Running Windows on Mac

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Your Mac's Specs
20' iMac / 2.0ghz / 250GB HD / 4.0GB RAM - Leopard
Running Win on Mac - COMPLETELY LOST

Tell it to me like I am a 5 y.o. please.

I got my iMac 2.0 processor with 2GB RAM and 250GB and Leopard.

I am coming from Win and NEVER used a mac before. I am trying to migrate my emails, address books and calendar to native OS programs so at least I get that out of the way and do not need to use Windows for that. I still need windows for some elements of MSOffice and win programs that are too expensive (CS3, DXO, etc.) and cannot replace in mac versions.

I need to know the following:

1) In order to use Parallels or Vmware Fusion do I need to install Bootcamp first? Or by going with P or VMF I can overpass Bootcamp totally?

2) If Bootcamp needed, how does it work? I will be using several heavy win programs (including CS3) but also hi-def video editing in mac (Finalcut Express) - do I need to designate half of my HD to win and half to Mac and also designate in 1GB RAM to each OS?

3) If bootcamp is not needed, do I still need to partition my HD with either Parallels or VMF and designate about half to each?

4) When I look at my folders via FINDER or Windows Explorer will I see all my folders and files in HD whether those folders and files were created using mac or win? And if so, by clicking the file directly will open the win or mac application? Or I will only see mac files and folders via FINDER and only win files and folders via Wexplorer?

5) Do I need to install all my printers and needed peripherals drivers TWICE? Once in my mac (for those which require installation) and then in Win again?

6) I have an external HD where I plan to back up everything. Would Time Machine "image" my computer completely (mac and win) or just the mac portion? If the latter, do I have to install a similar program (like Acronis) for win and have it run separately to back and image my win portion? And if so, do I need to partition my HD for each separate back up or I can simply give a FOLDER in my HD to each of those back up systems?

7) After installing Win XP SP2 in my mac, do I have to install regularly all the updates from windows as I normally do on my pc? Do I have to install all my army of stupid antiviruses and antispyware and firewall on win as if I was running my pc alone?

These two are general but since I am here:

8) I am not planning to use IE7 (except for banking as you know banks are a pain about using other browsers) but I would like to use ONE browser for everything else. Is it Opera or Firefox the most recommendable and how I can transfer all my IE favorites to these programs?

9) How do I set up my password admin in my mac?

THANK YOU.

Rick
 
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Alright, I see you are totally confused. That's alright. There are a lot of people here who can help you.

To start off, what bootcamp actually does:

Bootcamp installs windows on another partition of your hard drive. It lets you boot up to EITHER Mac OS OR Win. OS. You don't need to section your RAM.

What parallels does is it lets you run windows programs on your mac operating system, without needed to install the windows operating system.

If you create a partition with windows, you can view all the windows files from your mac os desktop. I'm not sure if you may do so the other way around, I tried it without bootcamp and was only able to see one way.

Yes, you will need to install drivers for both operating systems IF you use bootcamp.

Firefox is used by most, including me. Upon installation it should ask you if you would like to import anything from your other internet browsers.

To set up a password, go to System Preferences, Accounts, and select the Administrator account.

Hope this helps,
 
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R
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Your Mac's Specs
20' iMac / 2.0ghz / 250GB HD / 4.0GB RAM - Leopard
Thanks XSX.

I thought only Crossover allows to run them without installing Windows. I see that Parallels does the same then and I don't need to go Bootcamp to run Parallels effectively.

Does Fusion does the same? Or does it using bootcamp?

Thanks again!

Rick
 
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Your Mac's Specs
Mac Mini i5 (2014 High Sierra), iPhone X, Apple Watch, iPad Pro 12.9, AppleTV (4)
Running Win on Mac - COMPLETELY LOST

Tell it to me like I am a 5 y.o. please.

I got my iMac 2.0 processor with 2GB RAM and 250GB and Leopard.

I am coming from Win and NEVER used a mac before. I am trying to migrate my emails, address books and calendar to native OS programs so at least I get that out of the way and do not need to use Windows for that. I still need windows for some elements of MSOffice and win programs that are too expensive (CS3, DXO, etc.) and cannot replace in mac versions.

