11-17-2007, 01:36 PM

Have just loaded VMware fusion on my iMac as, unfortunately, I still have a few programs that require Windows to function. I'm still in the process of loading the windows programs but I'm so excited by how easy the installation has gone and how fluently I can now run XP in a window while simultaneously running Apple apps that I just wanted to share the good news...

1. Installation of Fusion was quite lengthy, partly owing to the option to load up a new version, but completely trouble-free and requiring no technical knowledge whatsoever.

2. Getting updates to XP (ie latest service pack) was a complete pain. I'd forgotten just how difficult Microsoft make everything. Warning window after warning window, need to log on, to give my personal details, select directories, etc, etc. I'm still not to clear if any of the updates actually downloaded, so involved was the procedure, that I gave up and decided to run with the version that I had and to possibly sek out the updates when I can be bothered (and have half a day to spare!)

3. Installing software to run my Canon D660U scanner was easy but required a hundred or so mouse clicks to confirm every stage of the installation. However, I can now use my Scanner. Fantastic news.

4. Installing PAF - the genealogy program from FamilySearch.org (the best I have found - and free!) was dead easy and runs perfectly.

5. I used to run the free version of AVG anti-virus on my old Dell, but XP versions are all either 30 trial or payable. No free personal version. Can't understand why Win98 users get a free copy and XP users don't. Something to investigate later.

6. During the various installations the computer had to be rebooted. I just loved the way that only the virtual pc had to reboot (a matter of seconds) while I could still use the 'Apple side' unhindered.

7. I'm about to embark on loading MS Money. Keeping my fingers tightly crossed.

Had my 24" iMac for a couple of months now. Am still loving it and suffer withdrawal symptoms when away from it for too long.

So there you have it. Vmware Fusion - it does what it says on the box.

ps - I found out about Fusion on this site, so thanks guys, this switcher is now one happy bunny!

11-17-2007, 03:09 PM

The windows updates do take a while on a fresh installation. But for AVG Anti-virus, there is a free version. I tried looking for it on Grisoft's site the other day and couldn't find it, but was able to download it from cnet.

11-17-2007, 04:07 PM

I'm glad it's gone well for you. I am a big Fusion fan, so here's a tip.
Remember that everything you see in Fusion...everything...is really just stored as a very large file on your Mac hard drive. So what happens if that virtual file gets damaged? Any data files (pictures, financial data, etc.) get much harder to recover if they aren't stand-alone files.
I install all my Windows apps in Windows (C:/Program Files/...blah blah), but
VMWare Tools (installed with Fusion) allows you to save all your Windows files to your Mac User folder (and vice-versa). To make it even more convenient, I map my Mac folder as a drive in Windows Explorer. All the work I do in Windows is saved on the Mac side, and so will be available to me even without starting Fusion. And if anything happens to the Fusion virtual file, no data files are lost in the mass. Finally, file backup is a one-step process, just back up the Mac folder and everything is safe.
Have fun!

11-17-2007, 04:12 PM

AVG free
anti- virus, spyware and rootkit

11-17-2007, 04:33 PM

Originally Posted by Neo

I'm glad it's gone well for you. I am a big Fusion fan, so here's a tip.
Remember that everything you see in Fusion...everything...is really just stored as a very large file on your Mac hard drive. So what happens if that virtual file gets damaged? Any data files (pictures, financial data, etc.) get much harder to recover if they aren't stand-alone files.
I install all my Windows apps in Windows (C:/Program Files/...blah blah), but
VMWare Tools (installed with Fusion) allows you to save all your Windows files to your Mac User folder (and vice-versa). To make it even more convenient, I map my Mac folder as a drive in Windows Explorer. All the work I do in Windows is saved on the Mac side, and so will be available to me even without starting Fusion. And if anything happens to the Fusion virtual file, no data files are lost in the mass. Finally, file backup is a one-step process, just back up the Mac folder and everything is safe.
Have fun!

Thanks for this. I'll have to check out saving data files to the mac side. Not sure how to acheive this just at the moment...but I'm about to look.

11-17-2007, 04:38 PM

Originally Posted by bobtomay

AVG free
anti- virus, spyware and rootkit

Many thanks - and to Illusionist. I just didn't scroll down far enough on the Grisoft site (bad design or lazy user - you choose!)

11-17-2007, 05:21 PM

Neo - I just cannot get my head around this file sharing lark. Can you help?

