my new dilemma w/ OEM software & parallels

[cshoemake]

so, apparently you can't use parallels vm for oep xp pro if you've already installed the oem xp pro in boot camp. I'm attempting to use the boot camp partition as my VM in parallels. however, since it's an oem version of xp pro (recently purchased from newegg), i have an activation problem. using the my boot camp as the vm makes significant hardware changes to the computer and requires reactivation. all of this leads to a couple of questions:

1) i'm going to use parallels almost 100% of the time (if MS will let me reactivate). should I delete my old boot camp partition (which is MUCH too small at the current time anyway), and then just use my OEM XP pro as a VM in parallels?

2) if i delete my old boot camp partition, do i need to format the hard drive to make it usable by OSX?

3) it's my understanding that it is best to use FAT32 for a parallels install, is this accurate?

Thank you to anyone who can assist me w/ this. it's been a frustrating couple of days.

 

[rogersmj]

You CAN use both. There's information about this in the Parallels documentation. I'm not sure what exactly the fix is because I've never had to deal with it (I have an activation-free corporate copy I got from my company), but I know that the activation issue is fixable.

 

[Guy Incognito]

I believe the OP is mistaken. Have you tried activating from the VM? I'm running an OEM copy of XP in Boot Camp and via a Parallels VM, and it works fine. Also, there's no advantage to using FAT32 over NTFS for the XP installation.

 

[cshoemake]

issue resolved. i called MS, and no questions asked. very friendly. i was shocked. thanks for the help.

 

[bericd]

NTFS vs FAT32

...Also, there's no advantage to using FAT32 over NTFS for the XP installation.

There is an advantage to using FAT32 for bootcamp - you can write directly to it from OS X, but not NTFS (which reads just fine).

 

[Guy Incognito]

There is an advantage to using FAT32 for bootcamp - you can write directly to it from OS X, but not NTFS (which reads just fine).

OK, sure. On the other hand, assuming you want to dedicate most of your space to OS X and not to your Windows installation, I would suggest that you're better off using NTFS for Windows and keeping your data in OS X's space. You can then access this data from Windows using Parallels shared folders (in the VM) or MacDrive (from Boot Camp).

FAT32 partitions are prone to corruption, in my experience, especially when they're being written to by multiple operating systems.