Running Windows on a Mac: Boot Camp, Parallels Desktop & VMware Fusion

The answer remains ellusive. I suppose I wont find out till I actually use either of them.

 

Those VM softwares don't emulate any card, they just pass the graphic commands from games to the gpu and back...
PS: FYI, the "VGA card" in my VMware fusion is SVGA VMware II...

 

Oh I see.
I asked, because I know VirtualPC emulates an old S3 card.

 

Hello,

I just wondering that if I buy a new macbook, and I want to make the boot camp for linux and mac. Is that possible?

Thanks.

 

Yes, you can run three OSes on a macbook. But it requires good management.

 

Absolutely! It works fine!

 

Thanks A lot Sam...

 

Sam,

Can you post a topic how to install ubuntu using the boot camp?

Thanks

 

Wow, I never noticed this post! Sorry .

I don't do any of the installation myself, I actually don't run Windows on my MacBook . I'll definitely look around for a guide to link to or incorporate into mine!

 

Sticky Update

Just minor housekeeping, updating of dates and numbers . I feel like I've been neglecting my guides .

 

hi sam, i think i'm going to buy a macbook but is there any way that i use Virtual box as the vmware is it the same ? what is the pro and cons about this software (virtual box)

which is better the blackbook or the whitebook ?

i'm still on collage degree in programing most of them run on windows is it okay to use mac for these action i just love mac design it is build flawlessly

run xp sp2 on the mac do i need like 4 gigs of ram ?

 

One stop thread for running windows on mac! Nice work

 

Hi malamjahanam,

I'm not too familiar with Virtual box, I'll look into it!

There's no real advantage to the black MacBook, you are paying a premium for the colour. You can get a white MacBook with the same specs for cheaper.

If you're running Windows XP virtually, I'd defintiely recommend 2 GB or more of RAM, but no need for 4 GB if you're stretched in terms of budget. 4 GB doesn't hurt though!

Thanks for the compliment, Checksum!

 

i have 2 option here
1. is the macbook middle choice with 4 GiB ram --> 1499 with 4 GiB ram
2. is the sony SZ that is on this link --> 15.1million rupiah

which one is the better one ?

 

I'm not sure, how much is 15.1 million rupiah in US dollars?

But at that price, the MacBook isn't bad! If you aren't already, you may want to consider getting the 4 GB of RAM elsewhere.

The Sony Z-series (replaces the SZ) is lighter than the MacBook I believe, but it is more expensive and Sony customer support is terrible.

 

with the rate 9300 rupiah per 1 US$ then it cost round 1637 US$

if i use the boot camp and use the xp 64 bit then i can use the 4 gigs in xp optimaly rite?

not yet, the extra 2giB i will buy it from other supplier it will cost me less expense

 

Yes, that is correct, you can utilize all 4 GB of RAM when you use XP 64-bit and Boot Camp .

Alright, sounds good! Considering the close price, plus the advantage of OS X and Windows on one machine, I would recommend the Apple MacBook over the Sony SZ/Z series.

 

Hi Sam,

I'm planning on getting a Macbook Pro in a couple of days. I've been wondering if:

1. Does iSight work on Windows Live Messenger when Mac is running on Windows XP? Does both the audio and video work just as well as when I was using a PC?

2. Is Photoshop CS as easy to use on Mac as it is on Windows? Because I've gotten quite used to using PSCS on my PC.

 

1. The iSight works fine in Windows, webcam and audio away!

2. Photoshop works exactly the same on both platforms, the only difference really is the menu bar is at the top, but that's minor.

 

+1 thanks! Personally, I like VM with XP x64.

 

"i'm still on collage degree in programing most of them run on windows
is it okay to use mac for these action i just love mac design it is
build flawlessly"

"run xp sp2 on the mac do i need like 4 gigs of ram ?"

It's always better to have more memory. I upgraded my Penryn MBP from
2 GB to 4 GB using Corsair Low-Latency RAM. Newegg had a sale on it
for $99.

In the US, if you're a student, Microsoft has the Dreamsparks program
where you can download Microsoft tools such as Visual Studio 2005 and
2008, Windows 2003 Server, game development tools and a few other
things for free. I think that those outside the US can use the program
too but the validation may be a little different. Your university might
have CDs for a lot of Microsoft software that you can install for free.
I already bought our son a Windows XP Home license for his MBP but I
would try the Windows 2003 Server license for the VM or Boot Camp if
I had it to do over again.

"if i use the boot camp and use the xp 64 bit then i can use the 4 gigs
in xp optimaly rite?"

Boot Camp doesn't support Windows XP x64 edition. It supports Vista
x64 on Mac Pro systems. And there are hacks on the web to get Vista
x64 running on MacBook Pro systems though there are a few minor
glitces.

I think that Windows XP x64 would go more smoothly as a Virtual
Machine.

 

Which one (Boot Camp, Parallels Desktop or VMware) is the way to go for games and photoshop, if I have 2 GB or more RAM

 

Boot Camp is the way to go for games. 2GB of memory should do fine. You can get decent gaming if you use VMWare Fusion on a Windows XP virtual machine though, but nothing spectacular. The best option is to go hybrid, where you have a Boot Camped Windows XP partition, and use VMWare Fusion to virtualize it while in OSX. You could use the virtual option when doing light gaming, and for the more demanding games go through Boot Camp.

 

After countless issues with my m1330, Dell finally got the laptop working but I was bored with it and sold it. Now I am typing right now on my new iMac and I love it!

I created a 10GB partition on Boot Camp and rebooted my machine to install Windows, however I can't because Vista Home premium(x64) is saying it needs 13117MB free space for Vista install! Anyone run into this issue? It seems like most people have been able to install Vista with 10-15GB partitions just fine.