I need to know the following:

1) In order to use Parallels or Vmware Fusion do I need to install Bootcamp first? Or by going with P or VMF I can overpass Bootcamp totally?

2) If Bootcamp needed, how does it work? I will be using several heavy win programs (including CS3) but also hi-def video editing in mac (Finalcut Express) - do I need to designate half of my HD to win and half to Mac and also designate in 1GB RAM to each OS?

3) If bootcamp is not needed, do I still need to partition my HD with either Parallels or VMF and designate about half to each?

4) When I look at my folders via FINDER or Windows Explorer will I see all my folders and files in HD whether those folders and files were created using mac or win? And if so, by clicking the file directly will open the win or mac application? Or I will only see mac files and folders via FINDER and only win files and folders via Wexplorer?

5) Do I need to install all my printers and needed peripherals drivers TWICE? Once in my mac (for those which require installation) and then in Win again?

6) I have an external HD where I plan to back up everything. Would Time Machine "image" my computer completely (mac and win) or just the mac portion? If the latter, do I have to install a similar program (like Acronis) for win and have it run separately to back and image my win portion? And if so, do I need to partition my HD for each separate back up or I can simply give a FOLDER in my HD to each of those back up systems?

7) After installing Win XP SP2 in my mac, do I have to install regularly all the updates from windows as I normally do on my pc? Do I have to install all my army of stupid antiviruses and antispyware and firewall on win as if I was running my pc alone?

These two are general but since I am here:

8) I am not planning to use IE7 (except for banking as you know banks are a pain about using other browsers) but I would like to use ONE browser for everything else. Is it Opera or Firefox the most recommendable and how I can transfer all my IE favorites to these programs?

9) How do I set up my password admin in my mac?

THANK YOU.

Rick


Opps typed this in then didn't submit! I now notice that some of these have been answered, apologies for the duplication


1) In order to use Parallels or Vmware Fusion do I need to install Bootcamp first? Or by going with P or VMF I can overpass Bootcamp totally?
You don't *need* to install Bootcamp first but I'd suggest you do. It will give you the most flexibility. When setup Bootcamp it creates a new partition on your hard disk that you then install a full 23bit version of Windows to. Then you use your Leopard disk to install all the mac/win drivers and your done. You can then hold the option key on your mac when booting to bring up a menu to decide whether to boot into Windows or OS X.
Using boot camp gives you a full-blown windows PC to run like you would any other windows PC. So install the Anti-virus, Firewall, all the windows updates and any software you like.
Installing parallels or VMWare will use the same windows installation you put on for bootcamp. So you can use one of them to jump into windows for quick/occasional access or re-boot using bootcamp to get *full-blown* windows

2) If Bootcamp needed, how does it work? I will be using several heavy win programs (including CS3) but also hi-def video editing in mac (Finalcut Express) - do I need to designate half of my HD to win and half to Mac and also designate in 1GB RAM to each OS?
See the answer to number 1 above. Booting into Windows via bootcamp will give you the full power of your machine. You can use VMWare fusion or parallels but these won't have the *grunt* to run heavy apps satisfactorily as the cpu/ram is shared with OS X which is running at the same time.

3) If bootcamp is not needed, do I still need to partition my HD with either Parallels or VMF and designate about half to each?
If you do use boot camp and install windows any installation of Parallels or VMWAre Fusion will use that Windows partition. So you only need the one version of windows installed. If you decide not to go down the bootcamp route then when you install Parrallels or VMWAre they will create a big file - a disk image that it uses to imitate a disk partition - this is where windows will be installed - so no partitioning needed for a non-bootcamp setup

4) When I look at my folders via FINDER or Windows Explorer will I see all my folders and files in HD whether those folders and files were created using mac or win? And if so, by clicking the file directly will open the win or mac application? Or I will only see mac files and folders via FINDER and only win files and folders via Wexplorer?
If you choose FAT32 when you install windows you will be able to read/write these files from OS X. Windows will not be able to *see* your OS X based files.

