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Mister9

macrumors regular
Original poster
Feb 11, 2008
151
0
I'm on a Macbook Pro right now using BootCamp cuz I was told that it runs faster and I only have a Core Duo with a max of 2 GB of memory... But I'm picking up my Mac Pro as soon as I can get up to my friends place in tax-free NH :p I'm just wondering since it is ridiculously fast- If I were to get.. say 8 GB of ram should paralleles operate without hesitations? Anyone try it out already and want to indulge?
 

aaronw1986

macrumors 68030
Oct 31, 2006
2,622
10
I'm on a Macbook Pro right now using BootCamp cuz I was told that it runs faster and I only have a Core Duo with a max of 2 GB of memory... But I'm picking up my Mac Pro as soon as I can get up to my friends place in tax-free NH :p I'm just wondering since it is ridiculously fast- If I were to get.. say 8 GB of ram should paralleles operate without hesitations? Anyone try it out already and want to indulge?

Depends on what you plan to do. For most things virtualization will run fine on a Mac Pro. You won't really be able to do intensive work which requires the graphics card.
 

eyecool

macrumors regular
Jan 11, 2008
187
0
Fort Worth, TX
I'm on a Macbook Pro right now using BootCamp cuz I was told that it runs faster and I only have a Core Duo with a max of 2 GB of memory... But I'm picking up my Mac Pro as soon as I can get up to my friends place in tax-free NH :p I'm just wondering since it is ridiculously fast- If I were to get.. say 8 GB of ram should paralleles operate without hesitations? Anyone try it out already and want to indulge?

I'm on a 2.16Ghz mac book, 2GB ram and Parallels runs so well, I really thought I'd be able to game through it on a Mac Pro. It's shipping today, so it will be a few days before I can test it out. Bootcamp seems like a pain in the butt to me. One of the things I love about OS X is that updates are about the only time I have to reboot. I wouldn't look forward to shutting down just so I could run windows. <3 Parallels.
 

goMac

Contributor
Apr 15, 2004
7,662
1,693
I'm on a 2.16Ghz mac book, 2GB ram and Parallels runs so well, I really thought I'd be able to game through it on a Mac Pro.

Games that are 5 years and older? Probably. Parallels doesn't provide the right version of DirectX to do most games. I think they do somewhere between DirectX 7 and 8. VMWare can do DirectX 9.0a.
 

eyecool

macrumors regular
Jan 11, 2008
187
0
Fort Worth, TX
Games that are 5 years and older? Probably. Parallels doesn't provide the right version of DirectX to do most games. I think they do somewhere between DirectX 7 and 8. VMWare can do DirectX 9.0a.

So I've heard... thats why I think my gaming days could be over. I have a big XPS, but I'm sick of windows and the MP is replacing it. Parallels is for running IE for work web apps that don't work on anything else.

Does anyone have bootcamp AND parallels installed?
 

edesignuk

Moderator emeritus
Mar 25, 2002
19,232
2
London, England
General feeling seems to be that VMware Fusion works better for running a VM and Bootcamp that can access the same Windows installation.
 

rockinrocker

macrumors 65816
Aug 21, 2006
1,322
0
So I've heard... thats why I think my gaming days could be over. I have a big XPS, but I'm sick of windows and the MP is replacing it. Parallels is for running IE for work web apps that don't work on anything else.

Does anyone have bootcamp AND parallels installed?

i do, and don't bother buying the MP compatible upgrade to parallels if you're gonna use it for games. it sucks, even on old games.

bootcamp is the best option for gaming, for sure. everything runs great that way...
 

casw1000

macrumors member
May 6, 2005
79
0
I have vmware and bootcamp together which works great cause they share a partition.

This sounds interesting. The main function I would want for bootcamp is for games. Just so that I understand correctly. How does it work in this setup.

1. Install bootcamp ( i will be doing this on dedicated disk)
2. Install VM Fusion and what happens next.

Not sure I am asking in the right place, but seeing that you have already done this, I would appreciate any pointers.

Thanks,
-casw1000
fold4life.com
 

ErikAndre

macrumors 6502a
Nov 14, 2007
719
0
Florida
I have the same setup.

I installed XP Pro in bootcamp, but I'm not sure how to get vmware to recognize it. I read somewhere that it will recognize Vista bootcamp... does that mean its a no go with XP Pro?
 

thedommer

macrumors regular
Jan 13, 2008
178
4
can I use boot camp and parallels? sometimes I wont want to book into windows. but for games I would want to.. does that requre two windows installs?
 

ErikAndre

macrumors 6502a
Nov 14, 2007
719
0
Florida
can I use boot camp and parallels? sometimes I wont want to book into windows. but for games I would want to.. does that requre two windows installs?

