First time Windows install: Boot Camp & Parallels. Need some help/tips

[bailmdb]

I have a 15" MBP. Hardware in my sig.

I'm getting Win7 this week. I'm getting it free from school and unsure at this point whether it will be 32 or 64 bit. That said, here's what I want to do with my setup.

1: School. I have to use Office 2007 for my classes. Office 2008 for Mac is not supported, because some of the formulas that you create in 2008 won't convert correctly into 2007 format and I can't have that. I will also use IE due to the fact that neither Firefox nor Safari will play my Mediasite classes correctly in Silverlight. Only IE allows me to speed up the playback. I am going to use Parallels 5 for this.

2: I game, but not much. The one game I love and will definitely put on my Mac is Morrowind. I want to use Boot Camp for this reason.

Soooo, I have been told that if I'm going to install Windows under Boot Camp that I should do that install first. Then install Parallels. I'm really not sure how to do any of this. I understand that I will only need to install Windows a single time and that it should work under with Boot Camp or Parallels.

i have the Boot Camp install PDF from the Apple site, but I'd love some tips, tricks, help, advice, words of wisdom, etc., from this forum. Please tell me what you think about which to install first, what approach to take, how much HDD space I should partition when I install under Boot Camp, etc.

Also, what are the implications of the 32 bit version of Win7 vs the 64 bit, considering what I want to do? Appreciate ANY HELP!! Cheers!

 

[balamw]

Given that it sounds like you will be in parallels more than Boot Camp, I would suggest sticking with 32 bit for now. IMHO it runs better in a VM. Nothing you are planning to do would really benefit from the >4GB address space available to 64 bit.

64 bit has more RAM overhead, and Office 2007 at least is 32 bit only so you'll be eating up shared more RAM and degrading the VM performance if you go 64 bit.

There is a recent thread to how big BC partitions people have made, my rule of thumb is ~25% of the total HDD space, so in your case 60 GB would be good.

B

 

[G8AMB]

My experience

I have an alluminium Macbook and installed XP onto bootcamp 100MB partition on a 250GB hard drive.

On this bootcamp version I then installed Office 2007 and Visio.

I then installed parallels and used it's wizards to make the bootcamp XP partition usable within parallels. This works really well I mainly use parallels but from time-to-time need the raw power of bootcamp. The parallels version does feel a bit laggy sometimes - even when only moving files around. This approach makes it easy to move files between Snow Leopard and XP (via parallels). I can then use bootcamp to get at these files if I want to.

One big issue though. As I mentioned I installed Visio and Office and XP on bootcamp. The first time I ran the bootcamp install via Parallels I needed to re-validate all the licenses because of a significant hardware change. I spent hours on the phone with Microsoft convincing them that I had just upgraded the graphics card so that I could re-validate the single user licenses for Visio and Office - a real pain. The good news is that they still work ok in bootcamp post revalidation - but I am not looking forward to any potential re-install.

I think if I did it again I would go for a seperate install on bootcamp and parallels. Especially if using Vista or Windows 7 - given that they have more demands on graphics which will be nobled somewhat by parallels.

 

[ryanhaver]

So has anyone successfully installed Windows 7 under Boot Camp and then used that Boot Camp partition as a VM under Parallels 5, interchanging between the two regularly without repeated activation issue? It seems that a lot of people have had issues with this.

At the moment I am running windows XP in Parallels from a boot Camp partition, but it seems to want to strip the BootCamp drivers when I install Parallels Tools. I have had no issues with activation on window XP Pro.

 

[bailmdb]

So has anyone successfully installed Windows 7 under Boot Camp and then used that Boot Camp partition as a VM under Parallels 5, interchanging between the two regularly without repeated activation issue? It seems that a lot of people have had issues with this.

At the moment I am running windows XP in Parallels from a boot Camp partition, but it seems to want to strip the BootCamp drivers when I install Parallels Tools. I have had no issues with activation on window XP Pro.

I successfully installed Win7 in Boot Camp and then installed Parallels 5 and I have had no issues accessing my Boot Camp partition. I did have to reactivate my MS Office 2007, but that didn't really pose much of an issue.

 

[mattandcat]

I'm in the same boat, with an iMac and a copy of Windows 7 and Parallels en route (hope the postie doesn't have to deliver both at the same time, else they might question my allegiances).

I understand that I need to install Windows on whatever Bootcamp is first, then install Parallels and let it work its magic. However, I don't (yet) understand enough to know what a Parallels Bootcamp is, and what the separate install that G8AMB mentions. Can any one help, or at least point me to the right guidance to read before I mess it all up!

Many thanks.

 

[balamw]

However, I don't (yet) understand enough to know what a Parallels Bootcamp is, and what the separate install that G8AMB mentions.

Parallels Bootcamp = One License/Install of Windows bootable by both Boot Camp (native hardware and drivers) and Parallels

Separate Install = Two Licenses/Installs of Windows. One bootable by Boot Camp, one bootable by Parallels only.

The Separate Install would also require separate copies of all your apps, but it keeps activation "happy". I'm sure Microsoft is happy too since you paid for two licenses.

B

 

[mattandcat]

Parallels Bootcamp = One License/Install of Windows bootable by both Boot Camp (native hardware and drivers) and Parallels

Separate Install = Two Licenses/Installs of Windows. One bootable by Boot Camp, one bootable by Parallels only.

The Separate Install would also require separate copies of all your apps, but it keeps activation "happy". I'm sure Microsoft is happy too since you paid for two licenses.

B

That really helps explain - and makes the decision much easier, activation happiness aside. No danger of being able to afford two licences.

If I could find a thanks button I'd have pressed it - but I'm new round here, so still finding my way around

 

[schoey1978]

Help - Parallels 5 / Windows 7 / Office

balamw or anyone who can, i installed Parallels 5 on my Macbook pro and then installed windows 7 professional. Since then I have read in various forums that I should have installed Windows 7 in my boot camp and then installed parallels 5. I also purchased Microsoft office 2010 home and business and need to install this on top of windows. I dont want to do this if I should have installed windows in boot camp first, my other worry is that if I uninstall windows (not sure how to do this now) then when I come to re-install there will be a problem with my verification code? Please can you help me on this, I am new to using this software and sorry for being an idiot, just hard to get your head around this when its new to you. Many thanks, Rich.

 

[balamw]

balamw or anyone who can, i installed Parallels 5 on my Macbook pro and then installed windows 7 professional. Since then I have read in various forums that I should have installed Windows 7 in my boot camp and then installed parallels 5. I also purchased Microsoft office 2010 home and business and need to install this on top of windows. I dont want to do this if I should have installed windows in boot camp first, my other worry is that if I uninstall windows (not sure how to do this now) then when I come to re-install there will be a problem with my verification code? Please can you help me on this, I am new to using this software and sorry for being an idiot, just hard to get your head around this when its new to you. Many thanks, Rich.

Generally the only issue you will face may be that your product code is rejected upon activation and you have to call the automated activation line or the manned one.

I agree that you should hold off on installing Office until you have Windows installed and activated as you need it.

B