Bootcamp and Parallels

Can I run bootcamp and Parallels on the same Mac? How do I run Bootcamp if I've already installed Parallels? Do I have to re-format my drive and start over?

Here's why you want to install both: Parallels accesses your existing Windows installation you did with Boot Camp. You don't have to boot into Windows if you install Parallels after you've installed Windows in its own Boot Camp partition and you don't have to install Windows again. It's much safer because the work you do is saved on the windows partition, not on a virtual drive. Of course, you can still boot to Windows if you need to.
You can open Windows programs right with your Mac apps and switch among them as if they were native by using Parallels. You will have to activate Windows again for some reason, but it's painless unless you've installed it more than twice in which case you have to call Microsoft.
Boot Camp is free of course and simply partitions the hard drive, you don't "run" boot camp as ZooCrew already pointed out, you actually boot to windows on startup. You do "run" Parallels which accesses your windows partition. Quite slick. I use it for Quicken because the Mac version blows hard, and another program I have to use for work that is Windows only for now.

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Can Bootcamp and Parallels share the same Windows applications and data?

I'm looking at getting an Intel iMac which will let me throw away my old PC - Yeah!
I will have a couple of Win apps that I will need to hang on to (Quicken - Quicken for Mac is horrible, but that's another tghread). Anyway, can Bootcamp and Parallels share the same Windows applications and data?
My thought would be to allow my wife to access Quicken from Parallels and not have to reboot. She will only need lightweight access and the overhead of running virtualization wouldn't impact her. I, on the other hand, would want to occasionally boot natively into Windows and run the same application with the same datafile. Is this possible?
Thanks and looking forward to joining the MacIntel world!

Thanks for all of the freplies. I suspected that BootCamp and Parallels could not shar ethe same partition, but wanted to verify. To address some of the other posts:
Re: Quicken vs MoneyDance - I looked at MoneyDance a while back and while it is comparable to Quicken for Mac, it isn't comparable to Quicken for Windows (ergo, Quicken for Mac isn't comparable to Quicken for Windows!). But, as I said, that is a topic for another thread!
Re: Using Bootcamp/Parallels for only one app: I actually have several apps that I still need access to on Windows. I work with many business applications than only run/are supported on Windows as well as receive some complex Office documents which Office for Mac cannot handle. Quicken (for Windows 2007) was just the best example of a consumer app where I could see wanting access from both OS X and Windows.

How should I install/setup a single OS of windows 7 to run through bootcamp and parallels 7 on my new macbook pro?

I just bought a new macbook 8g ram and 750g harddrive and want to be able to run windows 7 through bootcamp and parallels. How do I setup that up and install a single version of windows (want to be able to utilize heavy programs - photoshop, 3D modeling CAD etc. - by installing them once and being able to use them through parallels 7 or bootcamp)? Please let me know of anything that may red flag by doing this and clear concise instructions of which to do first/ settings for bootcamp and parallels

BootCamp is directly booting your computer into Windows for full hardware access and performance, just like a PC. It's free from Apple.
https://www.apple.com/support/bootcamp/
Virtual machine software (paid) like Parallels and VMFusion both can take the Bootcamped Windows and make a copy for use in OS X in a window at the same time as using OS X, but less performance. It's usualyl easiler to use.
A free virtual machine option is VirtualBox, but it might not have all the bells and whistles of the payware options above, but works just fine.
We can't provide detailed installation instructions, it's too much, you will have to read Apple's instructions and the manual for your virtual machine software.
http://manuals.info.apple.com/en_US/boot_camp_install-setup_10.7.pdf

HT4818 Can you use both Bootcamp and Parallels with the same Windows 7 installed

I have Parallels installed with Windows 7. Can I use both Bootcamp and Parallels on the same machine depending on whether I just want to work in Windows all day (Bootcamp) or alternate during the same session (Parallels)?

You can, yes. But there is a complication: once you activate windows it will only be activated for one of the two methods you use. So, let's say you install into boot camp and activate windows. You can then install Parallels and it will find your boot camp installation, but when running in Parallels, Windows will report that it is not activated. Or, you can activate it in Parallels and when running in Boot Camp Windows will report that it is not activated. The reason for this is because Windows thinks it is running on different computers depending on how you boot it. This may not be an issue for you if you run Windows a lot one way and just occasionally the other way, so be sure to activate Windows in whichever method you use more often. Hope this helps!

