Starting Coherence

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Hello guys. I'm using Parallels for my Bootcamped Windows 7 on macbook pro running Lion. And when I try to start coherence mode, it gets stuck in "Starting Coherence" state.

What may be the problem?

Screen shot 2012-03-13 at 10.57.56 PM.png
 
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Did you create your VM from the windows installation on your BootCamp partition? there are occasionally issues that arise when using those for the VM install. You might try reinstalling Windows within Parallels (as a test) to see if Coherence mode launches from that VM (if you keep that one you'll have activation issues but not immediately).

That's what I would try - if you still have the Windows install disks it won't take too long.

Cheers
 
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Did you create your VM from the windows installation on your BootCamp partition? there are occasionally issues that arise when using those for the VM install. You might try reinstalling Windows within Parallels (as a test) to see if Coherence mode launches from that VM (if you keep that one you'll have activation issues but not immediately).

That's what I would try - if you still have the Windows install disks it won't take too long.

Cheers

Thats exactly what i did. İ used my bootcamp created partition for parallels. Ill try your advice. Thanks
 
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It will create a second VM (of course none of your software will be on it), but just install something - anything - and then try to run it in coherence mode. If it works fine, then that's your issue. If it's still mucking up, come on back and we'll try to sort it.

Cheers
 
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It will create a second VM (of course none of your software will be on it), but just install something - anything - and then try to run it in coherence mode. If it works fine, then that's your issue. If it's still mucking up, come on back and we'll try to sort it.

Cheers

Hello again. Since my bootcamp windows installation was old and face it windows installations does not get any younger as days go. So I backed up my save games and removed Bootcamp partition. Merged the free disk space back to Macinstosh HD again. Then I uninstalled Parallels. Completely cleaned everything.

Then installed Paralles and started an installation of Windows 7 from inside Parallels. Now I have a virtual Windows 7 which does work in Coherence mode without any problem thanks to you.

But now I realize that

1- I cannot boot into Windows installation when booting the computer up.

2- And device manager in windows does not show that fast AMD graphics card which MBP does have. So I probably will not be able to play resource demanding software from in Parallels.

So which one would be a faster and stronger Windows 7 computer? Running a Parallels w7 installation under Mac OS X or running a bootcamped w7 installation under Mac OS X?
 

chscag

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So which one would be a faster and stronger Windows 7 computer? Running a Parallels w7 installation under Mac OS X or running a bootcamped w7 installation under Mac OS X?

Windows 7 or any version of Windows will always be faster and more responsive when run natively. That means a separate dual boot using the Boot Camp assistant.
 
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Windows 7 or any version of Windows will always be faster and more responsive when run natively. That means a separate dual boot using the Boot Camp assistant.

Off course that is. But as you see that's not what I'm asking.
 

chscag

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Well, you better look at your question again because it's exactly what you asked.

Running Windows 7 natively "means" using Boot Camp and a dual boot. Once your Mac dual boots to Windows 7 it becomes a Windows machine and therefore runs Windows 7 natively.
 
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When running in a virtual machine, Parallels uses a "virtual" graphics adapter and inserts a layer between the VM and a fair amount of the hardware including your graphics adapter. To run games, which is what most folks need native graphics access for, a Boot Camp installation will work best.

Had you followed my original advice - install a second VM in Parallels in addition to your Boot Camp partition, you could then have chosen which way to go. Normally, you should have been able to do that with what you did (install a VM off your BC partition) but for some reason you couldn't run parallels.

Ultimately, you have to decide what works best for you. Windows is just as "strong" either way - the question really is whether you have applications that require native graphic hardware access. productivity apps (e.g., Office), web surfing, email, even watching DVDs, etc. don't really require native hardware access. However, video editing, heaving photo editing and demanding 3D games typically do.

Your choice.

Cheers
 
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When running in a virtual machine, Parallels uses a "virtual" graphics adapter and inserts a layer between the VM and a fair amount of the hardware including your graphics adapter. To run games, which is what most folks need native graphics access for, a Boot Camp installation will work best.

Had you followed my original advice - install a second VM in Parallels in addition to your Boot Camp partition, you could then have chosen which way to go. Normally, you should have been able to do that with what you did (install a VM off your BC partition) but for some reason you couldn't run parallels.

Ultimately, you have to decide what works best for you. Windows is just as "strong" either way - the question really is whether you have applications that require native graphic hardware access. productivity apps (e.g., Office), web surfing, email, even watching DVDs, etc. don't really require native hardware access. However, video editing, heaving photo editing and demanding 3D games typically do.

Your choice.

Cheers

Thank you I did that. And I guess I should create a new BC partition and try it with Parallels again from the scratch. Because I need graphics power for gaming but also I want to be able to run Windows under Mac OS to use coherence mode. Just installing a windows with Parallels and not being able to dual-boot will not be enough.

Thanks again..
 
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Well, you better look at your question again because it's exactly what you asked.

Running Windows 7 natively "means" using Boot Camp and a dual boot. Once your Mac dual boots to Windows 7 it becomes a Windows machine and therefore runs Windows 7 natively.

My question was:
So which one would be a faster and stronger Windows 7 computer? Running a Parallels w7 installation under Mac OS X or running a bootcamped w7 installation under Mac OS X?

What I meant was: Are these two actions produce virtual machines with same power levels

(1) A W7 installed with Parallels running under Mac OS X
(2) A W7 bootcamp installation running under Mac OS X (obviously by Parallels again)

Off course booting into W7 would be faster. I was just wondering if there was a performance difference between Parallels installation and a BC installation. (Both running with Parallels under Mac OS) Maybe I was not clear enough or was lousy with propositions (I'm not native English speaker obviously)

Thank you for your help though
 
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Thanks for clarifying your question. The two virtual machines will run at the same speed under Parallels, as far as I have ever been able to tell. At least that was my experience under VM Ware Fusion (I have not worked extensively with Parallels but believe the answer would be the same). No difference between them speed-wise. However, as you discovered, creating virtual machines from a BC partition can unleash some unexpected gremlins. I hope that answers your question.
 

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