Windows vista/7 via bootcamp/fusion Questions

[AUSTOOO!]

Hey everyone,


So I am going to install Windows on my 13" MBP and had a few questions. I know there are plenty of threads on here, but I was a little confused so here goes nothing.


I have a brand new 13.3" MBP and I need to install Windows for school. In a perfect world, I would just wait for Windows 7 and install that when it comes out... But the school network won't support Windows 7 when it is released, so I am going to have to use Vista until then. I am going to install it via bootcamp; will bootcamp let me install 64bit vista? I know bootcamp asks for 32...

Also, When the time comes to install 7, will the install keep my files or completely wipe them out? Will it be a smooth transition? I think I'm going to purchase windows through microsoft's online store here:

http://store.microsoft.com/microsoft/Windows-Vista-Home-Premium-with-SP1-32-bit/product/28C6A36F

It says that Vista is 32 bit... I would want to install 64 if possible, so I wouldn't have to do a custom install when upgrading to 7. Is there a possibility to do this?

I plan on using VMWare's fusion as well. Will installing windows 7 have any effect on the communication between OS X and Windows?


Tomorrow, I also plan on buying Snow Leopard. Will that have any effect on my future installations?



I'm pretty confused... If I could please get any insight into how I should install windows would be VERY helpful. Thanks!

 

[AUSTOOO!]

up

 

[jbg232]

I think the first place you should start is the wiki on booting windows on the mac in the windows of the macrumors forums at the top of the screen. VMware fusion and parallels will allow you to install windows to their partitions and then also allow those partitions to be booted up for boot camp. In terms of 64bit modes I never did it because I don't think it's worth the hassle so I don't know the answer. Please don't bump threads.

 

[AUSTOOO!]

Yeah I have looked there... it's clear on some things and not on others...


If I install windows via boot camp then use fusion to create a virtual machine, will I be able to boot into windows using boot camp only if I wanted to?

 

[jbg232]

Yes, you can import your bootcamp partition into parallels or vmware fusion but also choose to boot from it separately on start up.