Best Virtualization Option?

[Never Say Never]

I'm building a hackintosh and will be doing a vanilla install of OSX 10.5.7 I'm thinking of installing either WinXP or Vista as well. From what I've heard (although I'm a noob to hackintoshing) is that setting up at dual boot is a pain if you don't have two hard drives. Since I only have one HD at the moment, I'm thinking of using Parallels 4.0 or VMware to run XP or Vista when I'll occasionally need it. That said, what do you guys think the best virtualization option is? Or is it better to set up a dual boot instead (if so, are there any good guides)?

 

Here's my setup:

 

Motherboard: GIGABYTE GA-G31M-ES2L

CPU: Intel Pentium E6300 Wolfdale 2.8GHz

Video Card: GIGABYTE GV-NX72G512E2 GeForce 7200GS 256MB 64-bit GDDR2 PCI Express x16 Video Card

RAM: OCZ SLI-Ready Edition 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 PC2 6400 SDRAM

Hard Drive: Seagate ST3250310AS Barracuda 250gb SATA 7200rpm

 

To Mods: I'm reposting this here, because I accidently posted this in the wrong section. I'm not trying to spam the boards You can delete my previous post here if you would like.

[andrewq2]

I'm building a hackintosh and will be doing a vanilla install of OSX 10.5.7 I'm thinking of installing either WinXP or Vista as well. From what I've heard (although I'm a noob to hackintoshing) is that setting up at dual boot is a pain if you don't have two hard drives. Since I only have one HD at the moment, I'm thinking of using Parallels 4.0 or VMware to run XP or Vista when I'll occasionally need it. That said, what do you guys think the best virtualization option is? Or is it better to set up a dual boot instead (if so, are there any good guides)?

 

Here's my setup:

 

Motherboard: GIGABYTE GA-G31M-ES2L

CPU: Intel Pentium E6300 Wolfdale 2.8GHz

Video Card: GIGABYTE GV-NX72G512E2 GeForce 7200GS 256MB 64-bit GDDR2 PCI Express x16 Video Card

RAM: OCZ SLI-Ready Edition 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 PC2 6400 SDRAM

Hard Drive: Seagate ST3250310AS Barracuda 250gb SATA 7200rpm

 

To Mods: I'm reposting this here, because I accidently posted this in the wrong section. I'm not trying to spam the boards You can delete my previous post here if you would like.

dual boot is not a pain just more work here is a basic guide for one hdd

for iATKOSv7 10.5.7

1. install mac on one partition formated as hfs+ journaled

2.install windows/ linux/ otheros on whatever partition(s)

3. boot into iATKOS v7 and use the tool to reinstall chameleon (if only one hdd, hdd # is 0)(if not using iATKOS v7 then try to boot into mac and install from there)

3. if needed for vista, 7 set windows partition to active and repair boot then select your mac or your partition that has chameleon on it back to active.

4. enjoy

[Never Say Never]

Oh, that's not too bad at all...for some reason I thought I'd read that it caused all kinds of problems with the bootloader. Anyways, will this method work if I'm install OSX from a retail DVD?

[andrewq2]

if windows wont boot then you have to install the boot loader in mac os x not the install cd besides for that it is the same

[Zenith432]

That said, what do you guys think the best virtualization option is? Or is it better to set up a dual boot instead (if so, are there any good guides)?

I haven't tried Parallels, but your CPU supports VT, so either virtualization option should work. What exactly is your criterion for "best" or "better"? All options require some extra work as opposed to getting a real Macintosh. Your decision whether to use dual-booting or virtualization should be based on your long-term convenience of using the system, not on which set of installation quirks you'll have to overcome in the short term. I think dual-booting is a pain, and during the years in which I used dual-booting, I ended up rarely ever using my non-primary OS. Since using virtualization, I routinely use all OSes I have installed. The downside of using virtualization is that your hardware isn't supported as well in the guests. I don't find this a problem, unless you expect to run 3D games or other software that stretches your hardware's limits in the guests. There's also an option of setting up a partition so you can BOTH dual-boot it AND boot it as a guest in a VMM.