Thanks in advance guys

 

Did a bit a research and this seems to be pretty normal, I had no idea Vista required so much space for installing! I am changing partition size to 30GB.

 

Now I have a new problem I installed vista x64 but I cannot install Bootcamp from the Mac OSX disc. I am getting a message saying "Boot Camp 64 is unsupported on this model."

I went into the directory of the CD and found the BootCamp64.exe under Boot Camp\Drivers\Apple folder, ran it and get this message "This installation requires elevated privileges. Launch the installer through setup.exe."

 

It's quite a bit of work to install Vista x64 on Boot Camp. You have to get drivers from around the internet.

 

To get around that elevated privileges requirement, you can right click the EXE and select 'Run as Administrator'. This will pop up a dialog asking if you want to do this. Click 'yes' and hopefully it will allow you to install.

I read in some places that it's problematic to run the Boot Camp setup on Vista with Service Pack 1 already isntalled, and that you'd have to install the original, then the Boot Camp drivers, and then service pack 1.

 

Thanks for the help guys. This is the workaround I found out for Vista x64 on iMac.

I downloaded the Mac Pro Boot Camp disc from piratebay, put them onto a USB drive, then ran the bootcamp64.mdi file. It found all my drivers. Then I ran Apple Software Update and downloaded BC 2.1 and got all my drivers updated to the latest. Everything is working smooth!

 

Yes, just as Hesssu has put it. I would like to see a more in-depth view of both of them and their pros and cons of each other. Nice post!

 

sam help me out i have a macbook how can i use my webcam in msn messenger? THANKS!

 

Hi there,

I have to rush this as I'm technically on vacation . MSN Messenger for Mac does not support video chatting, MSN Messenger on Windows does. If you are on Windows Messenger, then the webcam should be automatically recognized!

 

Which version of messenger for Mac are you using? The latest and greatest one can be found here. Its version 7.0.1.

 

Im really thinking about getting a Mac, but dont tell me u cant use webcam on Msn and all those little things. If theres lots of those lil things then i dont know if i want one, that just gets annoying lol!!!

 

I have two really simple questions about Boot Camp:

1) Just to confirm, you can run Vista instead of XP right?
2) When you boot into Vista/XP instead of MacOS, does Vista/XP utilize the FULL hardware capabilities of the machine? (i.e. full processor power, all RAM available for use etc. etc.)

 

I believe the answer to both of you questions are yes. I recommend you go check out Macdrive program if you want to run windows on a mac....it will allow you to access one partition from both OS

 

Yes, you can choose XP (SP2) or Vista. A couple considerations to keep in mind though:

a) If you have 4 GB of RAM installed, XP (32-bit) or Vista (32-bit) will only see 3 GB of it (it's the 32-bit limitation of those OS's).
b) You can install the 64-bit versions of those OS's, but go in knowing that you'll have to hunt for some of the drivers.
c) If you choose Vista, there have been some problems with installing the Boot Camp drivers on an installation that already has Vista SP1 installed. I think there's a workaround for this but I'm not sure.

Yes, with one exception (that I can think of). XP/Vista will get access to every hardware component on the machine. The exception is that you lose the ability to tap the trackpad to click something when running XP/Vista. You have to use the single mouse button. If you have an external mouse though then this is not a problem. Why Apple won't update the drivers for the trackpad to support something this simple is beyond me.

 

Thanks for the info guys, appreciate it

 

does this mean boot camp doesn't work on the new macbook & macbookpro?

 

I'm sure it will/does, don't worry about that, tcoville! If its not already out, I expect Apple to update drivers soon to accomodate that.

 

There will be a new Boot Camp driver for nVIDIA stuff soon enough... :-D

 

guys, i am trying to install windows vista ultimate on my machine via bootcamp, however, my laptop does not recognize the dvd and simply ejects it...
ive tried the dvd on other machines and it works great

any advice? i am using a student copy, cant this be the reason?

 

So if i were to buy a brand new vista install cd at best buy will it have sp1 on it, and will I therefore have the driver problems?

 

But other than this, does the trackpad work alright under Windows? I read somewhere else that it works horribly and since I don't want to use a mouse, that would be bad indeed...

 

Yeah, it works fine other than that!

 

I'm pretty sure all new Vista packages now ship with SP1 already in them. I did some googling to see other people's experiences and some have said that it works fine.

I did install SP1 after installing Vista (32-bit) on my MBP and it works fine. But it didn't show up in Windows Update, so I downloaded it from Microsoft's website directly.

 

SP 1 update may not show up right away after new vista installation. First it installs xillions of updates and then u get the SP1. For me the update came around 3rd day after i kept on updating different files.

 

I am looking to buy a macbook primarily for it's build quality and I have no intentions of using mac os. Since you guys say it wouldn't be wise to delete the mac os partition, what if I just buy another HD, can I load up boot camp and install windows without any extra partitions and keep the original drive just in case I need to update it?

 

I recommend that you give OS X a try because macbook is made for OS X. If you are truely looking for build quality without truly any intentions of giving mac OS X a try, then you should be looking for PC business laptops which could cost less than a mac like the Thinkpad T400. I suggest that you should be more open-minded about mac OS X and give it a try...let's say a try at a local Apple Store.

 

Hmmmm...I have a question; hopefully someone has some ideas. I installed Vista Business via Boot Camp (with a legit CD and everything). The whole procedure seemed to go well. However, I noticed that maybe every 30-60 minutes, the computer just LOCKS UP. Can't press CTRL-ALT-DEL, can't move the mouse, nothing. It just freezes. Then I have to press the power button and restart the machine. The only thing I've installed on the machine is Firefox...that's it. Even if I'm NOT using Firefox (i.e. using IE), the machine still seems to do the same thing.

Anyone ever experience the same thing before?