Paralells / VMWare actually working for anyone?

Half venting, half crying for help. Have brand new Macbook Pro here that I'm ready to toss out the window. This computer was purchased based on the idea that I could setup Windows XP dual boot using Boot Camp, and then access that same install of XP through Parallels / VMWare (both software advertise this as a feature).

Opened box, updated to 10.5 with all the updates. Ran Boot Camp assistant. Installed XP. All is well. It takes the Apple drivers from the Leopard CD, works perfectly.

The trouble starts when trying to access via Parallels under OS X. At the initial boot Parallels wants to install "Parallels Tools" for windows (you have no choice) and warns you not to do anything in the VM until it's done. Hours tick by, staring at a blank, black screen before I give up and admit it's frozen.

Once that happens, the install of XP cannot be booted, either in Paralles or natively! The only fix is to wipe the partition and re-install.

It seems like the SLIGHTEST mistake made in Parallels will render XP unbootable in either Parallels or natively via Boot Camp. I KNOW that XP is not this unstable. I've run trouble free on a previous HP laptop for years. You can yank the power cord right of the wall on a desktop, and while that may trigger some disk checking or whatever, it's fine. I've never had it not boot.

1. There has to be a faster way to return XP to a bootable state. All the programs, data, etc, are still there, it just won't boot. Obviously folks are not reinstalling Windows every day. I've done it 6 times in the last 24 hours. Anyone?

2. Anyone had the Parallels Tools actually complete the install process?

3. Can anyone share any tips or learned knowledge to make this a little smoother? I can't even get it to the point where it works, so I can make a backup! Literally starting from scratch each time, incredibly frustrating.

 

Parellels and VMWare require a hard drive 'virtual' file, not an actual XP partition. Installing XP under a separate partition with Boot Camp means that you can ONLY run XP from boot. I think you need to do one or the other, not both, to solve your problem.

VMWare is (in my opinion) better. Download a run a trial copy of VMWare Workstation to make your own XP image and install the VMWare Tools needed for the OS to really work well. Then it should work under OS X as you want it to.

 

Parallels publishes the ability to use the Boot Camp install as a VM:
http://www.parallels.com/en/products/desktop/features/

and it is indeed built into the 3.0 software. When creating a new VM, there is an option to "use Boot Camp" as the source of the VM.

"Use a Windows XP or Vista Boot Camp partition as a virtual hard drive in your Parallels virtual machine. No need for separate installations of Windows for Boot Camp and Parallels!"

As does VMWare:
http://www.vmware.com/products/fusion/features.html
I have a trial version of VMWare and actually saw it work for a session before the whole thing died.

 

I've heard of problems with Parallels doing it (Which may have been fixed by now). VMware has better operating skills in my opinion.

I've never ran Boot Camp with mine (I don't turn my Mac Pro off, it's a server), but I've heard of successful stories where people have done what you want with VMware.

 

I set up Boot Camp and installed Vista on the partition. I then installed VMware Fusion, and I was able to access my boot camp partition on OS X via Fusion. Even after installing VMware Tools, I am able to successfully boot back into Vista natively via boot camp.

 

Did you check to make sure that your copy of Parallels is fully updated?

I'm running VMWare Fusion with a Windows XP boot camp partition and it works nicely. I haven't tried Parallels, even though I am tempted to do so.

 

I have my Parallels VM set to boot from the boot camp partition. It works just fine. I have also had Fusion set to boot from the boot camp partition at the same time as Parallels(free trial of Fusion).

I don't know what could be causing the problem aside from an error inside parallels. Try uninstalling Parallels with AppDelete, then reinstall it and try the process over again.

 

Parallels worked fine for me using a Boot Camp partition for XP. That was, however, under Tiger. I have yet to install Parallels since my switch to Leopard.

If I have time later I'll reinstall it and report back.

 

Parallels didn't work for me with Boot Camp partition, but I don't really mind as both vmware and parallels are actually quite a bit slower when using boot camp partition...

 

I have been using Parallels with my Boot Camp since day one, and have updated Parallels countless times since then without ever experiencing any issues.

After installing XP on your Boot Camp, make sure you are running the latest version of Parallels (build 5584 at this time), and after booting into your Boot Camp partition using Parallels, click on Action>Install Parallels Tools from the menu bar. Follow the on screen (in XP) instructions, and you should be fine.

 

Another one here using XP from a bootcamp partition in VMWare Fusion without any problem.

DrPoi

 

As a former user of Parallels, my suggestion is to dump it and move onto using VMWare.

It's better and fewer bugs. Plus, Parallels has crap running in Ring0. It crashes, OS X crashes (or can).

 

Agreed. I had the EXACT same problem with Parallels. It totally froze on first run. I gave up on it, installed VMWare, and have never looked back.

 

+1 on Parallel (on Tiger)
I first installed BootCamp; when that was all done, I installed Parallel and the first thing it said was "oh, I found this XP partition, do you want me access it?". 7 months later everything is still running pretty smoothly =D