VM Fusion / parallels / bootcamp - MBPr

  • Thread starter Thread starter Izi
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Izi

Izi

Izi

Soldato
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Hi Guys,

Can you let me know what the best option is for Windows under Mac. I need to use visual studio, so far I have managed to get VM fusion working well with Windows 8.

However, I know there are other options, such as bootcamp (essentially dual boot) but VM fusion can run bootcamp within Mac OSX is that right? Is the advantage of doing it this way that you can fully boot in to windows, but if you dont want to you can simply boot from OSX?
 
Izi said:
However, I know there are other options, such as bootcamp (essentially dual boot) but VM fusion can run bootcamp within Mac OSX is that right? Is the advantage of doing it this way that you can fully boot in to windows, but if you dont want to you can simply boot from OSX?
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Pretty much what you asked is the case. You can VM your bootcamp partition. The advantage is having one Windows installation and access to all the files/software etc regardless of if your in the VM or bootcamp partition.
 
I personally like VM Ware Fusion, does the job for my needs and can be used on multiple machines unlike Paralells (also a tad cheaper!)
 
I've created a bootcamp partition with Win7. Which is then VM'd under OSX by using VMWare Fusion. Best of both worlds.
 
Elric said:
I've created a bootcamp partition with Win7. Which is then VM'd under OSX by using VMWare Fusion. Best of both worlds.
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this is what I was thinking of doing.

Can you share files from OS X partition in windows 7 and vice versa? save me setting up dropbox twice.
 
Yes, If you are in OSX, you can access the bootcamp partition and if in Bootcamp Win7 you can see your OSX disks also.

If you're running the Bootcamp partition in VMWare, you can create shared folders between the host / VM.

Works very well, VM for most times and Reboot to Bootcamp when you need that little bit more oomph!

:)
 
Elric said:
Yes, If you are in OSX, you can access the bootcamp partition and if in Bootcamp Win7 you can see your OSX disks also.

If you're running the Bootcamp partition in VMWare, you can create shared folders between the host / VM.

Works very well, VM for most times and Reboot to Bootcamp when you need that little bit more oomph!

:)
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I've read that this doing this (VM with bootcamp partition) can have problems with activation in windows (under virtualbox at least). Is VMWare ok with this (don't waste 40quid if its not)?
 
grahamjenks said:
I've read that this doing this (VM with bootcamp partition) can have problems with activation in windows (under virtualbox at least). Is VMWare ok with this (don't waste 40quid if its not)?
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You may need to activate Windows twice once on bootcamp and once on the VM then it will work in unison.

And if there are any problems you can just ring MS on the freephone number and someone will sort it out in a couple of mins.
 
I use Visual Studio 2010 by running the Bootcamp partition through Parallels 7 - works like a dream, havent found myself needing to actually boot into Bootcamp for ages.

Even running VS2010, SQL Server & Adobe graphics packages within the VM doesn't slow it in the slightest, runs just like it does on my i7 desktop.

Had to re-activate Windows by doing this and also my Adobe products (Photoshop, Fireworks etc). The Adobe stuff wouldn't re-activate saying license count had been exceeded so had a long argument with their support staff trying to explain how a VM works and that it wasn't running on 2 PC's.

Took a while but they gave up in the end and reset my license count but it took at at least 20 mins of shouting at various helpdesk monkeys who simply couldn't grasp the concept of what a VM is even though I explained it over and over.
 
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mrbell1984 said:
If people are running apps like VS2010, SQL server, Adobe Software it will be best ran in Native mode on bootcamp.
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If you read my post above though, it feels EXACTLY the same in Parallels as it does in Bootcamp. Thats using VS2010/SQL/Fireworks.

Those apps are my bread and butter so if it ran even a teeny bit slower then I wouldn't do it. Thats with a 2010 MBP i5 8GB. With 2.5GB allocated to Win 7. The host OSX is also not affected speed-wise.
 
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mrbell1984 said:
What is the point of double booting though? At least using Boot Camp natively means your running direct to hardware.
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Because in my case, I need to develop in VS2010 (Windows) and XCode (Mac) so in the case my blog post mentions, I was working on an iPhone app that speaks to a .NET WCF service so in a session, I often needed to make changes to either side and then test on the other.

With Bootcamp, I had to make the .NET change then reboot and test in the XCode simulator, find the change didn't behave as expected and boot back into Win to change again etc etc.

With Parallels, I can work on both at the same time and they will both perform pretty much the same as native.

Same if I have an app on one platform only e.g. Fireworks, I have a Windows license so if I want to create an image for an iPhone app, I needed to reboot. My company invoicing and accounts apps run on OSX so if I was working in Windows and needed some client details I'd need to reboot etc etc. A parallels license is a LOT cheaper than an OSX Fireworks license!

I normally work at my Windows desktop with the Mac beside me on the desk running OSX but in situations when i'm stuck with just the laptop then Parallels is invaluable.
 
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