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New RMBP w/ Windows 7 via Parallels

R

radioman10

macrumors member
Original poster
Nov 9, 2010
64
0
Hi.

I just received my new retina MacBook Pro. My question is.. How do I install Windows 7 via Parallels since I don't have a CD drive.

You would think I would be able to do this via CD/DVD Sharing from another Mac, however per this page: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5287?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US, I can't do it apparently.

How can I install Windows 7 into Parallels without a disk drive? Note that I do not have an external SuperDrive and have no intent to buy one. This is literally the only disk I will ever use most likely.
 
I would get the 64bit version. Your license key is good for either version x86 or 64. Just make sure if your license key is a Home edition, download home. If its Pro, get pro, etc.
 
audiofx said:
I would get the 64bit version. Your license key is good for either version x86 or 64. Just make sure if your license key is a Home edition, download home. If its Pro, get pro, etc.
Click to expand...

Thank you for your help. I have completed the install. It went smoothly.

Thanks again.

I'm noticing in Windows 7 on the new RMBP that the icons and basically everything are noticeably pixelated. Is there any type of fix for this? Why would this be occurring?

Also, a bit off subject, but is there a noticeable lag/performance difference when using the 1900x1200 scaled desktop? Any thoughts?

Thanks!
 
What do you intend to do in Parallels 7? If gaming is on the list, I would love to hear how well that works out. :)
 
radioman10 said:
Hi.

I just received my new retina MacBook Pro. My question is.. How do I install Windows 7 via Parallels since I don't have a CD drive.

You would think I would be able to do this via CD/DVD Sharing from another Mac, however per this page: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5287?viewlocale=en_US&locale=en_US, I can't do it apparently.

How can I install Windows 7 into Parallels without a disk drive? Note that I do not have an external SuperDrive and have no intent to buy one. This is literally the only disk I will ever use most likely.
Click to expand...

Hi,

sorry for hijacking your thread but I am very confident that you can answer my question.
I had Parallels on a 2008 MacBook Pro and it was terrible (boot up ≈1-2 minutes and the whole system was slow).
Is this the same story with the 'new' Parallels on the R-MBP? How about the boot-time?
 
VacantPsalm said:
What do you intend to do in Parallels 7? If gaming is on the list, I would love to hear how well that works out. :)
Click to expand...

I'm not at all a gamer. The most graphically-intensive game I play on my Mac is actually spades on the Windows side. ;)

----------
G15 said:
Hi,

sorry for hijacking your thread but I am very confident that you can answer my question.
I had Parallels on a 2008 MacBook Pro and it was terrible (boot up ≈1-2 minutes and the whole system was slow).
Is this the same story with the 'new' Parallels on the R-MBP? How about the boot-time?
Click to expand...

Boot times seem to be incredibly improved. I'm assuming the SSD helps tremendously with this. I'm actually upgrading from a late-2008 MacBook (before it became the 13-inch MacBook Pro) and literally *everything* seems a lot faster. I can definitely recommend the RMBP if you're upgrading from a 2008 machine.

----------

Also of note, I'm able to dedicate 256 GB of video memory and 4 GB of RAM just to the Windows 7 virtual machine, whereas on my late-'08 MacBook I was giving the virtual machine 2GB of RAM. Needless to say, it's a lot faster.
 
radioman10 said:
I'm noticing in Windows 7 on the new RMBP that the icons and basically everything are noticeably pixelated. Is there any type of fix for this? Why would this be occurring?
Click to expand...

It depends. Though the Windows UI icons are all vector, there are tons of third party icons that are just 32x32 bitmap images. For that, there's nothing you can do, short of going in, grabbing larger icons off the internet, and changing them manually. Needless to say, that'd be a huge pain in the ass.

Secondly, it's probably because you haven't bumped up your DPI settings. You can change this by rightclicking on the desktop, going to screen resolution, and selecting "make text and other items larger or smaller". For a RMBP, I'd choose either 150% or (most likely) 200% to make things fit well on the screen. That should smooth out the text and Windows icons pretty well.
 
