Can someone please explain how I get Dragon NaturallySpeaking to load

Hello everyone and I wonder if someone can stop me going completely bald all together with the following issue.

I have a macbook pro with VMware Fusion and a new Windows XP installed. I purchased Dragon NaturallySpeaking 11 Home download and when it was all virtually ready to run, I received a message telling me that I did not have enough memory. I do have the standard 2GB of Ram that came with it and I am wondering if I can partition the hard drive to give 1Gb to VM Ware, so that I can use Dragon.

I am not technically minded at all, so if you could explain your thoughts, I would be extremely grateful.

Kind regards,
Terry

It sounds like you are confusing hard disk space with memory. The two are different. Memory is the space that programs are loaded into in order for the CPU to actually run the program. Hard disk space is semi-permanent storage where things like programs, the operating system and documents/data are stored for the long run. Memory is purged each time you shut the computer down (or in your case, each time you shut the virtual machine down).

This gets kind of confusing when you run Windows in a virtual machine like you do with VMWare Fusion. It sounds like your computer has 2GB of memory. By default, I believe Fusion allocates 512MB of that memory to your virtual machine (which takes away that amount from the overall 2GB of memory when the virtual machine is running).

2GB is somewhat small when you're running a VM, unfortunately. I think the best thing for you to do would be to increase the memory allotment to Windows XP. 1GB should do the trick, unless NaturallySpeaking requires more than that (it's a possibility since 4GB+ RAM is more common these days).

What I would do is this - shut down the virtual machine completely (do not just close the window, which simply pauses the VM). Once it's shut down, click the Virtual Machine menu and go to Settings. From there, go to Memory and bump it up to 1024MB (which is 1GB). Start the VM back up and try again. See how that works for you.

If you need to allocate more memory to it, you would be well-advised to consider upgrading the installed memory in your machine, which (unless I'm getting the model wrong) should be capable of running 4GB.

Many thanks for your kind words and great advice and I shall try this now and let you know. I really apollagise for taking so long to get back to you, but I was unaware that you had so kindly replied soon after, as I never received an email letting me know.

I'm not sure if I should get an email, or if we just need to keep checking for replies. Maybe I am suppose to do something in my profile to alter this, so I will have a look at that as well.

If I can work out how to completely shut down VMWare, I will try and adjust the settings that you mention and definately let hyou know through politeness. Also you are spot on with the 4GB maximum memory, which I will change to from the 2GB.

Many thanks once again,
Terry

Polite update for your very kind help...

I shut down Windows XP, changed the settings (you were spot on) re booted XP, and program loaded, although as you mentioned, it did message me saying that I should really give it 2GB, which I will upgrade to the 4GB that you suggested, but thanks to you... all is now loaded and runs fine.

Many thanks again and greatly appreciated,
Terry
PS I changed my profile settings I believe to receive emails.