Running Windows on a Mac: A Switcher's Guide

2rockfarmers said:

Thanks cwa107,

Seeing as I don't have the Lion drivers DVD (I downloaded it to replace SL), am I right in thinking that I can download the Lion drivers on to a blank DVD when I go through the bootcamp partitioning process? As I understand, I will need to install the Lion drivers in windows for it to work. I assume I can then use this DVD as if it were a normal install DVD for Lion.

Appreciate your help

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That's right. With Lion (and later versions of Snow Leopard), the Boot Camp process has changed slightly. Now, you'll be prompted to burn a driver disc during the partitioning process.

The disc comes with all of the Apple hardware-specific drivers you need and a package of software that adds functionality into Windows to make your life easier with certain Apple-specific functions. This is installed following the Windows installation.

cwa107 said:

That's right. With Lion (and later versions of Snow Leopard), the Boot Camp process has changed slightly. Now, you'll be prompted to burn a driver disc during the partitioning process.

The disc comes with all of the Apple hardware-specific drivers you need and a package of software that adds functionality into Windows to make your life easier with certain Apple-specific functions. This is installed following the Windows installation.

Click to expand...

As there now seems to be a trend of Apple not fitting DVD drives to machines (the new Minis) how will this work if a disc is required for Bootcamp installation? I have to admit I haven't investigated this yet. I just saw this thread running.

neilf said:

As there now seems to be a trend of Apple not fitting DVD drives to machines (the new Minis) how will this work if a disc is required for Bootcamp installation? I have to admit I haven't investigated this yet. I just saw this thread running.

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Only thing I can think of with that is an external USB Optical drive. There is one for the Air but It only works on the Air. Not the Mini I am told.

Hi everybody,

I have a problem with installing Windows XP SP3 on my mac, when the bootcamp reboot my mac to installing Windows it say "there's no reboot able device"

It's from my installation CD or my bootcamp version?
My bootcamp version is 3.0.4, but i'm sure that CD is works

Please help me

Hey guys, have a question about running windows 7. I need windows for school, and will purchase the student edition online, but have a foreseeable problem. I dont want to buy a new computer because i love mine right now, so i have decide to bootcamp windows. I cannot find any instructions on how to install windows from a downloaded file through boot camp! can anyone give me some suggestions?

thanks! (i have fullly updated OSX SL.)

Protosauce said:

Hey guys, have a question about running windows 7. I need windows for school, and will purchase the student edition online, but have a foreseeable problem. I dont want to buy a new computer because i love mine right now, so i have decide to bootcamp windows. I cannot find any instructions on how to install windows from a downloaded file through boot camp! can anyone give me some suggestions?

thanks! (i have fullly updated OSX SL.)

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Im almost positive your going to either have to order a DVD from wherever your getting windows from or your going to just have to burn the file they send you onto a blank DVD

using external hardrive

Hi, im checking out solutions for a friend. Is it possible to run windows 7 off of an external hardrive and have a mac use that to boot windows 7?

I have never tried Windows 7 that way, but I know for sure Windows 8 will NOT install to any USB, Firewire, ETC connected External. It flat out says that in the installer.

I am sure someone else will report in, but I have a feeling it will not work.

ThomasWraith said:

Hi, im checking out solutions for a friend. Is it possible to run windows 7 off of an external hardrive and have a mac use that to boot windows 7?

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Yes, it's possible using a virtualization product like VMWare, Parallels, or VirtualBox. Virtualization products run Windows nearly as well as a native install, but can have some problems with software that requires heavy 3D acceleration (like games).

It is not possible to use 'Boot Camp', which installs Windows natively, on an external hard drive.

Thanks for that CWA. I had never tried till the DP of Windows 8 but was pretty sure it would not work with Bootcamp. OSX will though. Did it with Lion for a test.

Windows - Running Windows on a Mac: A Switcher's Guide

Nicely written cwa107.

I recently switched to Mac from Windows. After reading about Bootcamp and the requirement to reboot to switch environments, I went straight to VMWare Fusion. Having some VM experience probably affected that decision.

I really like Fusions options to run windows as a standalone or share folders between Mac and Windows. Full screen is also nice, and I appreciate that I can load more than one OS and still select a default system. VMWare also adds the option for Appliances and access to peripheral devices.

Another nice feature is the ability to assign programs to Mac or Windows, so they open seamlessly by the proper OS when downloaded, but the best feature is the ability to import (or clone) Windows 7 from my Dell and basically run that on my Mac.

Here is where I made guesses, but would really appreciate your input on the best settings for running Windows without impacting my Mac environment.

Do you have recommended settings for the amount of space to assign?

I can assign up to 8 processors (my MacBook Pro has only 4). Is there value in assigning more? Does this affect my Mac performance?

How much Ram should I assign?

Thanks!

U.

MacBook Pro 15, e
2GHz Intel i7
8GB 1333 MHz DDR3
AMD Radeon HD 6490M 256MB
Mac OS X Lion 10.7.1

VMWare Fusion 3 (too cheap to upgrade)

Windows 7 Ultimate



If my questions puzzle, frustrate or simply annoy you, just remember: You were new once too!

