Windows 7 Ethernet driver

Dear All,

I have loaded windows 7 32bit on to my imac and its working perfectly via dual booting. But some driver files are missing especially the ethernet controller. Where do i find the same to update the driver?

Please help.

Regards,
Tom

When you ran through the Bootcamp Assistant in Mac you will have been given an opportunity to download a driver package to use in Windows.

If you didn't do this you'll need to run the assistant again, download the package then quit out.

Re : Ethernet controller

Omg! I was zapped by the quick reply. Thanks a ton. Lemme try it out!

Regards,
tom

Dear All,

Please let me know whether any software exist to switch easily from Mac to Windows and viceversa without restarting the system.

Regards,
Tom

Not the easiest to install and get working right but it's free and it sure is pretty. "rEFIt" download from here.

Dual booting

Dear chscag,

thanks a lot!!! It work well.

One more query. will it work without restarting the machine??

REgards,
Tom

Unfortunately, rEFIt like any other boot menu utility requires rebooting the system in order to gain access to the startup menu.

The only way you can switch from OS X to Windows without a reboot is by using virtual machine software: Parallels, VMware, or VirtualBox (which is free).

Virtual Box

Dear Chscag,

thanx a lot for suggesting Virtual Box. I tried it, but after installing the same in Mac, it says there is no any bootable media and system halts!

I am unable to switch from mac to windows. Please help

REgards,
Tom

I'm guessing, correct me if I'm wrong, that you haven't installed Windows in Virtual Box and what you really want to do is access the Windows installation on your Bootcamp partition.

If that's the case you'll need VMWare Fusion or Parallels in order to access the windows partition within OSX

Virtual Box

Dear Chscag,

Exactly!!!!

I have installed Windows and Mac in different partitions and as you guided, by installing "rEFIt" im able to switch between operating systems. But after installing Virtual box, i thought i would be able to swtich between OS without restarting the machine.

Will parellel solve my issue? Where is it available??

Thanks once again

Tom

Parallels:
Parallels Desktop 7 for Mac - #1 rated utility to run Windows and Windows Applications on your Mac

VMWare Fusion
VMware Fusion: Run Windows on Mac for Desktop Virtualization

Both of these are similar products but I'd strongly suggest reading up on them and understanding what they do and how they do it before committing to a purchase

Virtual Box does not create a Windows virtual machine from a Boot Camp partition, but both Parallels and Fusion will do that (part of the reason they cost $$$ and VBox does not). Both Parallels and Fusion offer free trial periods, so go ahead and download them and see which works best for you. Not sure why you used reFit rather than Boot Camp -- and also not sure if any of the virtual machine programs will recognize a reFit partition and create a VM from it.

You can also just create a new virtual machine using a windows disc as an alternative to using a BC partition to do so.

Cheers

Parellel

Dear All,

thanks for your guidances. I downloaded the trial version of Parellel and succesfully installed on my mac. In the parellel desktop window, its again asking me to load Windows from CD or use from boot camp which was not succesful. Do i need to lad windows again on VM as i have already running windows on my dual booting environment?

Please guide..

REgards,
Tom

Both products are designed to detect the bootcamp partition. Perhaps something that they look for isn't present on the manual partition you created. I'd contact Parallels support and enquire about loading the windows partition in a VM.

If you have to just run windows in a VM you will have to do a fresh install for that. In which case you may as well use Virtual Box

Parellel

Dear All,

AS i have a already installed Windows on my Mac, would installing windows again in the virtual machine harm my data or OS in any way???

Regards,
TOM

No, the VM is completely self contained. The only issue you may have is Windows activation as this will be seen as a completely new install