Migrate existing xp setup to new imac

August 7, 2007 8:03 PM

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!

posted by jules1651 to Computers & Internet (6 answers total)

If you're going to do a clean install of the XP setup, why bother with Transporter? Can't you just install it directly on the Parallels virtual machine?

Oh, and have you considered VMWare Fusion? My understanding is that VMWare generally has more solid technology, even if their current release is slightly behind Parallels.
posted by alms at 8:35 PM on August 7, 2007

alms: The transporter business is presumably a way to work around the unwillingness of the OEM windows to install under virtualization. I don't personally know if it'll work, but it seems like a reasonable thing to try.

You don't really need to run antivirus if you don't let the virtualized Windows have access to the network.

You won't technically need to reformat the iPod; Macs can read Mac or Windows-formatted iPods equally well.

And it definitely won't be legal to have anything on that PC, including Windows or any other non-free software. Of course, running the OEM XP on any other computer, including a virtual one, is technically unkosher anyway.
posted by Tomorrowful at 8:49 PM on August 7, 2007

Just a recommendation, but try installing BootCamp first and then install Parallels over it. It seems like it's made my mac at work much more stable while running XP apps.
posted by ninjew at 9:50 PM on August 7, 2007

I've installed an OEM Windows XP (the one that came with my Dell laptop) quite successfully into a VMWare Player VM built using EasyVMX and running on the same laptop under Ubuntu. I didn't have to do anything clever to make it work. I wouldn't expect the process to be any harder using VMWare on a Mac.
posted by flabdablet at 10:45 PM on August 7, 2007

Note that legally you can't install the OEM copy of XP that came with your PC on another piece of hardware (the Mac). It will likely not activate.

And I second trying VMware Fusion (and VMware Converter, if you want to virtualize the PC). You can try it for free and there are lots of reviews this week because it just went 1.0

Disclaimer: I work for VMware.
posted by troyer at 9:25 AM on August 8, 2007

Whenever Windows XP Home OEM has refused to activate for me, whether that be on one of my machines or one I'm fixing for somebody else, I have always just called Microsoft, told them I'm doing a full reinstall onto a crashed machine where I've just replaced the motherboard+CPU / repartitioned or replaced the hard disk / upgraded the RAM, answered No when they asked me whether this copy of XP Home OEM was installed on any other machine, and they've given me activation codes over the phone.

I can't recall if I had to do this when I did the VM install on the laptop that my copy of XP Home OEM came with; I probably did, because the VM doesn't look exactly like a Dell laptop from Windows' point of view.

I figured I was legally entitled to run my copy of XP Home OEM on the laptop it was supplied with and licensed for, regardless of how many layers of additional software happened to be installed between XP's device drivers and the bare metal; I wasn't running more than one copy, and I wasn't disassembling or reverse engineering the one I had. However, I never sought specific clarification from Microsoft on this, on the grounds that I didn't want some script monkey starting a time-consuming argument.

It probably would be rather harder to make a convincing case that the new iMac is in fact the same machine your boyfriend's current copy of XP Home OEM was licensed for.
posted by flabdablet at 6:59 PM on August 8, 2007