot Camp version select "This is my new computer" and restore from the external hard drive.

No? What am I missing?

B
 
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