VMware Fusion 2 – Running Windows on a Mac

Posted by LisaHill - 15/04/09 at 02:04 pm

Subject Matter: Running Windows on a Mac
Grades: Middle School & up

Strong Performance
Why do I want to run Windows on a Mac?  Some software runs fine on both Mac and Windows, but many times there are applications I want to test that only run on Windows.  And schools use both computer platforms.

If students and teachers need the flexibility of running educational software using Mac OS X or Windows, VMware Fusion provides an opportunity to handle both operating systems.

Getting Started
VMware offers a 30-day trial period, so I installed Fusion 2 on my Mac hard drive.  This application took up about 168 MG of hard drive disk space, yet VMware emphasizes 500 MB of free disk space is required on the boot drive, with 5 GB of free space for each virtual machine.  Don’t forget Windows will require additional space. Windows Vista Ultimate took up over 24 GB of memory, so I installed Windows Vista on an external drive.

Once installed, there are five ways to run VMware Fusion 2:

• Create a new Windows virtual machine
• Use an existing Boot installation
• Import your existing Windows PC
• Import a Parallels Desktop, or Microsoft Virtual PC virtual machine
• Download a preconfigured virtual appliance.

Since I already had a virtual machine installed with Parallels, I imported the Parallels Desktop virtual machine.

Operates Well

I pulled up the Odyssey Chemistry demo CD on the Windows screen, and was able to manipulate chemical models and lesson simulations.  While the chemistry simulations wre running on the Windows virtual machine,  I pulled up Entourage on my Mac desktop screen, and checked my email.  No delays or hiccups for either operation.

From Microsoft Internet Explorer, I downloaded the Windows 64-bit demo version of Photoshop CS4, and made some changes to a picture.  Photoshop CS4 functioned as well as on a Mac.  While playing around on Photoshop CS4,  I answered  email on  Entourage,  wrote an article using Word, and checked information on Firefox – all on the Mac screen.  There was a slight delay in the internet activity, but I had three to four screens up on the Mac desktop while Windows operated.  And AutoProtect automatically snapshots the running virtual machine, providing protection from spam, viruses, etc.

If users want to share folders between Mac OS X and Windows, they have to access the Virtual Machine and turn on Shared Folders. To access the CD/DVD drive, this format has to be also turned on.   Mirrored Folders allows Mac users to view and open Mac folders on the Windows screen. To turn off the Virtual Machine, users have to press the Virtual Machine library, press Shut Down Guest, which turns off Windows, and then exit VMware Fusion.

VMware provides a powerful tool with many options and tools to operate Windows on a Mac.  VMware reports that Fusion 2 includes support for more than 60 operating systems (32- and 64-bit), including Linux and Solaris.  This system supports video cameras, GPS, Bluetooth and other USB 2.o devices that only operate on Windows. Also, 3D graphics that run DirectX 9.0 games and applications can now be run on a Mac. And Fusion 2 can support virtual machines with up to 8 GB of memory. In addition, VMware offers a complimentary 12-month subscription to McAfee Virus Plus providing antivirus, antispam and Windows firewall protection.

Be Patient With Windows
I don’t know if the 32-bit Windows Vista, Windows XP or 2000 will operate faster, but Mac users, be patient with the 64-bit Windows Vista Ultimate.  It takes a while to start and turn off.  And make sure your machine has adequate memory.

VMware Fusion 2 offers a broad VMWare offers introductory and advanced online tutorial videos, tutorial PDF documents, demonstration virtual machine demos, support center and community forums.  Check online for academic and rebate offers.

System Requirements: Mac OS X 10.4.11 with Intel 1.5 GZ processor; 1-2 GB RAM; 500 MB free disk space and 5 GB free disk space for each virtual machine
Contact: VMware.com
Cost: $79.99 Single License

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 15th, 2009 at 2:44 pm and is filed under Media, Windows on Macs. The entry is tagged under 32-bit Windows Vista, 64-bit Windows Vista, education, elearning, Fusion, high, learning, Linux, Mac, Mac OS X, Macs, middle, school, Solaris, teacher, Virtual Machine, VMware Fusion, Windows, Windows Vista, Windows XP. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.