Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with parallels

Want separate desktop on Virtual Machine

hdh — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 17:13:22 -0800

Question. I upgraded to Parallels 5.0 to run a Windows Virtual machine on my Macbook. The problem is that icons on the Windows desktop show up on the Mac desktop and vice versa. How can I set up Parallels so that both desktops are separate identities that don't impact each other?

Windows for Cheap!

leotrotsky — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 16:37:34 -0800

Macfilter: Cheapest way to get my mac up running either xp or vista? Shelling out over $100 for windows just seems a little ridiculous. I'd prefer an emulator over bootcamp, and just need to run a single windows app (trying to upload data from my Polar heart rate monitor)

Help me save the boot record on this VM!

genial — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 13:22:14 -0800

FixMBR, Fixboot, FixAnything and I can't get this Parallels partition to boot up. Urgent advice needed from fellow Mefites! I have a boot camp partition that was brought into Parallels for a client. Everything was working fine. He also wanted 30GB of free space on the drive as a separate partition to install another version of OSX. After handling that (using GParted to do the live partioning) it appears it has messed up the bootloader for the Boot Camp partition.

Things I've tried:

*Boot from XP disk, go to recovery console, FixBoot and FixMBR commands
*Attempt a "Repair Restore" which does not show up after accepting the license agreement on the XP disk
*Edited the Parallels PVS file to recognize the boot camp drive on disk0s3
*Boot from GParted, UBCD, any other live disks for any tool that can make this bootable again.

All the files are there, the thing just hangs when attempting to boot from the hard drive. Is there any free tool I can use quickly that will repair this? The client will be back in less than an hour and I've been racking my brain and finally turn to AskMe. Help?

How do I get Kubuntu running under Parallels on my Mac to see the internet?

jeffreyclong — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 08:11:51 -0800

How do I get Kubuntu running under Parallels on my Mac to see the internet? I am a new Parallels user. My Mac came preinstalled with Windows XP under Parallels and it sees the internet fine. I just created a Kubuntu virtual machine. It boots fine, but I can't use the internet with it. I get a "could not connect to host" when I type any address into Konquerer. I played with the Parallels network settings, setting it to airport, default, host only, and shared. Nothing works. Is there something I need to do inside of Kubuntu to get it to work? Anything else I need to do in Parallels to make it work?

Thanks

get IE7 to play nice...

dawdle — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 10:45:35 -0800

How to get EXPLORER 7 to open ? I am running XP on a Parallels equipped Macbook Pro.

It seems that I installed Explorer 7 on the XP side and now I can't use Explorer. When running Explorer 6 I had no problems. When I click the icon nothing happens. What do I need to do ?

I use Firefox, but 1 work website can only be used with Explorer.

Dual-boot Mac: which version of MSOffice, 2007 or 2008?

bartleby — Thu, 29 May 2008 21:16:48 -0800

Dual-Boot Macbook; OSX (home)/ Windows (work). Need MS Office on both without rebooting. Office 2007 on the Windows partition + Parallels seems to make the most sense. Anything I should know about? This macbook is going to have a split personality as far as I can maintain practically. Most of the time it'll be in Home mode, booting to OSX, - but I will have to access its work personality daily, and I don't want to have to reboot to do so.

I will need functional access to Office, specifically Outlook (or Entourage, if I got Office:Mac 2008) to access work's Exchange server and/or sync with a WM6 smartphone (Outlook->MissingSync->iCal isn't cutting it for me).

Seems silly to pay for it twice, and it appears that with Parallels, I can run the Windows version in OSX while the reverse doesn't seem possible.

Any performance issues I should know about? Am I missing some crucial idea/hack/OMG NO I tried that and it gave me fits?

How do I use my apple remote through parallels?

camdan — Mon, 26 May 2008 00:50:00 -0800

how can i use my apple remote in parallels? i'm trying to use my apple infrared remote to control windows xp programs through parallels. I want to control netflix instant, specifically, but it seems that as long as osx is running the windows machine doesn't recognize the remote. i've tried running eventghost but as i said, if windows doesn't even recognize the device, then how can i utilize it?

