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By Tarun on May 30th, 2009

Install Windows 7 RC x64 on a Mac Pro with Parallels Desktop

Parallels is yet another virtualization solution for the OS X operating system. I already installed Windows 7 RC x64 using Sun’s Virtual Box and it was somewhat of a tricky/cumbersome experience….read here. I figured why not try to do the same install using Parallels Desktop version 4…Build 4.0.3844 to be exact. The experience was much better and there was no need to install additional drivers for sound, etc. The steps and screen shots follow..please read the entire post.
Steps:

  1. Download and Save the Windows 7 RC x64 iso file to your Mac Desktop
  2. Start the Parallels new Virtual Machine assistant
  3. Mount the iso image (and or dvd)
  4. Name the Virtual Machine
  5. Select some Additional Options (file sharing, user profile sharing, creating an icon, etc)
  6. Hit the Create Button
  7. Select Boot Options
  8. Hit the Start Button
  9. Install Windows
  10. Install the Parallels Tools (for mouse, display, networking etc)
  11. Use and Enjoy Windows 7.

Thoughts:
My experience with installing Parallels on my Mac Pro was much better then with Sun Virtual Box. It took me time to get my audio working on the install with Sun Virtual Box but with Parallels it was much easier. Everything worked out of the box on Parallels and there was nothing additional that had to be done with the exception of installing the parallels tools..which is a requirement of most virtualization software. Yes Parallels has a cost, but the it is quite apparent why.


Please share your feedback, thoughts, and experiences via the commenting system. Thanks!

Apple • How-To • Tips • Windows , , , , , , , ,

Comments (5)

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  1. Alex from Parallels says:
    June 1, 2009 at 12:12 pm

    Thanks for the great post

  2. Tarun says:
    June 1, 2009 at 1:44 pm

    Alex, thanks for stopping by and for the compliments. Much appreciated.

  3. TChachra says:
    June 1, 2009 at 6:13 pm

    Thanks for stopping by and I am glad you liked the post.

  4. indra says:
    October 20, 2009 at 6:29 am

    Hi,

    thanks for a great post. I installed as you described and all went well until I suspended the vm. It started hanging on startup at the ‘Welcome’ message and would only boot into windows in safe mode.

    The parallels install is running on a new (July 09) unibody 13″ MBP with integrated graphics only (not sure if this is a factor). The problem seems to lie with the Parallels Tools app(s) and the fact that the Win7 install is 64bit.

    Parallels support suggested un- and re-installing Parallels tools which works until the next time the vm is suspended :-( . They also advised deleting the .mem/.sav files inside the vms .pvm package but to no avail, I still get so far and no further.

    Have you or any of your readers experienced this? And if so do you have a fix/workaround? I’m desperate to bin my XP vm and get with the times ;-)

    Thanks,

    I.

  5. Tarun says:
    October 20, 2009 at 7:57 pm

    HI. I have been using Windows 7 RTM and before that the RC on various flavors of the MAC running parallels with 0 issues.
    Unfortunately I don’t have a solution for you, but did make some calls and found that no one using your install scenario had any trouble. Perhaps you need to try a re-install of Windows 7…and I am assuming you are now using the RTM??