Virtualization on hackintosh

[GoBx]

Hi ,

 

Did anyone succeed with Parallels Desktop or VMWare fusion with Leopard on a hackintosh ? (Virtual Box crashes).

Got flat-image install (no efi) on P5W that's working fine.

 

I would need (let's dream, that's free !)

Making XP working with :

- internet connexion

- not too slow (thought it's not for gaming)

- using an existing XP HDD would be perfect

(end of the dream !)

 

Thanks !

[brlock]

i always used parallels in both tiger and leopard with no problems whatsoever. I'm just not sure if you can use an existing xp partition since I don't have any. But the other "dreams" are actually real life.

[errandwolfe]

I'll second that, have been using Parallels on both Tiger and Leopard without any problems.

[BJMoose]

I've been using Parallels since it was in early beta (it really didn't work too well back then). I have it on both my Mac Pro and my Hackintosh. This latest update, under Leopard, is very solid and very fast. Of course, how fast it it will depend on how much ram you have and how much you allot to parallels. I use it regularly for Office 2007, Firefox, and a variety of ancillary video editing tools that I haven't found anything comparable in Mac-land. It finds my network printer easily, accesses my home network, syncs up with my PCs (using Second Copy 2000), accesses the internet as well as OSX, and has all my OSX drives mapped as accessible for reading and writing to. All the Office software allows me to access my DATA directory which I copied from a PC onto a Mac drive.

 

I'm not a gamer at all, so I can't tell you how any games react. For my current work plan, the only feature that I wish I could get to work is for my 6 virtual cd drives that I've created in parallels with Daemon Tools to automount when I boot up Windows XP in parallels. I don't know whether it's a Daemon thing or a parallels thing, but I have to mount my CDs manually each time I boot up. On my real windows machine, I have all the settings set the same as in parallels and the CDs automount every time.

 

I've also tested VMWare, but not as thoroughly, because I'm happy with parallels. I think both proggies probably have their own strong and weak points. If parallels is only in version 3, I can't wait to see what versions 5 or 6 might hold for us.

[GoBx]

Thanks for your answers !

Just installed PD 3,0 Demo : it rocks ! Faster than I thought !

Ok, I've 4 Go of Ram, 2 of them for virtual machine, and E6600 @ 3 Ghz.

I'm not gaming at all, so I don't mind.

It would be perfect if I could use my real XP hard drive instead of an image, I think performance would be even better. And of course, I would not have to worry about syncing virtual XP partition and the real one, if I used only one

 

I will go on searching, and post here if I find something interesting (nothing found else than P2V at the moment).

 

Thanks again !

[errandwolfe]

GoBX,

You CAN use your regular Windows drive under Parallels. Just add hardware to the VM and under hard drive type select Boot Camp (YES this works even on Hacks). The only caveat is it has to be on its own drive (on a hack).

[Guest Snowski]

GoBX,

You CAN use your regular Windows drive under Parallels. Just add hardware to the VM and under hard drive type select Boot Camp (YES this works even on Hacks). The only caveat is it has to be on its own drive (on a hack).

 

Correct, I have VMware Fusion running on my Leo install and using XP SP2 (clean image install). You can also pick the Boot camp partition. I have tried this with my XP install and it works but I didnt have sound (probably because I have an nLite install which lacks some drivers)

 

So yes Vmware fusion works with even dx9 support but dont expect Games to run properly or have AA/AF options.

 

Something I did overlook was Spaces in combination with VmWare. Just put the Win (or other os) on another space and maximize it, then you can switch between OS's in full screen.

 

I can't speak for parallels but I don't experience any slowdowns in my Leo OS when using VMware and you have a better CPU and more RAM then me so it only gets better. I suggest you at least try both m8. Have fun.

[GoBx]

It seems I can not use bootcamp.

Maybe while it's not active on my Leo installation ? (need firmware update blabla)

I read DP guide, but find nothing interesting.

I suppose I need to have bootcamp working with Leo before using it with DP ?!

[Guest Snowski]

I had a similar error with Bootcamp (intergrated in Leopard)

A firmware update was needed (for real macs)

 

VmWare Fusion (latest) recognized Boot Camp and booted my native XP install without any issues so you figure out which way to go :mellow:

[timeshifter]

What about activation problems when booting a bare metal install of XP vs running that XP install under Parallels or Fusion?

 

On my Mac Mini with Parallels I recall having some issues with this. When you boot to the native XP it thinks you've installed it on a new computer and wants to activate.

[GoBx]

Just given it a try.

Good point : my XP HD seen as BootCamp part, automatically selected, and everything went fine. Except no network. It was better when I used 'bridge'. Graphic OK, etc...

But... when trying to (real) boot to my XP HD, to see if no damage, I had video 640 x480 4 bits color !!! Need to reinstal graphic driver (nvidia 7600 GT silence) to have a correct display.

Reboot in VMWare... this time, 640 x 480 4 bits (video acceleration on or off : the same thing)

Then an old legendary blue screen. VM badly shut down lol

Now, can't boot VM, can't boot 'real' XP.

héhé... Didn't know what to do this evening. Now I know Try to repair and maybe reformat

[Guest Snowski]

What about activation problems when booting a bare metal install of XP vs running that XP install under Parallels or Fusion?On my Mac Mini with Parallels I recall having some issues with this. When you boot to the native XP it thinks you've installed it on a new computer and wants to activate.

Activation seems to be a well known problem with Vmware but I didn't have any with my native XP (bootcamp) install or vmware image XP install. My native XP is nlite and unattended and the image that Vmware created was built with it's own settings (like it did everything for me cause keyboard was still in english etc..)So all good here

Just given it a try.Good point : my XP HD seen as BootCamp part, automatically selected, and everything went fine. Except no network. It was better when I used 'bridge'. Graphic OK, etc...But... when trying to (real) boot to my XP HD, to see if no damage, I had video 640 x480 4 bits color !!! Need to reinstal graphic driver (nvidia 7600 GT silence) to have a correct display.Reboot in VMWare... this time, 640 x 480 4 bits (video acceleration on or off : the same thing)Then an old legendary blue screen. VM badly shut down lolNow, can't boot VM, can't boot 'real' XP.héhé... Didn't know what to do this evening. Now I know Try to repair and maybe reformat

Odd that you cannot boot to XP since Vmware adds its own drivers seperatly and should not mess with the native install. Only thing it does is install VmWare tools which is needed for faster GFX etc...I didn't have sound on my native cause it was an nLite install and probably missed the sound drivers (or Vmware just works better when doing a new image install)Maybe it corrupted your bootloader so try a bootloader repair first.And good luck lad, damn shame it has to go like that (been there m8, plenty of windows reintalls in the past)Geez, the board really screws with my msg layout.I'm using new lines and spaces but it comes out as one looooooooooong line.