UwereNew1ce2 said:

Do you have recommended settings for the amount of space to assign?

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VMWare dynamically expands the VHD as needed. So, it's OK to go with the default.

I can assign up to 8 processors (my MacBook Pro has only 4). Is there value in assigning more? Does this affect my Mac performance?

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This is an interesting question. I suppose it would help if the applications you ran were multi-processor capable. But since the vast majority are not, I don't see that it would make much of a difference. It would be nice if VMWare could dedicate specific cores to the VM, but that's not how it works. Unfortunately today's multiprocessing in virtualization is more abstract than that.

How much Ram should I assign?

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It depends on your OS and the requirements of the applications you run within it. Generally Windows 7 is comfortable with 2GB in my experience. If you're running more heavy hitter apps, 4GB+ is preferable. Just make sure your host can still have at least 2GB to itself.

ok need help with this. Im running windows 7 and osx lion via bootcamp. I have switched to lion using the bootcamp application on windows (worked fine).

How do i switch back to windows. I have a wireless keyboard so holding down option key doesn't work. Going to system preferences > start up disk gives me no options to change either. At a loss here.

I'm likewise at a loss because from Windows 7 you were able to choose to boot to OS X. If that worked OK, then System Preferences, Startup Disk should list your Windows 7 as a boot choice. What's listed under Startup Disk?

Also, you should be able to use the Option key on your BT keyboard if it's paired correctly in OS X.

chscag said:

I'm likewise at a loss because from Windows 7 you were able to choose to boot to OS X. If that worked OK, then System Preferences, Startup Disk should list your Windows 7 as a boot choice. What's listed under Startup Disk?

Also, you should be able to use the Option key on your BT keyboard if it's paired correctly in OS X.

Click to expand...

nothings listed under start up disk, completely blank!! the BT keyboard doesn't seem to connect until after the point the option key is required so doesn't work either. The only option i have is plugging a usb keyboard in on start up and holding down alt. Works fine but not really something i wanna do every time i want to switch to windows.

It sure sounds like you had a bad install of Windows 7. Did you install Lion or did it come pre-installed on your machine? We need to know that before suggesting some kind of reinstallation of Windows 7.

Also, how about posting info regarding your machine? Tell us the year and model.

cwa107 said:

Yes, it's possible using a virtualization product like VMWare, Parallels, or VirtualBox. Virtualization products run Windows nearly as well as a native install, but can have some problems with software that requires heavy 3D acceleration (like games).

It is not possible to use 'Boot Camp', which installs Windows natively, on an external hard drive.

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Windows switcher. I need to run Microsoft Money Plus and Listpro from my Macbook Air (2011). I do not need to run them except periodically. I do not want to use valuable MBA SSD with a Windows product. Hence, I too want to install a VM host to an external hard drive (USB) and install some form of Windows OS (XP or Vista or ...).

Which of those products will be the easiest to install and use? I am not too concerned about slow performance of the two windows apps since they not not be heavily needed.

As an alternative, does a simple way exist to run those programs remotely from my MBA?

Thanks

Mike

MikeV99 said:

Windows switcher. I need to run Microsoft Money Plus and Listpro from my Macbook Air (2011). I do not need to run them except periodically. I do not want to use valuable MBA SSD with a Windows product. Hence, I too want to install a VM host to an external hard drive (USB) and install some form of Windows OS (XP or Vista or ...).

Which of those products will be the easiest to install and use? I am not too concerned about slow performance of the two windows apps since they not not be heavily needed.

As an alternative, does a simple way exist to run those programs remotely from my MBA?

Thanks

Mike

Click to expand...

I would recommend taking this opportunity to cut Microsoft Money loose and migrate to a replacement like iBank. Money is no longer under development and support stops at the end of this year. This means that there will be no security updates for the product. This is a particularly bad thing since Money connects to the Internet and contains financial data (in other words, it's a very high value target for hackers - and being that it's a Microsoft product, it likely has more holes than swiss cheese).

Listpro looks like it would also be easy to find an alternative to - if I'm reading the description right, iProcrastinate, Things and possibly Circus Ponies' Notebook all look like they may offer equivalent and better options.

With that said, given your limited storage, if you must use these products, I'd take a look at CrossOver. CrossOver is a commercially developed version of WINE that will allow many apps to run without Windows at all. Both ListPro and certain versions of Money are listed as being compatible.

But to tell you the truth, I think you'd be better served making the switch to a different app and trying to port the data over.

Money no longer connects to the Internet. Transactions are done by downloading them via web connect. However, that probably is not material. My wife will not give up those two apps. I have spent several hours looking for a replacement for ListPro. We have used those 2 apps for a very long time. It will take a long time to move her to another platform. She is a heavy user of ListPro on the PC, iPad, and iPhone.

I tried a trial of Crossover and it was not able to handle things.

which boot camp version?

Hi guys sorry if this question is a lil stupid but I'm lil slow learner and not a comp savy . I have a new macbook pro and want to run windows operating system just for games. what version of boot camp i need? what i instal first windows or boot camp? thank you