Bootcamp and Parallels - Activating windows

Hi Guys,
I know some of you run both Bootcamp and Parallels.
How do you go about activating XP for both bootcamp and parallels at the same time, have any of you seen any problems?
Cheers
Andy

This is not entirely correct. Here's the info from the MacInTouch coverage:
I'm no software licensing expert, but it appears to me, from reviewing the license for Windows Vista Home, Home Premium and Ultimate [license PDF 1] and Windows Vista Business [license PDF 2], that Vista Business and Visa Ultimate (the priciest versions) may be the only versions that can be installed in a virtual machine under, say, Parallels or VMWare's forthcoming solution. Here is the text in the Vista Home and Home Premium licenses which bans the software's use in virtual machines:
"You may not use the software installed on the licensed device within a virtual (or otherwise emulated) hardware system."
A licensed device is a "physical hardware system". Use in Boot Camp would still be OK. Moreover, the licenses for Vista Business and Vista Ultimate allow use in a virtual machine but state that, if you do so, you're not allowed to use any content protected by DRM. It states:
"You may use the software installed on the licensed device within a virtual (or otherwise emulated) hardware system. If you do so, you may not play or access content or use applications protected by any Microsoft digital, information or enterprise rights management technology or other Microsoft rights management services or use BitLocker. We advise against playing or accessing content or using applications protected by other digital, information or enterprise rights management technology or other rights management services or using full volume disk drive encryption."

Bootcamp and Parallels 5.0...

Can anyone tell me if I can have both Bootcamp and Parallels on the same hard drive. If so, do I have to install Windows twice (once with Bootcamp and another one with Parallels?)

You may use an installed BootCamp partition with Parallels - no need to install a 2nd time.
If using any flavor of Win 7 you will have to activate it a 2nd time (by phone) when using it from within Parallels.

IMac with bootcamp and parallel boots into windows 7 but won't boot intoxc lion.

IMac with bootcamp and parallel boots into windows 7 but won't boot into Mac OS lion?

Hi,
Thanks for your suggestion. Actually that was not the problem, because I had the Mcintosh drive set as my boot drive. The answer was that my Lion Os got somehow corrupted and I had to reinstalll Lion. This was all after I discussed the situation with the Apple Support people.

Concurrent Bootcamp and Parallels???

I have a 17” MacBook Pro and am a diehard Mac fan. However, there are a few Windows programs that I need to run at home, so I set up another login ID and added Parallels Desktop 4.0, along with Windows XP and the few Windows programs I need, to that new login account (ie, distinct from my primary Mac account that I do all of my Mac work out of). This setup works great.
Three Questions:
1) Is there any advantage to run Parallels in that separate account, or should I just consolidate Parallels into my primary account? I set up the separate account for Parallels thinking that it would keep my primary account “safer” and “more stable”, but perhaps I am completely wrong.
I now need to add a program for work that involves remote access to work computers via PC software.
2) Is there an advantage to set this up to run in Boot Camp (rather than Parallels)? I am assuming that it will run faster there. Also, will this keep the rest of my Mac safer than if I run it in Parallels?
3) If I set my work PC program to run in Boot Camp, will my personal Parallels programs in the separate Mac login account still run fine, or will they somehow conflict with each other?
Sorry for such basic questions, but any advice and guidance would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you very much!

There's absolutly no need to set up a separate account. The parallels partition is seen like a document by MacOS that you can copy paste, save with Time machine...
Also, when it is into your primary account, you can put some windows apps in your dock !
Me, I've only assigned Parallels to a space in MacOS. By this way, when I launch Parallels, I go automatically to space 2, and go back to Mac by alt-tab.
You can also use the Coherence mode, and put the Windows bar on the top. By this way, you will have to 2 bars together : amazing !!
The difference with BootCamp is mainly that
- Yes : Boot Camp makes your Mac a real PC : better speed. In My iMac 2,4 Ghz, XP is reaaaaally fast !
- For games and Flash : some flash games doesn't run on Parallels. With BootCamp, you run everything. Genrally speaking, when you have animations, BC is better
- When you use BootCamp, you use all your RAM : in Parallels, you share it with MacOS. For that reason, it's better to have 4 Go RAM to run Parrallels. More RAM = more speed, but 4 Go is the best approach. Note that, before adding RAM, I was using 1 Go RAM, so 512 for Parallels (with XP !! forget about Vista), and it was OK for standard needs.
But now, with, 4 Go, I can run XP, MacOS, and some Unix apps, such as Gimp with X11.
The only safe action that you have to take is ... install a antivirus on your PC partition !! (antivir is free and well noted)
Finally, I kept to 2 options : I have BoootCamp and Parallels, but Parallels is really comfortable

