Will ditch Bootcamp for Parallels

[Caezar]

I installed Bootcamp and have used the trial version of Parallels a few months back.

I now want to purchase Parallels because I need to use a CPA review course software that only works under Windows.

I also want to delete Bootcamp, as I never use it and I do not want to be tempted into playing PC games.

Hence my questions:
- Is it safe to remove Bootcamp and claim back the partition to merge it with my OS X partition? Or does ***** happen occasionally?
- In case it is not (safe), I made a back of my user files using SuperDuper. I backed up all my "user files". Is there anything else I need to back up?

Thanks!

 

[72930]

It is safe!

If you ever want to back up with SuperDuper, I just recommend 'Backup-All files' for a bootable backup

 

[rogersmj]

Once again, I am flabbergasted as to why people think they have to choose between Boot Camp or Parallels. "Boot Camp or Parallels?" "Which one should I use??" "Can't decide between Boot Camp and Parallels!"

Here's a simple answer: USE BOTH. Use your Boot Camp partition through Parallels and have the best of both worlds!

Why would you want to delete your Boot Camp partition? You've already got it installed, setup the way you want, and if you keep it then you always have the option of booting directly into it if you need to for some reason. If you blow it away and create a regular Parallels virtual machine, you're still going to be eating up gigs of disk space but you'll lose the option to boot natively into Windows. Parallels+Boot Camp can give you the best of both worlds with no additional "cost" than a regular Parallels VM. Why would you NOT do that?

 

[Caezar]

That's because I did not know that Parallels can run from the Bootcamp partition.

How do I proceed then? I installed Parallels before this feature was added. Now I want to re-activate it, should I delete the Virtual Machine (or whatever it is called) and just run Parallels from Bootcamp?

I buy my activation key and then what?

 

[rogersmj]

If you download the latest version of Parallels from their web site, you can try it out. Open it up, create a new Virtual Machine of type "Custom" and choose "Use Boot Camp" when it asks you to select a virtual hard disk option. You can keep your existing Parallels VM for the time being, you can have as many as you want. If you decide that Boot Camp through Parallels is working out for you, you can delete the dedicated VM later.

 

[Caezar]

Thanks a lot. I'll try this tomorrow morning.

 

[72930]

Thanks a lot. I'll try this tomorrow morning.

There are disadvantages!

Use that method if you want 3D (e.g. Games)

BUT...you get problems with suspending the VM. With Parallels only, you have a VM which has size which increases as necessary, with BC you get a limited amount of space...

 

[rogersmj]

There are disadvantages!

Use that method if you want 3D (e.g. Games)

BUT...you get problems with suspending the VM. With Parallels only, you have a VM which has size which increases as necessary, with BC you get a limited amount of space...

That's true, you shouldn't suspend a VM using Boot Camp. I never suspend mine though, I didn't think of that.

As far as space...you get a limited amount of space with a dedicated Parallels VM too. At least, that's what I experienced. At one point, when I was running just a Parallels VM, I hit the 8GB I had allocated for the virtual hard disk and it wouldn't let me expand it.

So although the disadvantages are minimal, I think the bonus of being able to still boot into Windows outweighs them. Not just for games, but if for some reason OS X breaks and you don't have another computer with you to look up information. Saved my butt once with my MacBook when OS X wouldn't get on the school's network where I was for the day. I had to boot into Windows, connect to their network, find the instructions for getting OS X on their network, then boot back into OS X and connect it. If I wouldn't have had Windows available to boot into, I would have lost a lot of productivity that day.

 

[akadmon]

Once again, I am flabbergasted as to why people think they have to choose between Boot Camp or Parallels. "Boot Camp or Parallels?" "Which one should I use??" "Can't decide between Boot Camp and Parallels!"

Here's a simple answer: USE BOTH. Use your Boot Camp partition through Parallels and have the best of both worlds!

Why would you want to delete your Boot Camp partition? You've already got it installed, setup the way you want, and if you keep it then you always have the option of booting directly into it if you need to for some reason. If you blow it away and create a regular Parallels virtual machine, you're still going to be eating up gigs of disk space but you'll lose the option to boot natively into Windows. Parallels+Boot Camp can give you the best of both worlds with no additional "cost" than a regular Parallels VM. Why would you NOT do that?

So are you saying there is no longer any issue with XP activation? Last time I tried this, booting the BC partiotion in Parallels resulted in a request to activate XP. That's fine if you don't ever plan to boot XP natively in BC ever again, but if you do, then tough luck -- you'll have to activate it again and again and again...

 

[rogersmj]

So are you saying there is no longer any issue with XP activation? Last time I tried this, booting the BC partiotion in Parallels resulted in a request to activate XP. That's fine if you don't ever plan to boot XP natively in BC ever again, but if you do, then tough luck -- you'll have to activate it again and again and again...

According to Parallels, this was fixed in one of the later RC releases. It works for some, but on the forums there appear to be some people that it's not working for. However, those people said they called Microsoft, explained they were using Parallels Virtual Machine to access a real Windows installation, and they got a second activation key.

It's worth trying. It takes all of 1 minute to setup a Parallels VM with Boot Camp if you already have Windows via Boot Camp installed.

EDIT: I forgot to mention that the reason I don't know about this firsthand is that it isn't an issue for me, as I use an activation-free Corporate copy of XP I got from work.

 

[arkitect]

For what its worth, I am running Parallels on my Bootcamp partition. It is a bit of an issue if you have that partition on another hard drive though (I had it on another HDD on the Mac Pro.).

I also had to phone Microsoft and get another authorisation code. Relatively painless, just tedious with all those numbers. Like phoning up the "Talking Clock"…

According to Parallels, this was fixed in one of the later RC releases. It works for some, but on the forums there appear to be some people that it's not working for.