I've created a folder in my documents directory and given both it and it's contents read & write access to My Group (whatever that is) and Others. I've copied my data files into this folder from the Windows side but in Windows I just get the message that files are opened in Read mode only and cannot be updated. What am I missing?

11-19-2007, 06:36 PM

Sorry it's taken a while to get back. Work...what can you do?

Something I've heard a LOT since switching is, "you're overthinking it." In this case I think this is true of you.

There is no need to make special shared folders or set permissions or such things. Permissions, especially, seem to muck things up in my experience. The process is too complicated in OS X. Undo all that stuff you did and start afresh.

OK, start Windows in Fusion. Have you installed VMWare Tools? The icon (three interlocked squares) should be in the Notification area of the Windows Toolbar. If you haven't installed VMWare Tools, in the Fusion toolbar click Virtual Machine...Install VMWare Tools (Windows needs to be running to do this).

In the Fusion toolbar, click Settings (or press Command + E). Select Shared Folders. Click both checkboxes to Enable. Click Apply. Click the + at the bottom of the list and select Add Shared Folder. You can browse to a specific folder on your Mac, but I just select my User root folder, which means I can easily access all my Mac files in one place. You can set up several folders this way if you choose...

Almost done; now you can set your Mac HD as a drive letter. In My Computer in Windows, click Tools...Map Network Drive. Select a drive letter (I chose X: ) then Browse to the Shared Folder you set up in the previous step. Click OK. Enjoy your totally integrated file system!

As I alluded to before, I set my default document folders in apps and save everything to my X: drive...nothing is ever saved in my Windows virtual file...just my Windows apps are resident. By repeating the last two steps there, you could set up a P: drive for your Mac Pictures folder, D: for Documents, S: for Sites...that's a little too excessive for me though.

03-03-2008, 10:12 AM

I am a new switcher to a MBP running Leopard and Fusion. I am still reading/exploring the HW and SW before I start using it for work.

I just learned about saving my work in my user root folder which would then facilitate backing up all my mac and windows work in one go. Thanks.

Question: what about all the installed programs etc? How do I go about backing them up for an easy restore (just lost all my stuff once and had to start from scratch)? I use Acronis True Image to back up my Windows stuff on my PC. I have little knowledge on Macs.

03-03-2008, 10:48 AM

Sounds good to me, glad you're finding it easy. Parallels is a decent alternative as well.

Some backup Tips

- Backup the entire C drive to a different physical disk regularly, this is very straightforward
- When you're running in windows, it can see external drives and you can save anything to a FAT32 formatted drive as though it was a native machine, so this isn't complex and you don't need to store every single file within the virtual disk

03-03-2008, 11:01 AM

Running backup software when using fusion is completely unnecessary. Use snapshots to keep an easily recoverable single point in time restore and every now and then make a copy of your VM folder and boom you have a complete backup. You can always run windows right out of a copy of the VM folder.

As for keeping your documents in a folder on your mac instead of in the VM compressed file...I would like to find a single report of this file ever getting corrupt. Now, not to say it is not a decent idea to be safe but lets not make people think something like this is an every day occurrence or anything.

While you have XP open in your VM hit the Unity button on the top right. You may like what you find.

03-03-2008, 11:47 AM

OK. Time to download the Fusion trial. I really need to dual head my Mac Pro. I think it would be fun to play Eve under OSX and Anarchy Online under Fusion on a separate monitor at the same time. More importantly though, I need to be able to run MS Money on the Windoze side.

If I can do that, I can shutdown the PC completely and that give me my second monitor to dual head with.

03-03-2008, 11:59 AM

I did not ask the question clearly.

My question was: to back up the C: whilst running Fusion, do I run a PC backup program like Acronis to get an image on an external HD or is there an alternative method whilst running Leopard? I had a system hang whilst running Fusion and installing a PC Tax program and it refused to shut down at all. In the end I foolish tried to do a restore from Time Machine without knowing what I was doing - my fault!! Hence my question.

I am not sure what/how to do a snap shot yet but will read it up. If I still don't know what svnipp is talking about, I will post further.

Thanks guys.

03-03-2008, 12:33 PM

No reason to run backup software in windows. Just shut down your VM and make a copy of the virtual disk. That is a full system backup that can be run all by itself. You will not find a better backup method from inside the VM.

03-03-2008, 12:41 PM

That is clarity! Thanks.

Any backup software recommendations? I had a peek at ibackup already.