Virtualized Network Problems

nivekraz — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 13:31:05 -0800

I'm having network problems with virtualized systems. I have Macs runnig OsX 10.4 with Parallels running XP. At random times, the network fails...kinda The network will stop working (cant get to Internet, internal hosts, email, pings, DHCP) but the network link never goes down. Link lights are on, switch says port is active and in proper vlan. Snoops on the interface and switch port the show computers trying to get a DHCP address. If someone has music streaming from the Internet, it will continue to function. Any new sessions will fail. I can fix it by pulling the network cable and plugging it back in. This only happens on systems with Parallels w/ XP but it can happen even when Parallels/XP is NOT running.

What can be causing this? What can I look at?

MacPro for a Windows User

hincandenza — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 12:46:41 -0800

MacPro for a Windows User: Please help me plan my new MacPro that can ease me from my Windowsean ways and meet my eccentric needs about dual-booting and hardware disk mirroring. I'm looking to buy and then hardware upgrade a new MacPro 8-core tower as my older Dell PC replacement/all-in-wonder home machine. I'd likely buy a base model MacPro (8-cores, 2GB ram, 1x320GB sata drive)

Goals:

1) Parallels/Dual-Boot of Windows: It'll be some time before I'm part of the Mac-l33+, so until then I'll need the crutch of Windows and its programs. 95% of the time, I'd be happy running Windows Vista as a virtualized OS in parallels. But ideally, I could Parallelize a Bootcamp'ed dual-boot partition inside OSX, so that if I need to dual boot to a true, native hardware mode for graphically intensive programs like PC games, I can do that as well. Am I crazy that the two OSes can happily coexist?

2) Hardware improvements: The MacPro has crazily expensive updates, wanting hundreds of dollars more for disk drives, RAM, or RAID controllers than any sane person would pay. It's far more sensible for me to buy 4GB RAM for ~$250 aftermarket, and 4x750GB or 4x1TB drives at $150 each and put them in as two hardware mirror sets. Does the MacPro do hardware mirroring natively without the pricey add-on card? Can I "clone" my OSX to a new drive and then mirror it if I start with the base 320GB drive?

3) Home DVR: Currently I have a Comcast Motorola HD-DVR, but it is space limited especially for HD (the older 120GB drives). So why not have an internal/external capture card(s) on the MacPro doing the same thing? I assume there are a number of OSX software packages that do a mythTV et al recording (if only someone affiliated with Metafilter ran some kind of personal video recorder blog...).

4) Music software: I wanna be the next cortex! :) I've abandoned my music for years since entering the working world, and have a nice Kurzweil PC88 collecting dust. I understand Garageband is good enough to start with, and comes free. Are there midi-to-whatever convertors that can help me hook my keyboard up to the MacPro.

I know I'm asking a lot of questions, of which the dualboot/parallels and the "how can I hardware mirror drives for less than $800?" are the most critical to know in advance. Thanks for your help, and hopefully I won't be pissing $3500-4000 down the drain! :)

I'm a Penguin, She's a Fruit

niteHawk — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 07:39:09 -0800

Parallels and networking.... am I wrong in how I _think_ it should work? My wife uses Macs at work, and lately she has begun to have to use WinXP in Parallels to get some stuff done. I am a linux guy/programmer, and frankly my Win experience is minimal at best. I know in VirtualBox and VMWare, (in the rare instance I run either/or) the easiest way for me to get networking working correctly, was to use bridged networking, where the Win VM would just use whatever connection was created under the hostOS for it's networking.
This allows me to bring up the network normally, including VPN if needed, on the host OS, boot the VM image, and go about my business. As far as the everything was concerned, I was on a network using one MAC and IP.

On wifeHawk's MBP, weird things are happening:
If she is at home, using the wireless, her host connects to the network, then she has to bring up VPN in the VM image to get work done. If she brings up the VPN on the host, it doesn't allow her to get on the VPN network. As I am writing this, it occurs to me, I am assuming that she does NOT bring up the wireless connection under the VM, as I didn't think that was possible.. but I am not sure.

If she is at work, networking on the VM doesn't seem to work at all - either through the CAt5, or through wireless.

