Windows on Mac with parallels partitioning of harddrive

Hai
i recently brought Mac book pro and i wanted to install windows 7 using desktop for parallels software and make partitions to the hard drive. My question : do i required to partition harddrive before installing windows 7 or else can i do it after installing windows.

If you use parallels then you don't partition your hard drive. Just start up parallel sand create a new VM and have it create a large enough virtual hard disk for windows and then use the DVD and install windows normally..

Partitioning is only necessary if you use to install windows natively using boot camp..

Partition of harddrive

Thank you Ashwin, But if i need to patition my harddrive as we do in windows, can i do it after installing windows in mac using parallels.

You create a virtual HD in Parallels that's the sum of all your intended partitions in Windows and then during the installation of Windows you can partition that large space however you want.

Parallels virtual disks grow to the maximum size used by the guest OS so you're advised to create as large as a disk as you think you'll need to avoid having to resize the disk later on. The disk will only take up the full size if the guest OS actually occupies the entire allowed space..

But I think you will find that if you are used to partitioning your HD in a Windows system to protect your data from viruses and the like, you really won't need to do that on a virtual machine. it will really complicate your system for no real value, since the entire virtual machine (including any associated virtual partitions) resides in a single physical file on your Mac hard drive.

I would strongly recommend you start without doing an virtual partition and go from there. There really is no benefit to it in a virtual machine context and it can only cause issues.

Cheers

SammySlim said:

But I think you will find that if you are used to partitioning your HD in a Windows system to protect your data from viruses and the like, you really won't need to do that on a virtual machine. it will really complicate your system for no real value, since the entire virtual machine (including any associated virtual partitions) resides in a single physical file on your Mac hard drive.

I would strongly recommend you start without doing an virtual partition and go from there. There really is no benefit to it in a virtual machine context and it can only cause issues.

Cheers

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Be advised that when you do run Windows in a virutal environment, you STILL need to run an anti-virus software on there to protect that installation. Your Mac and OS X is immune to issues that might happen in Parallels, but your Windows (just because it's running on a Mac) isn't protected..

I have a habit of basically installing guest OS' in VMWare Fusion (my chosen VM software) and immediately after installation, I snapshot it before going any farther. I continue to snapshot the VM when I make significant changes so that I can always revert to a good snapshot should my guest installation mess up..