Install Windows 7 RC x64 on a Mac Pro with VMware Fusion
The final in contestant in the round up of Virtualization software for the Mac is VMware Fusion. I have done two reviews already on the free Sun Virtual Box, and Parallels Desktop. I figured I should make this a three part series and evaluate all of them with a clear winner (for my purposes) in the end. The install was the same scenario…Windows 7 RC x64 on a Mac Pro. VMware Fusion is at version 2.0.4 (159196). I can already tell you that my decision is made…but you will have to wait for another post on that. For now please click the following link to read the entire post with screenshots.
Steps:
- Download and Install VMware Fusion (30 day trials are available if you don’t want to buy it right away. VMware)
- Download Windows 7 RC x64 and put the ISO on your Mac Desktop or Burn a DVD
- Start the new Virtual Machine Assistant and it will prompt you for a DVD or hit Continue Without Disk to Mount the ISO
- Select Microsoft Windows and Vista x64 as the OS you are installing (Windows 7 will be Fine)
- Vmware has an Easy install option where in you can enter Credentials and Product keys ( I did not do this..as I wanted to do a un-altered install)
- Hit the Finish Button and off you go.
- 10.9 Minutes to Install Windows 7 x64 (WOW!).
- Install the VMware Tools
- Enjoy!
Additional Steps:
The installation of Windows 7 was as easy as could be with VMware. However, once it was completed I did shutdown the Windows OS and make some modifications. I selected 2 processors instead of one and increased the available ram to 2,048mb. These are not required steps but you can make these changes if you would like to experiment…etc. I did notice a modest speed gain after doing this. One thing to note is that VMware does not allow you to change the amount of video ram that is given to the virtual machine, it only allows you to turn on/off accelarated 3d graphics. Networking is also changed by shutting down the virtual machine and either running it in bridged mode and or NAT mode.
Thoughts:
VMware Fusion made installing Windows 7 easy, as did Parallels. It would seem the commercial software packages have their act together where the free solution from Sun required a bit more tinkering around. Please look for a post in the next day or two that will give my thoughts and the clear winner of the 3. I hope you enjoyed the series thus far.
Screen Shots:
Please leave comments with suggestions and feedback so we can all make the right choice for Virtualization. Thanks for visiting 2S2D.NET!
