Comments on: VMWare Fusion On Mac Delivers My Best Windows Experience Ever

By: Mo

Mo — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 03:43:43 +0000

Does VM Fusion run well on a Mac Book, or does it require a Mac Book Pro?
I know of course Pro is better but it’s more expensive. Has anyone tried running both XP and OS X on a Mac Book?

Thanks.

By: Sebastian Kaupert

Sebastian Kaupert — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 18:58:47 +0000

Can’t install Office 2007 in XP SP2 running in VMWare fusion. Get a generic message “Microsoft Office Professional 2007 Installer encountered an error during setup”.

No numbers or anything else.

Am installing from CD. Academic License. Turned off virus protection, restarted, no cigar.

Anyone else having the same problem and a solution?

Thanks!

By: Ketan

Ketan — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 15:21:51 +0000

Ok ive got VMWare Fusion loaded on a Macbook Pro at work, but even though Ive setup Windows XP fine on VMWare, I cant seem to install MS Office 2007. It returns an error stating I need a ‘newer version of operating system needed’. Do the same on a REAL windows XP, and no problem.

Can anyone point me in the direction of a fix? I dont want to lose all my hair just yet!

Thanks

By: William Stewart

William Stewart — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 11:20:28 +0000

I’m very much enjoying VMWare Fusion, which I use primarily to be able to use Microsoft Money. I’m using a virtual hard drive, thought I’m wondering how the performance will improve (if at all?) if I install in a BootCamp partition?

By: Jim Bowen

Jim Bowen — Fri, 30 May 2008 04:53:37 +0000

Loaded Fusion on Mac Mini 2.0 duo intel, then attempted Windows XP (32 Bit) and got:
Fatal Error: “An error has been encountered that prevents set up from continuing” “one of the components that Windows needs to continue set up could not be installed” “The device is not ready”

HELP!

By: joe

joe — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 00:03:24 +0000

I’ve just installed VMware on an imac but I’m unable to access the shared drives on the windows workgroup. Can anybody help?

By: Jaimie

Jaimie — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 15:06:31 +0000

I have been using fusion as a .NET development machine for the last 2 weeks running win 2k3 server and it has been great. The only thing that I’m seeing is that the windows time always gets screwed up. It is as if it is running slow all the time and get behind the real time.

Has anyone else noticed this?

By: kluschy

kluschy — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 20:45:03 +0000

koginy - yes you’d have to have your own winxp installation disc (with SP2). If you only have one with SP1, you’ll have to slipstream SP2. Or you can get an inexpensive full version WinXP w/SP2 from viosoftware.com. I’ve bought from them - they’re inexpensive, reliable, and ship fast. I wouldn’t recommend getting OEM version though. HTH.

By: jenniferlynn

jenniferlynn — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 22:27:35 +0000

Koginy- a virus would only affect the virtual machine, not your macintosh. If you only use your mac browser for the internet, you shouldn’t have to worry about viruses anyway! Just make sure that you are careful as usual about opening emails in outlook from unknown sources…

By: VMWare Fusion On Mac - The Apple Blog @ i-rant: Jim Charanis

VMWare Fusion On Mac - The Apple Blog @ i-rant: Jim Charanis — Sun, 16 Dec 2007 13:29:58 +0000

[...] Fusion On Mac - The Apple Blog Posted on 12/16/2007 Categories: Software. VMWare Fusion On Mac Delivers My Best Windows Experience Ever - The Apple BlogBanter on the use of Win XP under VMWare - still have to buy Windows XP and I am looking to hear [...]

By: koginy

koginy — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 17:34:38 +0000

So if i use Vmare, will i have to buy a Windows Xp installation disc?

By: sigin

sigin — Sun, 25 Nov 2007 08:45:48 +0000

I just got a new imac too! I can’t think of why I didn’t switch over sooner!! Anyways… I got a serious question. When you run windows on the mac using whatever program,(paralles, bootcamp or fusion) is the mac vulnerable to windows viruses as well??

By: Leopard Is Coming, and I Want It - The Apple Blog

Leopard Is Coming, and I Want It - The Apple Blog — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 18:00:29 +0000

[...] end of year, to one who knows what I’ll be doing this weekend. It just had better not break my VMWare in the [...]

