Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Noob noob parallels question

J

jvan

macrumors member
Original poster
Apr 30, 2006
45
0
I looked everywhere to find the answer... even the manual from parallels.. so.. my question is

does parallels require a copy of XP for it to work? :confused:

-thanks :)
 
Well, no. It doesn't actually. Parallels will run perfectly fine without installing an OS ... you just won't be able to do anything with it.

If you want to run Windows in Parallels, you'll need a Windows install disk, but you can install pretty much any Linux distro for free, if you want. I run Fedora Cores 3, 4 and 5, Debian and Suse 10, but not Windows.
 
everytime i need to use windows, do i need to have the install disc in the cd drive?
 
No my understanding is that you just install it, and your mac makes a virtual Windows everytime you use parallels (correct me if i'm wrong please)
 
OK, first point to clarify. Parallels is a general-purpose virtualization solution. Windows XP is not required. It'll run any version of Windows, DOS, Linux and some other more obscure OSes. That said, you do have to have some operating system to use it. In and of itself it doesn't do anything useful. If you've got a copy of Windows 2000 or some other x86 OS that you want to use already laying around, that will work fine.
 
jvan said:
everytime i need to use windows, do i need to have the install disc in the cd drive?
Click to expand...

No you don't. you install Windows on your Mac and it boots up each time you run the Parallels software. You will need to register the install of Windows however.
 
DJMastaWes said:
by useing the paralles, can we get windows viruses? Because, thats my main issue before I would put windows on it.
Click to expand...
Another disadvantage of parallels is that it uses an emulated hard disk. This mean's it not another partition; it's just a file on your partition, so no viruses are going to mess up the mac side; they could only mess up the file.
 
DJMastaWes said:
by useing the paralles, can we get windows viruses? Because, thats my main issue before I would put windows on it.
Click to expand...

Your windows install running in the virtual machine could catch a virus but this would not effect OSX at all.
 
michaeldmartin said:
Another disadvantage of parallels is that it uses an emulated hard disk. This mean's it not another partition; it's just a file on your partition, so no viruses are going to mess up the mac side; they could only mess up the file.
Click to expand...

I always that was an advantage :D

I have XP running on a 5GB simulated hard disk, enough for my needs .... And easy to backup, just copy the harddisk file as part of regular backup
 
moving parallels to a new user

I created a new user for myself to clear up some stuff and tried to move the parallels folder from my user/libary to my new user user/libary and parallels would not work. Said something like couldn't find all parts or something.
Can this be done...moving a .hhd file from one place to another to re-use it?
 
It's my understanding that Parallels allows you run multiple OS's at the same time. Hypothetical: OSX is running, so is Windows. You work in Windows then switch to OSX. Are the Windows processes still running in the background, or are they halted till you switch back? The whole idea of Parallels sounds incredibly RAM intensive, I'm having trouble imagining someone working Photoshop in OSX and having Windows and all of its virus/antivirus/firewall/AIM/bittorrent/whatever working happily on a virtual desktop.
 
Ho whoa wait. I highly suggest you don't. Go with '98 or 2000. Hell, go with Windows 3.1.

Even Microsoft admits the ME in WindowsME stands for "Monkey Excrement".
 
shivaman said:
I created a new user for myself to clear up some stuff and tried to move the parallels folder from my user/libary to my new user user/libary and parallels would not work. Said something like couldn't find all parts or something.
Can this be done...moving a .hhd file from one place to another to re-use it?
Click to expand...
Did you move the PVS file too or just the HDD file?

The PVS file has all the settings for the Virtual Machine, the HDD file is only the hard disk image. I haven't tried this, but you might have to edit the PVS file to point to the new location of the HDD file after you move it.

FWIW I'm running Win2K SP4 in my Parallels (installed last night) and XP Home SP2 in Boot Camp. I'm very impressed with Parallels!

B
 
almightyshoe said:
Ho whoa wait. I highly suggest you don't. Go with '98 or 2000. Hell, go with Windows 3.1.

Even Microsoft admits the ME in WindowsME stands for "Monkey Excrement".
Click to expand...

Hmm now if only I had a copy of Win 98 :(
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back