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Can I run bootcamp and Parallels 4.0 from the same image file thing?

MythicFrost

MythicFrost

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Mar 11, 2009
3,944
40
Australia
Hey, I'm running Parallels 4.0, and have XP Pro, Vista Ultimate, and Windows 7 RC... is it possible to set these up in bootcamp as well, so I can run Parallels 4.0 and run them side-by-side with my Mac, and then close Parallels, go into BootCamp, and login to any one of those? so any changes I make on either BootCamp or Parallels shows up?

Kind Regards
Me
 
It's possible if you first install the second OS under Boot Camp, then point Parallels to your Boot Camp installation. Doing this allows you to maintain a single Windows installation, and you can reach it either from Boot Camp or from Parallels.

If you install the second OS under Parallels, you can't get to it from Boot Camp.
 
I see, so can I install Windows XP, Vista, again onto BootCamp? and then transfer my files from Parallels to the BootCamp one via a USB Portable Drive, remove the Parallels VM's and then set them up from BootCamp?

Or will Windows block me from installing it again?

Kind Regards
 
I think you are limited to one OS under bootcamp. I could be wrong but i think u can only run one but i'm sure there are ways around it. But to answer your question, you can Copy files u need from parallels VM to your USB drive. reboot into bootcamp, install windows flavor of your choice, do all updates, app istalls, etc. once you are satisfied, boot back into OSX and parallels should detect your bootcamp, it will create a helper VM for it. once it boots up, you will need to install parallels tools and then you should be able to run them both without any issues
 
Thanks a lot, I'd like to do that, can anyone confirm if you can run multiple OS with Boot Camp?

Kind Regards
 
I haven't done it personally, but you can run multiple OS's from Boot Camp. When you run the Boot Camp assistant, make sure each OS you plan to run gets its own partition.

As for moving info from your Parallels installation of Windows to Boot Camp - you are typically allowed one installation per license, and unless you delete the Parallels install you would be running two installation. I like your idea of backing up your important files (you might even try some kind of cloning software - no idea how it will work under Parallels, but probably worth a try) and moving them to Boot Camp after you install Windows.
 
So I can install Vista, and XP, and Windows 7.. awesome.

From what I've read, it cannot support 64-BIT XP, but can it support 64-BIT Windows Vista & Windows 7?

If I uninstall Windows from Parallels, removing that installation completely, does microsoft allow me to then install it on BootCamp (AKA, is it going to say "You have not got genuine software" or something, you need to buy another license, because I already registered Windows once? can I unregister it?

Kind Regards
 
You can run 3+ system installs but unless you give each OS its own drive or dual-boot two (and only two!) systems on a single drive it's non-trivial.

For example, my Mac Pro is currently setup with:
Mac OS X -> Dedicated primary boot drive, used to triple boot Mac OS X/Windows/Linux but I purchased a few more drives so it got a private disk
Windows/Linux dual boot -> Dedicated secondary drive, boot sequence is rEFIt -> GRUB -> Windows/Linux.
Windows 7 -> Dedicated drive
 
I see, so really if I want to be able to go into Boot Camp, I have to have 1 hard drive for each OS I want to install..?
Or have one drive per two OS I want to install?

EDIT: What's the point of having a dedicated hard drive for another OS?

Is it not possible to just give 32GB each of space for 3 partitions on my primary drive?

Kind Regards
 
2 bootable systems on a single drive is fine, this is how most hybrid installs are. Once you go above that, however, things tend to get really messy as not only do a whole bunch of limitations jump into the mix (and bonehead assumptions *glares in the direction of Redmond*) but you also need to format and partition the drive manually.

