Windows on my iMac

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First I'm new to the forum. Second I have only had my iMac for a year, used PC forever.

I have two old windows (XP) programs I really want to run. My laptop's processor is dying.
I would like to take the Hard drive from the laptop connect the drive with a usb enclosure to my iMac and run windows from the drive. I don't need to run these programs at the same time as my OS programs. Is this possible??
 

vansmith

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Virtualization is your friend here. I can only speak to Parallels here but you can boot from external devices (you might even be able to do it from the free VirtualBox but I don't know).
 

chscag

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I have two old windows (XP) programs I really want to run. My laptop's processor is dying.
I would like to take the Hard drive from the laptop connect the drive with a usb enclosure to my iMac and run windows from the drive. I don't need to run these programs at the same time as my OS programs. Is this possible??

Windows will not run from an external drive so you can put that idea away. As Administrator Vansmith pointed out, using virtualization is likely the best way to run those programs. (VirtualBox from Oracle is free.) If you tell us which XP programs they are, we can advise you as to which method of running Windows on your Mac is best.
 

chscag

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Goldmine and Cardscan

I'm assuming those are games? Normally we recommend running graphic intensive games using Boot Camp (dual boot) but your iMac is not able to run XP. 2010 model Macs and later are only able to run Windows 7, 8, and 8.1.

I honestly don't know if either of those games will run OK using virtual software. As mentioned VirtualBox is free, however, you will still need a full legal install copy of XP.

There is also another method: WINE or CrossOver. (WINE is free but CrossOver is not.) I have both WINE and CrossOver installed on my iMac. WINE is more difficult to setup and get running right and is very limited in what it can run. CrossOver is very easy to setup and get running and supports many more Windows programs and games.
 
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Neither are games. Goldmine is a old contact manager. Cardscan is a business card data base that does contain images of the saved business cards.
 

chscag

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In that case, you should be fine running VirtualBox.
 

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