Need help with loading Windows 7 onto Macbook Pro - Bootcamp and parallels

Hi,
I have a windows PC and changing over to a Mac. I purchased today Parallels and Microsoft Office for Mac in order to use them on the MacBook.
Also please note - I need to use Bootcamp for some programs that I need to use - and then also be able to use parallels.
Where I am up to at the moment is - since there is no disc drive on the laptop where I can insert the disc - I have gone onto my PC and downloaded the Windows 7 usb/dvd download tool setup - however I dont know where I find the ISO file for Windows 7? So if someone could help me with that.
Alternatively - can someone please let me know if I can just pay and download Window 7 for Mac - and then run it through boot camp etc. If someone can please give me some advice on this - and also a handy step by step guide on how to achieve it.
Thank you so much in advance for your help!!!! I really appreciate it!
K

Thanks Clinton - When I went into Apple store today, I told him about the programs my husband needs to use for a CBUS course. The guy there said his room mate has done the same thing and cannot use parallels for the programs they need to run (it doesnt seem to work properly) so he is using boot camp to run them and it works fine. So I am wanting to run Boot camp first and then once the course is finished run everything through parallels.
So I have gone into Boot Camp - and because there is no Disc drive I cannot insert the disc - so I have gone back onto the PC to put windows onto a USB to then use with Bootcamp. I just cannot find the ISO file path for Windows.
I hope this all makes sense!
I am thinking I maybe i will buy the windows ISO file instead of trying to hunt it down on the PC. Do you think this is the best way to do it?

Bootcamp and parallels hang

When trying to run parallels get bootcamp loading - when it hangs at 100 %

Have partioned over a year ago - have had parallels 7 running with windows 7 and a lot of windows programs for over a year.
after a shut down; started the Mac - - clicked on parallels in applications - started loading - got restarting bootcamp screen - gets to 100 on spinning wheel and hangs- - have to do a force quit to close parallels
Thanks
Ed

Running Audition 3.0 on Win7, alternating between BootCamp on Mac and Parallels cause re-activation

Can anyone or Adobe themselves give an explanation as to how Audition 3.0 (and perhaps Audition CS5.5) verifies the machine hardware that it is running on to ensure that the purchased software license is not being installed on multiple machines?
I ask because it would appear that Audition 3.0 (at least) views its installation on the same single Windows 7 image as being 2 separate PCs if the same Windows 7 is booted into parallels and then at others times into BootCamp.
Yes, yes I know I can get Audition CS5.5 natively for the Mac, but for now I wish to run Audition in Windows. So please avoid discussions on this and instead offer me some advice as to why/how Audition reads the hardware it is running on.
The problem:
- I boot into BootCamp Windows, Audition 3.0 runs OK.
- Boot into MacOS, run same BootCamp VM Windows from parallels, run Audition 3.0, it runs asking for registratation. Registration succeeds.
- Boot into BootCamp Windows, Audition 3.0 runs runs asking for registratation. Registration succeeds.
And so on...
If I stick with one mode of running Windows, i.e. BootCamp OR via Parallels, Audition doesn't ask again, however, switching between the two triggers the re-registration.
Using the same VM/Windows install image/drive.
But I guess what is happening here is that the (virtual) "hardware" profile/signature/id presented to Windows/and 3rd-party applications, is different in BootCamp and Parallels and that applications such as Audition use this for authentication/registration to prove that the license is only running on the same hardware.
An ideal solution is that Parallels complies with the same hardware profile that BootCamp presents to Windows and 3rd party applications so that both Parallels and BootCamp are wholly seen as the same machine.
I've raised a support ticket with Parallels themselves.
I've posted on Parallels forum thread: http://forum.parallels.com/showthread.php?t=103398
awaiting moderation
But I also think Adobe could be a bit smarter as to how they detect that their software is running on the same machine that it is licensed for.

