Trying Windows 8 w/Parallels on iMac

[HadItWithWindow]

I destroyed my OS on my early 2008 Mac that was partitioned with Windows7 on Bootcamp.

Apple support got me back up and running and I decided to try Parallels with Windows8 Trial. Difficult installation but Parallels support worked it out and most likely due to Mac OS damage.

The dude from India was very knowledgeable but we differed on one thing. He insisted I download 64bit and I told him my Mac wouldn't handle that, only 32bit. Long story we went with his knowledge and did the 64 bit.

My Questions:

1 - I couldn't install my Windows 2010 Office. I figured it was the conflict with 64bit vs 32 bit but not certain Mac knows which operating system controls the DVD drive. I was in Parallels when I inserted the MS Office disc that was rejected as incorrect version. Any ideas here? How does one know which operating system accepts DVD if both are open?

2 - I really was stupid and the last backup I had for my OS was July 2012. I restored that as it was better than starting over. My confusion? What system is being backed up on My Passport when both OS and Parallels are open?

3 - I have a separate external (LaCie) that was used for backing up my Windows on Bootcamp. That was where I encountered my first problem. The system would not back up so I THOUGHT I was deleting backups and reformatting. Instead I was deleting my HD OS-X Mountain Lion

4 - Now that Win8 is up and running will the Win7 backup from Bootcamp load or am I out of luck since it is a new load of Win8? In other words will the Bootcamp backup not work on a Parallels Windows version?

 

[JoelBC]

I destroyed my OS on my early 2008 Mac that was partitioned with Windows7 on Bootcamp.

Apple support got me back up and running and I decided to try Parallels with Windows8 Trial. Difficult installation but Parallels support worked it out and most likely due to Mac OS damage.

The dude from India was very knowledgeable but we differed on one thing. He insisted I download 64bit and I told him my Mac wouldn't handle that, only 32bit. Long story we went with his knowledge and did the 64 bit.

My Questions:

1 - I couldn't install my Windows 2010 Office. I figured it was the conflict with 64bit vs 32 bit but not certain Mac knows which operating system controls the DVD drive. I was in Parallels when I inserted the MS Office disc that was rejected as incorrect version. Any ideas here? How does one know which operating system accepts DVD if both are open?

That does not sound correct as 32-bit versions work on 64-bit OS but not vice versa.

With respect to vitualization software I am not familiar with Parallels as I have been using VirtualBox [it is free]...it seems to me the problem is that you need to tell Parallels to control / read the CD-DRIVE rather than have OS X read the CD-DRIVE which is what I think is happening.

2 - I really was stupid and the last backup I had for my OS was July 2012. I restored that as it was better than starting over. My confusion? What system is being backed up on My Passport when both OS and Parallels are open?

If you are in OS X then it is backing up only OS X [i.e. it will not backup the BootCamp partition]. If you are running a VM it will backup the virtual disk though.

3 - I have a separate external (LaCie) that was used for backing up my Windows on Bootcamp. That was where I encountered my first problem. The system would not back up so I THOUGHT I was deleting backups and reformatting. Instead I was deleting my HD OS-X Mountain Lion

I have no idea how that happened.

4 - Now that Win8 is up and running will the Win7 backup from Bootcamp load or am I out of luck since it is a new load of Win8? In other words will the Bootcamp backup not work on a Parallels Windows version?

I think you are out of luck depending on how you backed up Windows 7...I always, for the situation you are in, create both a Windows image as well as a separate copy of my data so that it is never lost.

I would remove Windows 8, install Windows 7, do a restore and then re-install Windows 8 to the extent that it is more work to rebuild from scratch.

I hope this above is of some help.

 

[HadItWithWindow]

@JoelBC

Many thanks for the reply. I will try the steps you recommend. Appreciated.

 

[paolol61]

Hi,
restoring a bootcamp W7 in a VM is not the best option at all, all driver need by the OS are different VM has it's own virtual driver and bootcamp has the ral driver for the hardware so you my end up with a VM that is not working, make a copy of you VM before try to restore or create a new VM with W7 and restore on that.
For the CD if is share with the VM ( as usually is ) is the OS in the VM ( W8 in your case ) that is complain about the disk, for the 64 or 32 is no issue I have the 64 with office 2003 so that is not an issue, just the 64 need more ram so you need to give the VM at list 4Gb of ram to have a good performance then you have to adjust the number of CPU you give to the VM.