Bootcamp, Parrallels, VMWARE Fusion

Forums › Mac OS › Bootcamp, Parrallels, VMWARE Fusion - help plz

mailmarshall

362 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 60

#15772 7-Sep-2007 11:49

Hi

I am a relatively newbie to Macs - coming from a PC (XP) background.

I have been told that there are several ways to run XP on a Mac e.g Bootcamp, Parrallels and VMWARE Fusion.

Bootcamp: - creates seperate partition so MAc may be able to read a FAT32 XP but XP cant see Mac partition. Disadvantage is that you need to reboot machien to access XP partition.

Parrallels\VMWARE Fusion - similar in that they run within the Mac environment. Advantage being you dont need to reboot to get to XP partition.

My question is that is there a way to have Bootcamp and Parrallels\ or VMWARE Fusion all working happily. What i am looking for is an install of Bootcamp being accessed through Parrallels or VMWARE fusion i.e if I need to get into XP when I boot my Mac I can and if I need to access XP within Mac I can do so also. The idea is to use the same 'instance' of XP as this will save me buying another licence for XP.

Is the above possible?

Don't ask why I still need XP - just have to live with this :(

barf

643 posts

Ultimate Geek

#85739 7-Sep-2007 12:40

If I were you I'd stick to one of those technologies only, you would probably have to install at least two entire different sets of drivers into XP to use both or all three.

If you're trying to run 3D games in XP, use bootcamp or VMware - not parallels.
If you're using productivity packages, VMware or parallels might make more sense.

Sniffing the glue holding the Internet together

destined

45 posts

Geek

#85744 7-Sep-2007 13:23

Congratulations on making the switch! I know how you feel about being tied to Windows though!

Yes you can do this - both Parallels and Fusion allow you to use your bootcamp partition in a Virtual Machine. The biggest hassle I had was that XP needs to be re-activated when switching, which worked fine in VMware, but on my MacBook Pro no keyboard/mouse driver was loaded at the XP screen, so I could not reactivate via Bootcamp. One solution might be to setup different hardware profiles. Best idea is to look in the Parallels and Fusion forums and see how people have got around this!

mailmarshall

362 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 60

#85765 7-Sep-2007 15:12

Thanks everyone. I am off to the support forums now to see what VMWARE and Parrallels offer.

Fossie

1240 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#85772 7-Sep-2007 16:01

Vmware over parallels any day. Vmware is so much more 'polished'.