Arjaydavis wrote:
Can anyone or Adobe themselves give an explanation as to how Audition 3.0 (and perhaps Audition CS5.5) verifies the machine hardware that it is running on to ensure that the purchased software license is not being installed on multiple machines?
I think it's very, very unlikely that you'll get an answer to this. Simply because to answer it is an out-and-out invitation to hackers. All I can tell you is that each copy of Audition will allow two installations, but only on different hardware, and that you aren't strictly allowed to use them concurrently. The intention is that you can have one install on a desktop, and another on a laptop. Any conjecture that you might make about this may or may not be true - even if you guess correctly though, I doubt whether you could easily do anything about it. The only thing that Adobe are going to do is to offer to sell you another seat, I guess - that way you could have three installs. But requests for further information are almost certainly going to fall on deaf ears.

Bootcamp or parallels for new macbook pro user

I am about to make the switch from pc and purchase one of the new macbook pros that came out today. I don't fully understand how bootcamp and parallels work yet and which would be better for my needs.
I am an architect and will need to run windows for 3d modeling and rendering occasionally. Most likely I will have to use XP pro since Vista isn't yet supported in my work environment. Although I am used to pc operating systems, I think most of the rest of my work could be done using a mac os. Ideally, I would be able to use both simultaneously, but I have heard that parallels is slow.
any thoughts would be much appreciated.

Hi,
personally I don't use Fusion but Parallels.
Both claim that they can use an existing BootCamp Windows partition for creating their Virtual Machines.
However there are a lot of postings that this worked for one and that this has destroyed the BootCamp Windows for others.
For myself I have a BootCamp Windows XP and Parallels with an old Windows 2000 I had lying around.
If you let Fusion use your BootCamp Windows for creating its VM, then there should be no need to reinstall the Windows programs, although it could happen that you have the reenter serial numbers for these programs.
A reformat is not neccessary since Fusion puts the Virtual machine (which in fact consists of 2-3 files) on your OSX partition.
Given the fact that you most certainly need a BootCamp Windows in order to run your architecture programs, I would propose to this first.
Stefan

How should I upgrade hard drive with bootcamp partition & Parallels too

I need to replace the hard drive in my 24" iMac (model 8,1 - early 2008). My major concern is how to deal with my Windows XP in Parallels using a Bootcamp partition. I have yet to find software that runs in OSX 7 (Lion) that will clone both the OSX partition and the Bootcamp NTFS partition. It would appear that the most practical approach would be to use bootcamp assistant to remove the NTSF bootcamp partition and then clone just the OSX partition to my new drive and then recreate the bootcamp and parallels installations and reinstall Windows XP from scratch. Seems rather inelegant, so I'm hoping someone has advice based on experience. I'm truly hoping there is a more elegant way and any suggestions are appreciated.

Kinda sticky, but there is a way. You'll need three separate tools for the job:
The External Hard Disk: Indispensable. Get one that's at least 2x bigger than your current internal drive. You'll need it as an interim storage point
Winclone: This free software will allow you to image the Boot Camp volume. Since the developers closed shop, it's off to MacUpdate for a copy. Run it and clone the data to the external drive
Carbon Copy Cloner 3.4.3: Same as above, but for your OS X volume. This essentially puts a slick front-end on Disk Utility's cloning powers, but it really works well. Get it at http://www.bombich.com/
As for restoring the volumes:
Restore the Mac side first from Snow Leopard, using the created image from CCC. Let it take up the full of the new drive
Now, run Boot Camp Assistant to size up a new Windows volume. You should not need to reload Windows--that's where Winclone comes in.
Use Winclone to recover the XP side now, and if necessary, resize the volume.
If done correctly, you'll keep XP as you update to Lion on the Mac side--but you can't upgrade the drivers past 3.2.
Nate

Which do you prefer - Bootcamp or Parallels ?

What is the major difference between these two and which do you prefer on your system ?
Do you have to partition for both and how much do they recommend as a minimum for partition size ?