By: Louis Gray

Louis Gray — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 17:30:59 +0000

@11: One week into it, I still have few complaints. We’ve added Project and Visio, and Windows printing, etc. It simply works, and I don’t worry much about it. Also, if I enable VPN access on the Mac, it connects through Windows, powering Outlook at the office or away from the office. I expect I’ll have the same response six weeks in or six months in.

By: Sam

Sam — Sat, 13 Oct 2007 17:50:51 +0000

One of the things I’d like to point out to the people that are talking about Parallels is using a ton of resources is that its possible to have it optimize for Mac OS X performance over VM performance in the options. This may help in some cases.

By: Papa Goat

Papa Goat — Sat, 13 Oct 2007 17:38:39 +0000

Well I’ve used it for multiple months now in a full-professional environment and we will not be going back to Parallels. Granted we only run QuickBooks, 2 medical billing programs, and a HCFA-1500 generator but I run XP on a second monitor on my desktop and forget about it for the other 90% of the time I’m in OSX. With Parallels, I only launched Windows when I needed it due to the resources it required .

By: Jan Cornelius

Jan Cornelius — Sat, 13 Oct 2007 08:46:04 +0000

well it’s only been 24 hours that he’s used it.
After say a month of semi-professional use the review will need to be re-written.

By: Quix

Quix — Fri, 12 Oct 2007 07:05:38 +0000

I currently use Parallels, but it tends to bring my system to a crawl at times, especially when starting Windows (2.0 ghz iMac, 2 gigs RAM). Frankly I have to hit the start button and walk away for 5-10 minutes as my Mac apps are worthless during the process. I tried the Fusion 1.1 beta and had no such problem - my Mac is still snappy while Fusion does its thing. So I ordered a copy of Fusion from Amazon. I assume much of this has to do with Fusion’s ability to utilize both processor cores, where Parallels cannot?

I still respect you, Parallels team, and VMWare was embarrassingly late to the party, but I need to move on now…

By: Louis Gray

Louis Gray — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 16:07:54 +0000

I log on to the Windows network with no issues using Fusion. In the screen capture above, you can see a “Company” network drive - which is exactly that.

By: CP

CP — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 14:54:48 +0000

How does VMware deal with Windows Networks and log-ons. I’m trying to wean my wife off of her PC need, but two things I’m worried about are the specialized vet software that she uses at work, and then logging on the Windows network they have set up in her office. I was thinking about going the bootcamp route, because I KNOW that should work.

By: Sam

Sam — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 18:58:02 +0000

I recently looked at the latest versions of each of the offerings in the space:

http://www.javarants.com/2007/10/07/parallels-vs-vmware-vs-bootcamp-vs-codeweavers-crossover-office-revisited/

By: Sean

Sean — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 18:07:51 +0000

I haven’t tried Parallels, either, because I went straight for VMWare when I got my Intel-based Mac. That was because of the strong history they have with virtualization and the incredibly comprehensive library of ready-to-run virtual machines available for download. I’ve heard good things about Parallels, and I’m not posting to in any way suggest that it’s not just as good, I just don’t have any experience with Parallels.

So, that said, my experience with VMWare Fusion has been wonderful, so I think your post is right-on! I’m amazed at what I can do on my laptop now. It really has taken over for three different machines for me. Just being able to seamlessly drag-and-drop files from Mac to Windows and back again is great. And the level of hardware support–I mean, it blows me away to plug a USB device into my MAC and have the Windows “Found Hardware” wizard pop up in my Windows window. Very cool piece of software, easily the best thing on my Mac.

By: Louis Gray

Louis Gray — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 18:06:06 +0000

@Paul: I mentioned the alternatives (Boot Camp and Parallels) and admitted to not being a Parallels expert. What I know is that Fusion is a great product, and I’m glad it’s here. Preferring Parallels is good too - as it’s always a great idea to have multiple companies developing for the Mac.

By: Greg

Greg — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 17:50:25 +0000

@Matt: There’s a side by side here.

By: Matt Radel

Matt Radel — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 17:38:54 +0000

Hmmm - I’ve heard good things about Fusion, but no one has really been able to point out significant features that would move me away from parallels. I’d love to see a side by side review.

By: Greg

Greg — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 17:36:48 +0000

I concur. Having used both Parallels and Fusion, I opted to buy Fusion. Buy.com has been running a special, I got Fusion last week for $61.00 less the $20 rebate Smith-Micro are offering (till the end of the year).

By: Paul

Paul — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 16:31:45 +0000

This sounds like a paid review to me. Why not mention other alternatives and pros/cons of each?