According to VMWare, it's possible... it's on their site... i'm just trying to figure out how.
 

eyecool

macrumors regular
Jan 11, 2008
187
0
Fort Worth, TX
Check this out, they provide a list of supported apps and games.

http://www.parallels.com/en/products/desktop/features/3d/

With Parallels Desktop 3.0, you can:

*

Play Windows-only 3D games, including Half-Life,
and Unreal Tournament
*

Render in complex 3D CAD programs such as
AutoCAD 2008
*

Work with CPU-intensive video and sound editing
software such as Sony Vegas
*

Run mission-critical 3D applications on your Mac
*

Enjoy your favorite Windows-only games and graphics
applications directly in your Windows virtual machine
at full native speed – without rebooting
 

casw1000

macrumors member
May 6, 2005
79
0
According to VMWare, it's possible... it's on their site... i'm just trying to figure out how.

If you find out before me or someone else, please share. I will be happy to share once I have played.

-casw1000
fold4life.com

Edit: Added VMFusion info.

from VMWARE said:
Boot Camp integration even better with VMware Fusion 1.1:

* Use Microsoft Vista Boot Camp partitions in VMware Fusion virtual machines
* Automatic remount of Boot Camp partition after Boot Camp virtual machine is shut down
* Improved support for detecting and preparing Boot Camp partitions for use as virtual machines
 

Mr. Zarniwoop

macrumors 6502a
Jun 9, 2005
751
139
According to VMWare, it's possible... it's on their site... i'm just trying to figure out how.
All Boot Camp partitions automagically show up in the VMware Fusion Virtual Machine Library. If you start one of them as a guest OS, you'll need to install VMware Tools for best performance.

You'll get the convenience of a single install of Windows shared in a Boot Camp partition between Boot Camp and VMware Fusion, including Unity. The downside is that you cannot suspend such guest OS installs (as that would leave the Boot Camp partition in a dicey state) like you can a regular VMware virtual machine.
 

Banacek

macrumors 6502
Jan 13, 2008
284
0
All Boot Camp partitions automagically show up in the VMware Fusion Virtual Machine Library. If you start one of them as a guest OS, you'll need to install VMware Tools for best performance.

You'll get the convenience of a single install of Windows shared in a Boot Camp partition between Boot Camp and VMware Fusion, including Unity. The downside is that you cannot suspend such guest OS installs (as that would leave the Boot Camp partition in a dicey state) like you can a regular VMware virtual machine.

I thought Parallels was working on that as well? I stopped following their progress a while ago.
 

Wild-Bill

macrumors 68030
Jan 10, 2007
2,539
617
bleep
I've got XP Pro installed on its own drive. I'd like to tap into it with either Parallels or VMWare, to run my Windows-only apps like Outlook 2003 (don't care for Mail really...) and probably the rest of the Office suite. I've got it, might as well use it, right?


All Boot Camp partitions automagically show up in the VMware Fusion Virtual Machine Library. If you start one of them as a guest OS, you'll need to install VMware Tools for best performance.

VMware tools on the Windows BootCamp install? Or VMware tools on Leopard?


You'll get the convenience of a single install of Windows shared in a Boot Camp partition between Boot Camp and VMware Fusion, including Unity. The downside is that you cannot suspend such guest OS installs (as that would leave the Boot Camp partition in a dicey state) like you can a regular VMware virtual machine.

So do you just "shut down" the guest OS ?? I guess I'm gonna need to do some more reading before I decide which one to go with. Last thing I wanna do is hose up a perfectly-good XP install.
 

eyecool

macrumors regular
Jan 11, 2008
187
0
Fort Worth, TX
I have no experience with VMWare, but for those interested in Parallels, this came from their site too:

Boot Camp Support in Mac OS X

If you’re already using Boot Camp, you don't have to re-install Windows to benefit from Parallels Desktop. Now you can use your previous Boot Camp installation of Windows XP or Windows Vista via a Parallels Desktop virtual machine.
 

noi375

macrumors member
Nov 2, 2007
75
0
I've got XP Pro installed on its own drive. I'd like to tap into it with either Parallels or VMWare, to run my Windows-only apps like Outlook 2003 (don't care for Mail really...) and probably the rest of the Office suite. I've got it, might as well use it, right?

Don't think they let you do that - in order for the VM to work correctly, it has to be "virtualized" somehow. They can understand Bootcamp partitions (it should automatically pop up on your list of VM to boot if it's installed correctly), but not regular installation you have. I think VMFusion is written so they will try to detect the bootcamp flag (Apple flag the drive, I think when you setup bootcamp partition) - it won't recognize other Windows partition.


VMware tools on the Windows BootCamp install? Or VMware tools on Leopard?

Windows Bootcamp installed. Once you use VMware to boot into the bootcamp partition, just choose to install the tools, or the graphics would be "bad" and the graphics performance would suck.

So do you just "shut down" the guest OS ?? I guess I'm gonna need to do some more reading before I decide which one to go with. Last thing I wanna do is hose up a perfectly-good XP install.