Bootcamp and Parallels both have different values to me so its hard to judge.
If youneed direct access to firewire devices (Firewire sound or video) Parallels ain't gonna do it for ya as there is no device interface level firewire support
Parallels being just a virtual machine does not have its own native file system. Instead it emulates a filesystem on a hard disk. It does this by creating a big file on the hard disk in the Mac OS X filesystem and that big file is treated as the hard disk in the virtual machine. With that in mind you don't need to do any partitioning of your OSX system to install parallels. Parallels as a virtual machine application is not revolutuionary and in my opinion is no better or worse than Virtual PC or VMWare in their repective hosted environments. I lot of the giddy-up surrounding Parallels was pure hype. Don't get me wrong its a good product and I use it. I just don't it as the next coming of the antimicrosoft savior.
BootCamp on the other side provides a capable fast Win-XP system. It does require a seperate partition but installing Bootcamp will allow you to configure that. MacDrive 6 allows you to access your HFS drives in windows XP so both O/Ses have read write access to both file systems. OSX natively only has read access to NTFS Partitions. You have to run Fat32 to allow OSX to read _and write_ to it. Win-XP will natively restrict you to 32GB size for FAT32 even though you can create larger prtitions in other applications. I have sucessfully done so as an act of futility, but if you want a simple setup environment then keep your XP partition under 32GB.
I came from a PC environment and wound up setting up XP several times to get partitioning right. I will be resetting again in a week or two to reduce my XP partition in size as I find I use OSX more than XP. Without doubt my XP setup is the fastest laptop environment I have ever used run /seen and use it almost exclusively to run Traktor DJ software as it doesn't run well at all under Rosetta and universal binaries are 3-4 months off.
Bootcamp gives you near full device level access to all the Mac hardware devices Built in sound and the camera being two that need work and apple note it in their release notes for bootcamp. Everything else including Firewire works great.
At the end of the day I use both but thus far don't use Parallels too much at all. Both have their own advantages.
Phil

Is it still impossible to do bootcamp and VMWare or Parallels?

I use bootcamp extensively to run several windows programs, mostly MS Office 2010. I also need to use Office 2011 so being able to switch back and forth between OS X and Win 7 is essential (I do this because I'm a consultant and curriculum developer--not because I'm a masochist). I've used bootcamp for years and it does a pretty good job once you get all the drivers issues sorted out.
I've also used VM ware, but had a couple of bad experiences where I lost my virtual machine and all the data on it. I do backups of course, but it was still really inconvient. Plus the driver situation when doing the virtual thing rather than bootcamp just wasn't quite there yet--another reason to use bootcamp. So for the past 2 - 3 years I've just been resigned to using bootcamp.
But occassionally it's just not convenient to reboot my system to switch from OS X to Windows, especially when all I want to do is check out some quick thing under windows but then quickly get back to Mac--two reboots! On the other hand, when I'm doing a windows client demo or such where failure's not an option, I'd want to be in bootcamp because it feels so much more solid.
I'm wondering if Apple or the virtual OS companies have made any changes that would allow me to have both bootcamp, which I'd use for windows in most situations, AND a virtual machine in OS X that I could use for quick trips to Windows but keep working in OS X without having to reboot. Most of my data files are on dropbox, so even if the bootcamp partition and the virutal machine disk were inaccessible to each other I'd be able to access the files I need.
If the answer is simply NO, you can have bootcamp or virtural machines but not both, then my next question is this: Is either VMware or parallels getting close to being as robust as bootcamp for running windows, or should I just plan to keep on bootin' for another few years?

Hey Bob,
Thanks for the information. My last experience was with VMWare 1 and I don't think this functionality was available then. I downloaded today version 4 and at this point I am running Win 7 within MacOS. Haven't tried rebooting to my bootcamp partition yet or printing or sharing, etc. If it works as advertised though I should be a happy camper.
The import option doesn't strike me as a good one for my situation. I have 500GB on my MBP and 120 GB allocated to my windows bootcamp partition. If I do the import option with VMWare I'd basically need another 120 GB of the total space and then I'd have two unsynchronized windows disks, one under bootcamp and the other under VMWare.
Running VMWare as a Mac application I can see it's a bit slower than running in bootcamp, but I expected that.
This is exciting stuff and I appreciate you taking the time to enlighten me.
Thanks

Bootcamp and Parallels

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