Reading a bit on Parallels, it seems as though the CAT5 problem may be due to the VM attempting to get a second IP with a second MAC? i.e. the VM is trying to look like a second computer completely?

I am looking for advice on how it should be set up, and/or if my assumption that it should work like the other VMs I've used (NAT/Bridged networking in the guest OS to use whatever connection the host is using).

Any help would be appreciated - she is a Mac girl through and through, and if she cannot get this to work correctly, she will be forced to use a XP/Vista notebook 100% of the time, which is not on her favorite things to do list :-)

Run Mac OSX on Windows?

gb77 — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 06:49:58 -0800

Any way to easily run Mac OSX on Windows? Hi, all,

I know there are a few ways to run Windows on a Mac (VMware Fusion and Parallels being the most popular), but I've had very little luck finding the opposite -- how to run Mac OSX on Windows (at least a solution that's as effective/elegant as Windows on a Mac emulators.)

Any ideas?

Parallels Vs. VMware Fusion

mac-way — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 05:12:28 -0800

I'm looking at purchasing a MacBook Pro for my job at a non-profit. I do web design and IT (as well as Accounting, which is what I'll need to keep running Windows XP for, and Outlook for the Exchange server). I'll install Bootcamp for XP, but much of the time, I will not want to reboot into XP. Would Parallels or VMware Fusion to a better job of meeting my needs? Does either one do a better job of running off the Bootcamp partition? Also, we are entirely a windows environment now, any tips for integrating the Mac? (I know that the Domain Controller Security Policy on the server needs to be changed).

Icewind Dale runs only in a window

invitapriore — Sun, 18 Nov 2007 15:06:26 -0800

I can't get Icewind Dale to run in full screen on Windows XP (SP2). This is on a Macbook running Parallels. Even when I have windows full-screened, Icewind Dale runs as a window within it. Setting it to 640x480 mode in the shortcut's properties gets me slightly better results, except that the start menu does not disappear.

The only reason this whole thing is a problem is because I can't scroll my view, as scrolling necessitates putting the mouse to the edge of the view, an impossibility when running the game in a window as it merely switches the mouse's potential focus to the desktop. Help!

Running Windows on my space-constrained Macbook

dondiego87 — Sun, 04 Nov 2007 09:18:35 -0800

I need some help with running Windows on my Mac. Okay, I know that this topic has been covered extensively on Ask MeFi before. I have reviewed what I've found here (as well as at various websites specializing in this sort of thing) and couldn't really get all of my questions answered, so I'm posing them myself.

THE SITUATION: I currently have a somewhat old Windows XP SP2 desktop machine sitting in my room, as well as a year-old Macbook (2 GHz Intel Core Duo, 1GB of RAM). I use the Windows machine essentially for just one program for my job. Next January, I will be moving into a dorm, and will likely not have room for the desktop machine; thus I am interested in getting Windows on my Macbook.

THE PROBLEMS: Windows XP came pre-installed on the desktop, so I have no install CDs. I also have no recovery CD(s), although I assume I could make one (a set?) if the need arises. Also, I only have around 10GB of space left on my Macbook, which presents problems for virtualization software (virtual machines tend to be big, I hear). Finally, Boot Camp is not an option, as I am not going to be upgrading to Leopard any time soon.

THE QUESTIONS:

Would there be any way to simply remove the hard drive from my Windows machine, put it in an enclosure, plug it into my Mac, and make virtualization work that way?

If I did this external-HD plan, would a virtualization program still have to create a virtual machine on my Macbook's hard drive, or would it do that on the external drive? The latter would be much preferred, due to my Macbook's space limitations.

Would running a virtual machine over USB 2.0 or Firewire 400 mean any performance decreases from what I would experience running it from an internal drive? (Not too much of a problem, as the program I'll be running under Windows is pretty light.)

As usual, thanks so much for your help.