Given that the GPT partitioning scheme needs an MBR wrapper to be backwards compatible to boot systems using the Legacy BIOS (simple answer: everything but Mac OS X) and GPT does not support extended partitions, you can only have a maximum of 4 primary partitions (aka: boot-capable partitions). Apple reserves one of these for its internal EFI partition so you are down to 3. Using one for a Mac OS X partition leaves you 2 left over. You can install Windows on one of these with no problems as it gets marked as "drive 0" in the MBR used by the legacy BIOS and all is happy. Once you install Windows to the last free partition, however, all hell will break loose. Windows expects that it will ALWAYS be installed on drive 0, if it isn't it won't boot. This means you'll need to install and configure a third party bootloader (GRUB, LILO, etc.) in order to reorganize how Windows sees the partitioning scheme and chainload the Windows bootloader.

If you have a drive that is formatted using the MBR scheme and is NOT used to boot Mac OS X you will have a lot more flexibility (the 4 primary partition limit goes away) and you can just follow one of the myriad of multi-boot tutorials around the web. Booting multiple copies of Windows is a PITA no matter which way you go.

Using a virtualization solution such as VMWare or Parallels makes everything I've previously said moot as you can have as many drive images as you'd like; I have 3 or 4 various Windows editions installed along with DOS, CentOS, Ubuntu (x32 and x64) and Moblin.

(note: I haven't done a setup like this in a while, someone let me know if I have some bad info here)

MythicFrost said:
EDIT: What's the point of having a dedicated hard drive for another OS?
Click to expand...
More space, easier booting, more isolation, because I can, etc. There are plenty of reasons, just pick the one that you like the best.
 
Hehe, ok thanks..

So I have a 1TB hard drive (that is totally UNUSED), just to be clear, I could install all 3 OS's onto that hard drive? and it will be fine? and I can still store other stuff there? or hold on, did you say windows has to think it's on drive 0 ! so that way I could only install 1 per hd?

I'm thinking I'll just pray Parallels improves there virtual graphics card!
is VMFusion's gaming graphics any better than Parallels?

Kind Regards
 
Is there any reason why you need multiple Windows installs for gaming? If you just want to game it would be eaiser setting up a single native Windows boot (either through Bootcamp or on a dedicated drive) and running the other instances through virtualization software.

If you must have several natively booting Windows installs you CAN install multiple versions of Windows to a dedicated drive, it may require a bit of work, though. If you will be installing only Windows, I'd suggest installing the oldest OS first, using it to create the partitions and then install the rest of the systems in order of age (older systems first, 32 bit systems before 64 bit systems); you might be able to avoid having to use a third-party bootloader. For example, using Windows XP, Vista & Windows 7

  1. Pre-install: Using Disk Utility, reformat the drive using the MBR partitioning scheme instead of GPT (this can be changed using the options button in the partitioning tab)
  2. Install XP. During the partitioning phase create 3 partitions instead of one. Make them all NTFS.
  3. Install Vista. Select the second partition you created. Vista should be smart enough to see the older Windows XP install and add an entry for it to its bootloader, provided you do a clean install onto an empty partition and not an upgrade
  4. Install W7. Select the final partition and install to it. 7 should see the other two systems and add entries for them to its bootloader.

Installing the systems in any other order will most likely lead to problems since an older system won't have any idea how to deal with the newer one.
 
I see, your right though, I don't need all three, I only need one.. Windows 7,
If I was going to install 64-BIT Windows 7, what should I do? should I use the empty 1TB hard drive and give it like 64-128GB of space to use, and then store anything else I want on that hard drive as well? (large files etc..)

Also is Windows 7 supported in boot camp?

What would I need?
Obviously I'd have to burn the 64-BIT ISO file to a disc, and install it using boot camp,
what else though?? do I need anything that came with the Mac, like the installation disc or something, does it have the windows drivers on it too?

How does windows 7 recognize the motherboard, sound card, processor, graphics card.. etc..?

and finally how easy is it to delete a boot camp partition (say when Windows 7 RC finishes in 2010) and how does that work for parallels when I've also added that partition in parallels so that it can be run in boot camp/parallels

Kind Regards
 
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