10-30-2011, 08:43 AM

My 3 year old macbook pro (OS Leopard) ran XP very well but died due to logic board failure. I was advised to buy a new macbook pro, having been informed that it was possible to run XP on it - I use corel draw 10 (which was very expensive) for design work and it doesn't work on windows 7. My new Macbook pro runs lion (10.7.2), and I have managed to load XP by first partitioning the disk by pretending I was loading windows 7, then running XP installer to replace the windows 7, this worked but there are no drivers for XP. I also have tried parallels which works, but the graphics are not good. I have two questions:
1. Can I improve the graphics performance by reducing the mac activities while running XP in parallels?
2. Where can I find drivers for my new macbook pro which will work with XP?

10-30-2011, 08:56 AM

Originally Posted by cfpendock

My 3 year old macbook pro (OS Leopard) ran XP very well but died due to logic board failure. I was advised to buy a new macbook pro, having been informed that it was possible to run XP on it - I use corel draw 10 (which was very expensive) for design work and it doesn't work on windows 7. My new Macbook pro runs lion (10.7.2), and I have managed to load XP by first partitioning the disk by pretending I was loading windows 7, then running XP installer to replace the windows 7, this worked but there are no drivers for XP. I also have tried parallels which works, but the graphics are not good. I have two questions:

Can you explain what you mean by "the graphics are not good"? Are we talking slow performance, or weird coloring, or something like that?

1. Can I improve the graphics performance by reducing the mac activities while running XP in parallels?

If this truly is a performance issue, you probably just need to allocate a bit more RAM (memory) to the virtual machine. Find out what the requirements are for Corel Draw 10 and make sure that you are allocating at least that much (or more) to the guest operating system. I usually recommend at least 1GB for XP, potentially 2 if you're running a "heavy hitter" application... how much memory does your Mac have?

2. Where can I find drivers for my new macbook pro which will work with XP?

Unfortunately, that's precisely the reason Windows XP isn't supported by your Mac... the manufacturers of the different components in your computer likely aren't producing XP drivers anymore. Apple typically just collects them for you and bundles them all together into the Boot Camp driver package. If they haven't done that, it's likely because they're not available.

That's OK though, it should run fine in Parallels (I'd actually recommend VMWare, but it seems you've already gone the Parallels route), given a proper configuration.

10-30-2011, 09:22 AM

Thanks. I should have said that my main requirement is to be able to open and work on many existing projects which were created on the XP system - otherwise I would happily go the mac route. Slow performance is what I mean by poor graphics, interestingly not on the Corel but on MS Powerpoint with moving graphics taken from the Corel. But I didn't explore the possibility of allocating more ram - I presume that is somewhere on the parallels tools? I have 4GB available which ought to be plenty. Perhaps I should use powerpoint for mac - if it will open my existing ppt files. I can try the trial version (Office for Mac) but my internet connection is not much more than dial-up speed so it can take many hours to download the 900 MB! I am also just a little wary of spending money on software when I am not sure it will give me what I want. I am not committed to parallels - I just tried the trial version which in all other respects was excellent. Why might VMWare be better?
What a pity that the XP drivers aren't available! I would have thought there were many other people in my position.....

10-30-2011, 10:31 AM

Originally Posted by cfpendock

Thanks. I should have said that my main requirement is to be able to open and work on many existing projects which were created on the XP system - otherwise I would happily go the mac route. Slow performance is what I mean by poor graphics, interestingly not on the Corel but on MS Powerpoint with moving graphics taken from the Corel. But I didn't explore the possibility of allocating more ram - I presume that is somewhere on the parallels tools?

Parallels Tools is what is installed on the Guest OS to support running the OS in a virtual machine. It doesn't handle the "hardware" settings for the VM, but plays more of a supporting role. Typically the settings for the VM are handled by the Parallels application before booting the VM. I don't have the specific process for you, since I don't use Parallels, but their documentation should show the steps. Typically you'd open the program without booting the VM, go into the settings for the Windows XP VM and change them as appropriate. I'll have to defer to their website/support forums for the specific process, as it could be unintuitive if Parallels is set to auto-start the VM.

I have 4GB available which ought to be plenty.

Yes, it should be - but keep in mind that if you want both your host and guest OSes to run smoothly simultaneously, you have to respect how much memory OS X wants to run comfortably (and it can be a bit of a memory hog). When I first upgraded to a Core i7 machine, I found that OS X was unusable if I allocated a full 2GB to my Windows 7 VM (I had 4GB at the time). I ended up upgrading to 8GB and now I can comfortably run both with 2GB allocated to the VM.

Perhaps I should use powerpoint for mac - if it will open my existing ppt files. I can try the trial version (Office for Mac) but my internet connection is not much more than dial-up speed so it can take many hours to download the 900 MB! I am also just a little wary of spending money on software when I am not sure it will give me what I want.

It should be available in retail form as well. Check your local computer stores and/or an Apple Store, if one is accessible.

I am not committed to parallels - I just tried the trial version which in all other respects was excellent. Why might VMWare be better?