5) Do I need to install all my printers and needed peripherals drivers TWICE? Once in my mac (for those which require installation) and then in Win again?
Quick answer - yes - though as noted above the Leopard disk has all the MAC hardware drivers

6) I have an external HD where I plan to back up everything. Would Time Machine "image" my computer completely (mac and win) or just the mac portion? If the latter, do I have to install a similar program (like Acronis) for win and have it run separately to back and image my win portion? And if so, do I need to partition my HD for each separate back up or I can simply give a FOLDER in my HD to each of those back up systems?
Hmmm.... I don't know this.....I'll have to have a look on my time machne backup ...but I suspect that the windows files will be omitted. Others may know better

7) After installing Win XP SP2 in my mac, do I have to install regularly all the updates from windows as I normally do on my pc? Do I have to install all my army of stupid antiviruses and antispyware and firewall on win as if I was running my pc alone?
Yes and Yes

These two are general but since I am here:

8) I am not planning to use IE7 (except for banking as you know banks are a pain about using other browsers) but I would like to use ONE browser for everything else. Is it Opera or Firefox the most recommendable and how I can transfer all my IE favorites to these programs?
The browser preference question will sadly never be definitively answered. It's all down to personal preference really. I favour Firefox for it's plugins and flexibility.

9) How do I set up my password admin in my mac?
System Preferences -> Accounts -> Administrator account
 

Neo


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Your Mac's Specs
white MB 2.16GHz 3GB 320GB 10.6.1
Thanks XSX.

I thought only Crossover allows to run them without installing Windows. I see that Parallels does the same then and I don't need to go Bootcamp to run Parallels effectively.

Does Fusion does the same? Or does it using bootcamp?

Thanks again!

Rick

Unfortunately, XSX is wrong. Parallels is virtual desktop software, as is Fusion, and requires a Windows install. Much more detail is available by searching this forum for "Fusion."
 

Neo


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Your Mac's Specs
white MB 2.16GHz 3GB 320GB 10.6.1
Running Win on Mac - COMPLETELY LOST
. . .
I need to know the following:

1) In order to use Parallels or Vmware Fusion do I need to install Bootcamp first? Or by going with P or VMF I can overpass Bootcamp totally?

You do not need to use BootCamp first. In some cases you will want to. In some cases you will need to. The following post quotes (both me) should sum this up. Click arrows if you need to see the thread context.

. . .there are several options [of sharing files between Windows and Mac], depending on your file systems and installed software.

- booted in Mac, with FAT32 file system in Windows:
read from and write to the windows partition from your Mac desktop (Windows HD icon), [but with limitations]

-booted in Mac, with NTFS file system in Windows:
read from the windows partition from your Mac desktop,
but write only if you have such tools as Paragon NTFS (search for this)

-booted in Windows [ala BootCamp]
read and write only with such tools as MacDrive (search)

-booted in Mac, with Windows running as a virtual machine in Fusion (or Parallels)
entire access to both drives, also copy and paste to clipboard across OS platforms

I'm partial to the Fusion solution (search the forum), but in some instances (minimum RAM, running high-memory software; running native from BootCamp is better). You can have both, retaining your bootcamp partition for running windows natively, AND running Windows as a virtual machine, with Fusion (or Parallels?) from your existing bootcamp partition. It's pretty sweet, IMO.

You must want to run Windows for a good reason. When I switched, I used Windows a lot, because I didn't know which software was available for Mac and I didn't know how to use a lot of what software I knew was available for Mac. NOW I love OS X and prefer to use Mac, but still need to use Windows from time to time. The handiest (best) way IMO is Fusion. No reboot is necessary, it's fast and stable, and more feature-rich. I love the ability to sleep (suspend) my Windows machine and close Fusion. When I open Fusion next, BAM, there's Windows. Virtually no boot time (10 seconds, maybe?) With you having so much RAM, Fusion is probably the way to go. Even with image processing, I'll bet it'd be fast enough.

One caveat to the above: when you install Windows virtually, you've got to realize that EVERYTHING Windows-related is in actuality one huge file on your HD. So you won't be able to backup to a FAT32 external drive, for example. Also if your drive gets corrupted, it's bye-bye Windows (and Windows apps and Windows files).

