I just bought this, what's the deal with it? Do I need to install XP on my Macbook? The only copy of XP I got came with my Dell, will this work? Can Parrallels just run stand alone XP progs?
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Parallels
- Thread starter XP Defector
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XP Defector said:
i'm surprised you didn't find out about this before you bought parallel..
okay, so after you install parallel, you create a virtual machine in which you will run your windows (or some distro of linux i believe)
creating a virtual machine doesn't automatically install windows for you, you have to get a bootable windows xp (does it have to be sp2? i'm not sure), but officially you cannot use the one that came with your dell, as it is not strictly a xp installation disk (or is it?)... the safest (but rather expensive) choice is to buy a copy of windows xp sp2 (home or pro)
now i don't understand what you meant by whether parallels just run stand alone xp program... but inside of the virtual machine, it behaves like a xp box... but you cannot run windows programs side by side with os x program outside of the parallel box
What Parallels does is provide a virtual machine (VM), like a mini computer running in your host system (the Mac).
After you install it, and when you double click the app, it will open with a VM configuration window. You will need to set up your VM by specifying the hardware the VM will emulate - you can either use the default configuration for your OS of choice or set it up manually. I suggest going with the default to start with but consider what the maximum size of your hard disk should be. You can do things like add virtual hard drives later, but although that's pretty simple to do and setup on the Windows side, it seems most Mac users don't want to do that. Resizing the default hard drive seems to be harder than adding a new one (I don't even know if it's possible since I haven't tried it). You can modify the RAM etc when the VM is off.
It doesn't come with any OS installed, so you have to do exactly the same as if you were installing XP on a real PC - insert an XP disk and boot the Parallels VM by pressing the > icon.
You will probably be able to install XP using your Dell install disk (I know I was) but then you'll be asked to activate it, which won't work since it'll be locked to the Dell it came with. But you'll be able to play with XP for 30 days (longer if you always suspend the VM and don't shut it down - XP checks for activation only on start up). There are other ways of avoiding activation, but we can't talk about that here. When, or if, you install XP, you should install the Parallels Tools, which adds drivers to make the experience of using it a lot better.
If that doesn't work, just download a Linux distro and try that out. Unless you want games (not really doable in Parallels at the moment) or some Windows-only app, Linux will do whatever you want for free. You might even like it.
You can have multiple VMs, even running at the same time, so installing a Linux VM now doesn't mean you can't install XP in the future.
I also recommend downloading VirtueDesktop and running your XP full screen on one of the virtual desktops. It makes it a lot easier to work with when you can switch between your Mac desktop and XP desktop with ctrl-shift-arrow. Yes, I know the full screen transition in Parallels uses this or something similar, but it's slower and less impressive than the virtual desktop transitions.
After you install it, and when you double click the app, it will open with a VM configuration window. You will need to set up your VM by specifying the hardware the VM will emulate - you can either use the default configuration for your OS of choice or set it up manually. I suggest going with the default to start with but consider what the maximum size of your hard disk should be. You can do things like add virtual hard drives later, but although that's pretty simple to do and setup on the Windows side, it seems most Mac users don't want to do that. Resizing the default hard drive seems to be harder than adding a new one (I don't even know if it's possible since I haven't tried it). You can modify the RAM etc when the VM is off.
It doesn't come with any OS installed, so you have to do exactly the same as if you were installing XP on a real PC - insert an XP disk and boot the Parallels VM by pressing the > icon.
You will probably be able to install XP using your Dell install disk (I know I was) but then you'll be asked to activate it, which won't work since it'll be locked to the Dell it came with. But you'll be able to play with XP for 30 days (longer if you always suspend the VM and don't shut it down - XP checks for activation only on start up). There are other ways of avoiding activation, but we can't talk about that here. When, or if, you install XP, you should install the Parallels Tools, which adds drivers to make the experience of using it a lot better.
If that doesn't work, just download a Linux distro and try that out. Unless you want games (not really doable in Parallels at the moment) or some Windows-only app, Linux will do whatever you want for free. You might even like it.
You can have multiple VMs, even running at the same time, so installing a Linux VM now doesn't mean you can't install XP in the future.
I also recommend downloading VirtueDesktop and running your XP full screen on one of the virtual desktops. It makes it a lot easier to work with when you can switch between your Mac desktop and XP desktop with ctrl-shift-arrow. Yes, I know the full screen transition in Parallels uses this or something similar, but it's slower and less impressive than the virtual desktop transitions.
Parallels emulates a (virtual) Intel PC *hardware* environment. You can install *any* version on Windows, OS2, Linux, Solaris, etc.bearbo said:
Didn't you go to the product Web page and read about it before you bought it. This isn't exactly hidden information.
When you make a virtual machine in Parallels (you can have several, with different OSs), you can specify where the virtual disk for that machine should be located. You can even set a default location in Parallels preferences, and I don't see why that couldn't be on an external... not tried it, though, but I don't see why it shouldn't work... 
Nah... doesn't work in Parallels... at least not on any of the installs I've tried...mcarnes said:
Edit: But it seems they're working on it: http://forum.parallels.com/archive/index.php/t-1321.html
I have a related question...
I am using parallels for my word processing needs since I already had a copy of officexp and a samsung laser printer (no mac drivers). I save all my created files to my parallels shared folder. My question is: if something goes horribly wrong with my windows virtual machine and it deletes my word files... will I still have a copy on the osx side of my machine?
Any information is greatly appreciated!!!
I am using parallels for my word processing needs since I already had a copy of officexp and a samsung laser printer (no mac drivers). I save all my created files to my parallels shared folder. My question is: if something goes horribly wrong with my windows virtual machine and it deletes my word files... will I still have a copy on the osx side of my machine?
Any information is greatly appreciated!!!
Probably not. Windows has access to the Shared folder, and would probably wipe that to if some disaster struck... won't know for sure until somebody tried it though...
Unless you back them up along with the rest of your files. You do back up, don't you...?
Unless you back them up along with the rest of your files. You do back up, don't you...?