[Never Say Never]

I haven't tried Parallels, but your CPU supports VT, so either virtualization option should work. What exactly is your criterion for "best" or "better"? All options require some extra work as opposed to getting a real Macintosh. Your decision whether to use dual-booting or virtualization should be based on your long-term convenience of using the system, not on which set of installation quirks you'll have to overcome in the short term. I think dual-booting is a pain, and during the years in which I used dual-booting, I ended up rarely ever using my non-primary OS. Since using virtualization, I routinely use all OSes I have installed. The downside of using virtualization is that your hardware isn't supported as well in the guests. I don't find this a problem, unless you expect to run 3D games or other software that stretches your hardware's limits in the guests. There's also an option of setting up a partition so you can BOTH dual-boot it AND boot it as a guest in a VMM.

 

Honestly I'm thinking that I'd also probably get better use out of virtualization instead of dual-booting. I've been using an iBook for years now, and rarely need Windows...but sometimes you do need it, and it sucks when you don't have it. I also like the integration with OSX that Parallels and VMWare Fusion offer.

 

So, probably a better question is what do you find to be better Parallels 4.0 or VMWare Fusion? My criteria for "better" here would probably be how well it integrates, how stable it is, and how fast or close to 'normal' speeds does it run? Obviously I don't expect to be able to run full 3D games or anything like that, but for running simple stuff in a virtual WinXp or Vista virtualization how does it run?

[Azimutz]

Here is my two cents

Setting up a dual boot is no big deal! So, don't put that possibility aside. There are situations were you may need Windows or other OS installed on HD, even for hackingtoshing. With your setup (one HD) Chameleon 2 will boot any of the most used OSes. If you need help in the future with this, i'm glad to help.

Virtualization.. on OS X i only tested VMWare and VirtualBox. Both work fine but, VMW is VMW and i'm a fan of it since Windows time so, that's what i use. It only has a little problem with the kernel if it's not named mach_kernel (e.g.: mach_kernel.voodoo).. in that case it will give a kp when you fire up a vm. At the moment i'm running it on Snow Leo with no problems.. just doesn't support 64 bit kernel yet. Besides the kernel thing i mentioned, never gave me any problem.

Hope it helps... See ya.

[Monkey D. Luffy]

Dual booting is not a pain man! However, I suggest that you run Parallels or Vmware Fusion if you want to see the difference. Good luck!

[Zenith432]

Here's an idea: why don't you start out by installing OS 10.5.7 as your primary OS on a primary partition. Leave enough space for creating additional partitions. If you get past that, download and install VMware Fusion 2.0.5 trial version, and install Windows on a 2nd partition running as a VM guest under Fusion. See if you're happy using it that way. If not, you can always set up to dual-boot that 2nd partition using Chameleon or something. Then you can install additional Windows drivers on that 2nd partition so it can boot either way.

 

Like I said, I haven't tried Parallels so I can't comment. VMware works very well.

[Monica from Parallels]

I think this MacTech article could clear up some of the misconceptions of VMWare and Parallels. It should answer your questions.

 

http://macte.ch/vmbench09

 

-Monica from Parallels

[Never Say Never]

Thanks to everybody for their input

 

@Zenith432: I like your suggestion about setting it up on a separate partition so that I can use it to dual-boot and with VMWare. I'll probably give that a try. To do this though, can I do this from VMW or do I have to install Windows on the partition like a normal installation and then integrate it into VMW?

 

Also, if I set up the installation from inside VMW onto a separate partition, can I then use Chameleon to dual boot it, or is there a special setup procedure for this?

 

@Azimutz: Thanks...I will probably end up sending you a PM later this week/next week about setting it up. This is my first hackintosh build so I'm still just trying to figure everything out.