Renzatic said:
It depends. Though the Windows UI icons are all vector, there are tons of third party icons that are just 32x32 bitmap images. For that, there's nothing you can do, short of going in, grabbing larger icons off the internet, and changing them manually. Needless to say, that'd be a huge pain in the ass.

Secondly, it's probably because you haven't bumped up your DPI settings. You can change this by rightclicking on the desktop, going to screen resolution, and selecting "make text and other items larger or smaller". For a RMBP, I'd choose either 150% or (most likely) 200% to make things fit well on the screen. That should smooth out the text and Windows icons pretty well.
Click to expand...

So will Windows 7 ever look as good as OS X does? I guess what I'm asking is, will Microsoft add "retina support" to Windows 7? Right now, programs and text in programs look very bad (pixelated).
 
radioman10 said:
So will Windows 7 ever look as good as OS X does? I guess what I'm asking is, will Microsoft add "retina support" to Windows 7? Right now, programs and text in programs look very bad (pixelated).
Click to expand...

There is DPI scaling support in Windows. I'm guessing it looks pixelated for you because either Parallels hasn't been updated with retina support or Windows is set to run at 1440x900 instead of 2880x1800.

Edit: Looks like Parallels has been updated with retina support:

Question: Does Parallels Desktop for Mac support new Apple Retina Display?

Yes, the latest build of Parallels Desktop 7 for Mac application supports new Retina display Macs.

To update Parallels Desktop 7 start Parallels Desktop > click Parallels Desktop menu > Check for Updates... and download and install the update.
Click to expand...

http://kb.parallels.com/en/114110

So make sure you have installed that update, and then you should be able to set the Windows resolution to 2880x1800 in the display preferences. Text and UI will be very small, but you can also set the DPI scaling to 150% to make things larger.
 
Stetrain said:
There is DPI scaling support in Windows. I'm guessing it looks pixelated for you because either Parallels hasn't been updated with retina support or Windows is set to run at 1440x900 instead of 2880x1800.

Edit: Looks like Parallels has been updated with retina support:



http://kb.parallels.com/en/114110

So make sure you have installed that update, and then you should be able to set the Windows resolution to 2880x1800 in the display preferences. Text and UI will be very small, but you can also set the DPI scaling to 150% to make things larger.
Click to expand...

Thanks for your response.

I was able to set the Windows resolution to 2880x1800 per your suggestion. I did this and everything looked worse, even after adjusting the DPI scaling. I'm not sure what to do at this point. Most things on the Windows side just look absolutely horrible compared to OS X. I hope Microsoft releases an update that will make things look better. As of now, it looks B-A-D.
 
radioman10 said:
Thanks for your response.

I was able to set the Windows resolution to 2880x1800 per your suggestion. I did this and everything looked worse, even after adjusting the DPI scaling. I'm not sure what to do at this point. Most things on the Windows side just look absolutely horrible compared to OS X. I hope Microsoft releases an update that will make things look better. As of now, it looks B-A-D.
Click to expand...

Windows 8 looks like it handles it pretty well:

http://www.anandtech.com/show/6008/windows-8-on-the-retina-display-macbook-pro
 
radioman10 said:
Thanks for your response.

I was able to set the Windows resolution to 2880x1800 per your suggestion. I did this and everything looked worse, even after adjusting the DPI scaling. I'm not sure what to do at this point. Most things on the Windows side just look absolutely horrible compared to OS X. I hope Microsoft releases an update that will make things look better. As of now, it looks B-A-D.
Click to expand...

Some programs allow you to turn off DPI scaling and will look better. Chrome for example. Just right click the program and select compatibility check to not scale.Some programs do not allow turning off DPI scaling and will look always soft.

Thats how it was working in bootcamp anyhow.

Will install Parellels later.
 
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