Migrate xp from boot camp on one computer to parallels on another?

mandymanwasregistered — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 22:26:50 -0800

How do I migrate a boot camp xp partition on one computer to another computer with parallels installed? Parallels won't let me use the transporter from xp in the boot camp partition--is there a way to migrate my whole xp user environment (programs, settings and files, or at least programs) or do I have to reinstall everything in parallels on the new computer? The only information I can find is on migrating between a partition on a single computer. Help!

Must have Windows apps for Macbook user.

modernnomad — Sat, 25 Aug 2007 11:12:20 -0800

I just installed Parallels on my Macbook for a 15 day trial. Before I decide to shell out at the end of the trial period, can anyone suggest any "must have" windows apps (must have as in there is no os x comparator) that make it worthwhile?

What is the smallest Parallels Desktop image of Windows XP that will fit corporate needs?

crazyray — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 22:11:53 -0800

What is the lightest, meanest, most-secure image of Windows XP Corporate I can install onto my MacBook Pro that will allow me to use Corporate MS Exchange Email, Visio, and IE-only intranet? I have a Macbook Pro that I use in a corporate environment via Parallels desktop. We use Exchange 2k3 for email and groupware. All the software I run is (and must be) legal and licensed. I am looking for the lightest, quickest, legal image of XP SP2 with all hotfixes and NO BLOAT. There are a lot of parallels users here in the green; I ask the hive mind: what image should I use? Bonus points if it won't crash the LinkedIn.com toolbar and is Google Earth Professional friendly.

Migrate existing xp setup to new imac

jules1651 — Tue, 07 Aug 2007 20:03:12 -0800

So now that the new imacs have arrived, it's time to sell my old imac and my boyfriend's old pc and use the new imac. I've figured out that we need Parallels and can use Transporter to bring in the necessary pc programs/copy of xp. These are the steps I think I need to do to get the pc stuff working (the mac stuff looks like a cinch): *Migrate the files (docs, mp3s, photos, itunes stuff, etc.) to mac via his pc ipod following directions on apple site
*Reformat his ipod to sync with mac
*Reformat pc hard disk and reinstall windows (it's been acting odd and I want to be 100% sure it's clean before putting it in my nice new mac)
*Reinstall apps we want to run through pc environment: existing copy of ms office, antivirus, photoshop, couple of guitar related apps
*Import pc environment into mac via Parallels Transporter

Am I missing anything? Is this the right plan? It seemed so as we have only an OEM copy of XP. Once we've imported the pc environment into the mac via parallels transporter, what does that do to the resale opportunity for the pc? Will the software on the pc still exist? Will it be legal?

Thanks in advance!

Laptops: Apple MacBook Pro versus Sony Vaio/Dell/Toshiba. Please help me choose.

davidinmanhattan — Thu, 07 Jun 2007 21:32:43 -0800

It's time for a new laptop. I have very strong thoughts on this subject, but I need your help, suggestions, and guidance. I am using a three-year-old Apple PowerBook G4. Previously, I had a Dell Inspiron (home) and an IBM ThinkPad (work.) Truth be told, I found the Windows machines' interface more precise (easier to highlight a portion of a web page or text,) and, well, I could run MS Outlook. (I love Outlook, and miss the drag & drop, email to appointment functions.)

I love the ease of use, everything just works Apple "lifestyle," but I also love formatting my harddrive, and even switching the Windows GUI to Litestep.

And, I have to admit, I am shallow enough to allow my self esteem to be improved when I am working on my shiny, elegant Mac in public. Also, I live in Manhattan, and have 2 Apple stores closeby (one is open 24 hours a day,) and "TekServe," a full-service repair shop that does a great job. Makes repairs and emergencies much easier and faster.

So, I can get the new MacBook Pro (with the Santa Rosa chip!) and run Windows and Outlook, or get a Sony Vaio, or Dell, etc., and run Windows and Outlook.

Do you have any suggestions? Is there a great Windows laptop you would recommend? For something this important (I am a writer, and could not function without a laptop) money is a non-issue.

Or, should I get the new Apple MacBook Pro? I love the idea of an imbedded webcam, and I plan on getting the new iPhone. There are some Mac-based OS X programs (BluePhone Elite, iSync, AcidSearch, iPhoto, LaunchBar, OmniOutliner, etc.) that I love and might miss.