Once you configured it correctly, you can just "shut down" the OS just like you would on XP, except it only applies to the "guest" OS - Mac OSX would still be running.
 

Wild-Bill

macrumors 68030
Jan 10, 2007
2,539
617
bleep
Don't think they let you do that - in order for the VM to work correctly, it has to be "virtualized" somehow. They can understand Bootcamp partitions (it should automatically pop up on your list of VM to boot if it's installed correctly), but not regular installation you have. I think VMFusion is written so they will try to detect the bootcamp flag (Apple flag the drive, I think when you setup bootcamp partition) - it won't recognize other Windows partition.

Right. I used the BootCamp assistant to set up Windows on its own drive. I've bootcamped it a few times now, installing apps and such, and it has the bootcamp drivers and the bootcamp control panel. It's just on its own drive is all. I think before I mess with ANY of this stuff, I'll use Acronis imager to back up the Windows install just in case something gets jacked up......

Thanks for the info. Happy I'll be able to use the existing Windows/BootCamp install. I still have some games to load on it before its ready.
 

aaronw1986

macrumors 68030
Oct 31, 2006
2,622
10
Do they both use the same installation or 2 installs on the same partition?

There is just one installation of Windows. I am using XP Pro, so that combo will work. You install in bootcamp, then vmware will be able to detect the partition, and also use it as a virtual machine.
 

noi375

macrumors member
Nov 2, 2007
75
0
Don't think they let you do that - in order for the VM to work correctly, it has to be "virtualized" somehow. They can understand Bootcamp partitions (it should automatically pop up on your list of VM to boot if it's installed correctly), but not regular installation you have. I think VMFusion is written so they will try to detect the bootcamp flag (Apple flag the drive, I think when you setup bootcamp partition) - it won't recognize other Windows partition.

Right. I used the BootCamp assistant to set up Windows on its own drive. I've bootcamped it a few times now, installing apps and such, and it has the bootcamp drivers and the bootcamp control panel. It's just on its own drive is all. I think before I mess with ANY of this stuff, I'll use Acronis imager to back up the Windows install just in case something gets jacked up......

Thanks for the info. Happy I'll be able to use the existing Windows/BootCamp install. I still have some games to load on it before its ready.

That's how I setup mine (either way - there is still a flag on the boot drive, even if data is on another drive). Once you have VMFusion installed, it will automatically show you the bootcamp partition, and you should be able to boot into it in Mac OSX just fine. How the game played would be interesting - I played the typical Japanese mostly text based games on VMFusion, and it worked fine. Haven't tried anything that uses graphics heavily.
 

Mr. Zarniwoop

macrumors 6502a
Jun 9, 2005
751
139
VMware tools on the Windows BootCamp install? Or VMware tools on Leopard?
You start the Boot Camp partition (it will be labeled something like "Boot Camp partition on /dev/disk1" in your Virtual Machines Library) just like any other guest OS. Once you're up and running in Windows under VMware, then pick the "Install VMware Tools" from the Virtual Machine window, just like any other virtual guest OS. That way you get seamless mouse, windowing, and generally better performance and experience.

It's pretty much the same process as any other Windows/Linux/Solaris guest OS too, nothing special for Boot Camp partitions other than they "just work" as Virtual Machines.

So do you just "shut down" the guest OS ?? I guess I'm gonna need to do some more reading before I decide which one to go with. Last thing I wanna do is hose up a perfectly-good XP install.
\If you start up a standard VMware VM (non-Boot Camp partition), then you can suspend/resume and take "snapshots" of VM state. If you start up a Boot Camp partition as a VMware VM, then VMware Fusion won't let you do any of that good stuff lest you'd leave your partition in a strange state, say as suspended (with the NTFS volume flagged as being "in use") and then you reboot from Mac OS X into Boot Camp. Additionally, it also tries to plays nice by first dismounting your Boot Camp Mac OS Xbefore letting you boot it, so that Mac OS X won't monkey with it while you've also booted it as a guest OS. It auto re-mounts it back in OS X after you shutdown your Boot Camp VM too.

To shutdown a guest OS, you should do it the nice way and shutdown per the operating system... the start menu from Windows. But, you can just "pull the plug" or do a hard reset if you want, the options are there on the Virtual Machine menu.

If all you want to do is run Outlook/Office 2003 (except Access), then you'll find CrossOver Mac to be a really nice way to do it without the fuss of the care and feeding of an unnecessary Windows installation/partition. Access 2003 doesn't work quite so perfectly in CrossOver though, although you'll find the rest of Office 2003 pretty near flawless. CrossOver doesn't run everything else outside of it's list of "supported" apps as well as a real life Windows install though, but it's focus has always been getting Office working on Linux/Mac OS X and along the way it can run a surprising number of Windows applications without the need for virtualization or a Windows license, such as Half-Life 2 or uTorrent.
 
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