There are two ways around this: first, save all files to the Mac HD, rather than the Windows My Documents folder (or what have you). Fusion bridges data between Windows and OS X, so you can seamlessly access "both" hard drive structures. This also holds for Clipboard functions. You can copy from a Windows app and paste into a Mac app. So that's one way around it; if you save all files to Mac HD, if your drive goes bad, you still have important files.
The second way around is to use BootCamp to partition your drive and install Windows, but then use Fusion to run your BootCamp partition from within OS X. This has the benefit of separate Windows files. If something corrupts, it is compartmentalized from everything else. With this method you can also choose to boot natively from your BootCamp partition if the need arises (e.g., you want to use both processors and all of your RAM on Windows tasks). The only thing you lose here is the ability to suspend your virtual machine from inside OS X, since with a bootable partition, it would be easy to corrupt if it was suspended and then booted. That's not THAT big of a deal; you just have longer startup times for Windows (still less than a minute on my MacBook). . . .

Does that answer your question?

That last part directly addresses your question. I left the rest in because it is a great benefit to see the bigger picture...what you might be compromising if you select a given option.

2) If Bootcamp needed, how does it work? I will be using several heavy win programs (including CS3) but also hi-def video editing in mac (Finalcut Express) - do I need to designate half of my HD to win and half to Mac and also designate in 1GB RAM to each OS?
You probably know by now that running Windows via BootCamp isn't Mac OS X at all. You have actually booted your Mac with Windows. Yes, that is why your blood is running cold. :) Now, to be clear, you use Mac OS X to partition your HD and install Windows and give Windows the Mac hardware drivers, but actually running the Windows is all Windows. Windows has full access to processors and RAM. You DO give a portion of your HD to Windows. How much? It depends on how you save your files in Windows. As above, MacDrive can allow you to save documents and other files to the Mac drive. In this case you just need to allocate enough disk to Windows for the OS and any software installations (20 GB should be plenty for an XP install, maybe 30 GB for Vista?).

3) If bootcamp is not needed, do I still need to partition my HD with either Parallels or VMF and designate about half to each?
The short answer is no, but as in my answer to #1, there is some utility to using Fusion to run Windows from a BootCamp partition. MacDrive then isn't needed, because Fusion bridges the OSes.

4) When I look at my folders via FINDER or Windows Explorer will I see all my folders and files in HD whether those folders and files were created using mac or win? And if so, by clicking the file directly will open the win or mac application? Or I will only see mac files and folders via FINDER and only win files and folders via Wexplorer?
You will see all files. Clicking a file in Mac will open the file with the Mac software default (if any), not the Windows one. The answer to #1 should partially answer this too.

5) Do I need to install all my printers and needed peripherals drivers TWICE? Once in my mac (for those which require installation) and then in Win again?
It depends on the peripheral, and whether you go native or virtual, but probably yes, you'll need to install twice. Drivers are software, after all, and software is different for Windows and Mac.

6) I have an external HD where I plan to back up everything. Would Time Machine "image" my computer completely (mac and win) or just the mac portion? If the latter, do I have to install a similar program (like Acronis) for win and have it run separately to back and image my win portion? And if so, do I need to partition my HD for each separate back up or I can simply give a FOLDER in my HD to each of those back up systems?
I'm not running Leopard, so I don't know Time Machine. I am confidently guessing that the Windows partition would be ignored. This doesn't matter if you are using MacDrive (if native) or Fusion to save all your files to your Mac home folder. When Time Machine goes, it's one step. Time Machine requires a HFS+ formatted backup volume, so virtual machine files will also be backed up with no problem.

7) After installing Win XP SP2 in my mac, do I have to install regularly all the updates from windows as I normally do on my pc? Do I have to install all my army of stupid antiviruses and antispyware and firewall on win as if I was running my pc alone?
Yes. It is Windows after all. There is less risk if you run your Windows only virtually, and never access the internet with Windows, but sharing files is still a risk.

These two are general but since I am here:
8) I am not planning to use IE7 (except for banking as you know banks are a pain about using other browsers) but I would like to use ONE browser for everything else. Is it Opera or Firefox the most recommendable and how I can transfer all my IE favorites to these programs?
I really like Firefox. You can customize the heck out of it. However, a lot of people like Safari.
 
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Ah yes, you are correct in saying I was wrong.

For some reason I was thinking of another software. Mind fart.
 

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