Is the MacBook Pro faster than a similar Windows laptop? How fast, via Parallels, is Windows? I work extremely fast, am a whiz with shortcuts and key-combos. Even with a gig of RAM now, I find myself waiting for my laptop to catch up. Speed is of the utmost importance, and I would install as much RAM as possible.

Thanks for your help and advice!

How to get my old copy of XP to work on a new Mac?

smithmac_99 — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 13:41:54 -0800

When I buy my new 24" imac, should I keep my PC and use it as a server, buy a hard drive enclosure, or just scrap my old PC? I don't really need the storage, but I don't really want to get rid of my PC or my hard drives. I'd like to keep a working copy of XP around and use parallels for MSOffice and some games and things. Here are some other questions to consider: 1) Will Parallels work if XP isn't on the mac, but on the PC connected via a network? Or will it work if I pull the hard drives from the PC and put them in an external enclosure? I REFUSE to buy another copy of Windows and I don't have install disks for XP, just the restore ones that came with my OEM XP Pro. So basically, how do I get XP to run on my new mac? Thanks guys.

How to safely run Windows on a Mac?

raf — Sun, 18 Feb 2007 22:04:12 -0800

What do I need to know in order to safely run Windows on my Mac? I've used Macs forever and gotten used to not being scared of viruses, spyware, &c. When I do use Windows, it's on a work computer that's secured by a not-incompetent IT staff. I've never done the secure-your-Windows-machine thing on my own.

I want to install Windows (probably XP, but perhaps Vista) on my Mac using Parallels. What do I need to do to keep that installation safe from bad guys lurking on the Internets?

Installing Bootcamp after installing Parallels

grumblebee — Tue, 16 Jan 2007 07:02:44 -0800

I'm running Parallels; I need to install Bootcamp. After using PCs for years, I've switched to a Mac. I tell you this so you'll know I'm new to Macs and have some big gaps in my knowledge.

I have a ton of money invested in PC software, so I installed Parallels and am happily bopping back and forth between Win XP (not Vista!) and OSX. Sadly, I've run into too many cases which Parallels isn't working for me -- mostly this involves peripherals (Wacom tablets, mics, etc.) So I'm thinking I might have better luck with a full XP partition and Bootcamp.

I've found a ton of info about installing Parallels once you have Bootcamp running but very little about the other way around. I'm assuming that installing Bootcamp won't be too hard, but then -- presumably -- I'll have two copies of Windows on my machine (the Parallels one and the Bootcamp one), and I don't want that. Should I back up my (Parallels) Windows data, uninstall Windows (how?), install Bootcamp with a fresh Windows install and then point Parallels to that one? Is there a better way?

"Windows gaming on Mac" website?

danb — Tue, 26 Dec 2006 08:37:55 -0800

Is there a website that reviews Windows games for Mac users? I just got a MacBook Pro for Christmas. I'm interested in trying out some newer PC games, but I don't know how they'll run on here. Since the hardware is so standardized, I figured there might be a website that reviews game performance on Macs, but all I've found so far are individual blog posts to the effect of "omg halflife on an apple." Is there some site that will tell me, for example, if a certain game has decent results on Parallels, or if a certain game won't work under the minimum requirements on a Mac?

How to use my accelerometer w/ Parallels

pelican — Thu, 14 Dec 2006 12:21:59 -0800

I just got a new Macbook with Parallels and Windows XP pre-installed. I knew of someone who utilized the accelerometer to be able to flip between OSX and Windows by a slap of the side of the screen. How can I set this up on my MacBook?

Comprehensive XP -> Parallels migration

maniabug — Fri, 20 Oct 2006 10:12:27 -0800

What's the most efficient way to transfer an entire functioning Windows XP PC to my new Mac running Parallels? I'm looking to ship over the whole nine yards: files, settings, apps, and appropriate registry entries. The Windows File and Settings Transfer Wizard does not move the apps. I'm going to have to do this on a regular basis, and would prefer to do as little by hand as possible. Do you have a favorite software tool for this?

I considered imaging the hard drive, but I believe Parallels uses a proprietary image format.