In my experience, Parallels can be more than a bit flakey. They tend to be more aggressive with their new releases and therefore, usually have some bugs here and there. VMWare is the preeminent player in virtualization (they pretty much created the category) - and it's used everywhere from Enterprise-scale server implementations to desktops running just about all major OS platforms. Overall, I just find it to be more robust, although I haven't tried it since version 3.

What a pity that the XP drivers aren't available! I would have thought there were many other people in my position.....

Well, keep in mind that XP just celebrated its 10-year birthday. That makes it a real dinosaur in industry terms. The only reason it's still around is that it took Microsoft so long to follow-up with a new version, and when they did, it pretty much sucked. Windows 7 addressed most of Windows Vista's flaws, so the industry is now moving to it in droves. It's now closing in on Windows XP's market share and it won't be long before Microsoft drops support for XP entirely, which will make it a security risk to run when connected to the Internet.

10-30-2011, 10:57 AM

Thank you very much for your response. I will use your helpful comments to plan my next moves:
1. I will try VMWare - I see they do a trial version. Especially as Parallels is set to auto-start the VM so it is not obvious how to set the RAM allocation, and even if it was, I would be nervous about critically reducing the performance of the OSX.
2. I will upgrade the RAM to 8 GB - it is an inexpensive option which I feel may help.
3. Buy an old pc to operate my Corel (!!!!)
I am aware that the original XP is 10 years old, but it is precisely because the follow ups were so bad that I continued to buy software for XP - which of course continued to be (and still is) available. And XP SP3 is certainly much less than 10 years old. That is why I am surprised that there is no longer any support for it. Of course I could buy windows 7 professional which would work in XP mode, but I understand that this also works as a virtual machine so I think that I would still have the same problems.
I'll post my results - but it may take a few days to get the extra RAM. Once again, many thanks.

10-30-2011, 11:12 AM

Just as an afterthought, I kept the hard disk from my old macbook pro - leopard - already partitioned and installed with XP. Would the old hard disk run on the new Mac? (I don't think so because I can't boot from it), but I just wondered????

10-30-2011, 11:15 AM

Originally Posted by cfpendock

Just as an afterthought, I kept the hard disk from my old macbook pro - leopard - already partitioned and installed with XP. Would the old hard disk run on the new Mac? (I don't think so because I can't boot from it), but I just wondered????

Probably not (at least not able to boot from it). Since your new MacBook Pro cannot run Leopard (OS is too old).

- Nick

10-30-2011, 01:07 PM

Originally Posted by cfpendock

1. ... Especially as Parallels is set to auto-start the VM...

This is a tricky part of Parallels. I have adjusted my memory to 1gb W7 and 3gb Lion (only have 4 on White intel). I have V6 of Parallels - Trick is to go to VM>Configure>Options>Start Automatically and pull down to "never" then OK and restart VM and the Parallels will await instructions. This is the stage you need to move the slider for RAM allocation (Configure>Option). When done move the pull down back to "when Parallels starts" and restart.

10-30-2011, 01:19 PM

I have just installed a trial version of VMWare. I agree with CWA107 that it is much more user friendly than Parallels. Furthermore, having set 2GB of RAM to OSX and 2GB to VM, all my graphics problems appear to be solved. But probably I will buy more RAM anyway - for £20 it is nothing and can only make things even better.

10-30-2011, 10:38 PM

Originally Posted by cfpendock

I have just installed a trial version of VMWare. I agree with CWA107 that it is much more user friendly than Parallels. Furthermore, having set 2GB of RAM to OSX and 2GB to VM, all my graphics problems appear to be solved. But probably I will buy more RAM anyway - for £20 it is nothing and can only make things even better.

Make sure you completely remove Parallels, as it does leave some traces behind, even when it's not actively running.

KB Parallels: How to remove Parallels Desktop?

11-01-2011, 06:20 AM

Unfortunately the KB Parallels link does not apply to v7 which I was using. However, following pointers to the various folders and after running uninstall, I deleted everything related to parallels and one other entitled Windows XP. Judging by the changes in HDD capacity, I think I got everything of any significant size.
I now have 8GB of RAM, 4 on OSX and 4 on VMWare. I also selected 2 processor cores. Everything seems to be working fine, although the machine does sometimes get a little hot (i.e. the fan starts). Thank you everyone.

11-01-2011, 08:00 AM

Originally Posted by cfpendock

Unfortunately the KB Parallels link does not apply to v7 which I was using. However, following pointers to the various folders and after running uninstall, I deleted everything related to parallels and one other entitled Windows XP. Judging by the changes in HDD capacity, I think I got everything of any significant size.
I now have 8GB of RAM, 4 on OSX and 4 on VMWare. I also selected 2 processor cores. Everything seems to be working fine, although the machine does sometimes get a little hot (i.e. the fan starts). Thank you everyone.

Great, glad to hear it's working as expected.

The multiple core option is an interesting feature for sure, although I don't quite understand how it's being implemented and am not sure if it will provide for any tangible performance benefit. Since VMWare can't (currently) allocate a physical core away from the host machine, it seems more like a trick of virtualization to give apps that support multi processing a leg up. But I'd be curious to see how that processing is balanced by the host as there is some emulation going on there.