Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Hampshire (the original one)
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For reasons too long to go into now, I need to run Microsoft Visual Studio 2008, Lotus Notes Developer 8, and MS SQL Server 2008 (and I also need to learn ASP). But I refuse to buy a PC to do it
That leaves me with either Boot Camp or Parallels (or both). As a result I have several questions that a quick skim on here hasn't answered. Apologies in advance if these are dumb questions. 1. Assuming I install Boot Camp, then buy Parallels, does parallels use the Boot Camp partition to store/retrieve files and run the virtual machine? 2. Or is Parallels like Virtual PC, where all it does is create a single file on your Mac partition that acts as the virtual machine (meaning the Boot Camp partition is a completely separate entity)? 3. If Parallels runs as in 2. does that mean I can't create files in Boot Camp and then access them seamlessly in Parallels? 4. Would Parallels even be capable of running all the above apps? 5. Again, if 2. is applicable, what are the licensing implications? Can Windows be activated under Boot Camp, then Activated again under Parallels? 6. Last, but not least, on my Alu 24" iMac 2.8Ghz, Should I be thinking of using XP Professional SP2, or Vista? Apologies for making this sound more like a PC Support Forum rather than a Mac one, but that's the downside of being a Mac lover whose daytime job is being a PC developer |
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owner for sale by house
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: Charlotte, NC
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I would go with XP unless you need Vista. Vista just needs more resources and a VM is always slower than running the OS directly on the machine. But I don't think you'll have a problem with either. Just be sure to get enough RAM. |
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Right Honourable Member
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1: Yes
2: Yes and No. It can do both. 3: See 1 and 2. 4: I don't know. 5: That used to be a problem; where everytime you switched between Parallels and Boot Camp, you had to reactivate Windows, since Windows was 'seeing' different hardware. I'm almost sure it's fixed now though. 6. Personally, I'd go with XP Pro, unless any of those apps require Vista (which I doubt). If you're only going to use those three apps, why clog up your iMac's Hard Drive with a Vista install that's larger than an XP install. edit: I suck at life |
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Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location: Hampshire (the original one)
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Thanks for the answers guys.
Looks like I will go with XP from your advice - I want the apps to run as fast as they possibly can under Parallels. Also if I understand you both right, it's handy to know that if I hop between Boot Camp and Parallels, then the files I create as a result are shared between both solutions from the Boot Camp partition. That means I can go 'Native' when I need to, and still access the same files I created from within the VM. |
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owner for sale by house
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: Charlotte, NC
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Yes, but you should make sure that you can switch between Parallels and Boot Camp without problems, because I don't believe that that has been solved.
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Join Date: Jan 2008
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Custom User Title
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: At home
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owner for sale by house
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: Charlotte, NC
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The hardware that Windows sees when booted into Boot Camp and what it sees when in the VM is quite different. Parallels and VMWare don't try to hide their drivers or emulate other hardware (Microsoft wouldn't like that, I'm sure), so Windows thinks it's running on a different machine, and that trips off WGA etc. I don't even think it's possible to just replace drivers and not have WGA find out, since that's the whole idea of that program. Unless MS provides a solution (and they might in the future with built-in virtualization support, but it's a bit unclear if that will work with other systems), I don't think this can be solved.
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