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| MacBook running Windows XP in VirtualBox |
- My 6-year old MacBook almost dying now. It doubles up as my Disaster Recovery system. Because PATS and SaxoTrader only run under Windows, I need Windows installed on my MBs.
- My new MB (with super fast SSD!) comes with Lion which does not support Windows XP under Boot Camp. Minimum requirement is Windows 7. Tried to BootCamp Windows XP onto my Lion but can't find a way to get it to work.
- Was not willing to ditch Windows XP and pay S$359 for Windows 7 (which is only going to be used for Disaster Recovery).
- Solution found - foc - Oracle VM VirtualBox. Detailed installation manual here. Care on the RAM allocation between Lion and Windows.
- Unfortunately was over 3 weeks ago that I did the installation and details all a bit hazy now. Should have written this up immediately. Can't understand more than half the terms in the manual. Was a miracle I got it to work at all. Not confident I can repeat this in future.
- This note is for my own future reference. Wanted to record in detail what I did but cannot remember most of it now. Hence, short version.
- SaxoTrader runs perfectly under VB/Windows XP (Home edition). No strange keyboard behaviour etc. Is better than BootCamp because both OS run simultaneously without having to reboot to switch.
7 comments:
Hey TS, two very popular solutions to running (any) Windows on the mac is Parallels or VMWare Fusion, cost < $100. I've used VMWare for over 5 years, and it runs XP faster than a PC running XP! No problems whatever, very easy to install and use. Parallels is similar, reviews say it is faster on Windows 7, but I stick to my XP on VMWare for the rare occasions I need to use Windows.
Pandu
A note about USB drive under this configuration. Because 1 USB drive cannot operate under 2 OS simultaneously (and Lion has 1st claim to the USB drive), the way to get the USB to run under Windows here is :=
1. Eject the USB from the Lion desktop. Then,
2. Attach the USB to Windows via the device icon on the bottom of the row of Windows screen.
VirtualBox is free.
Pandu
The old Bootcamp partitions the original Mac HD into 2 - a smaller Mac HD + a Windows HD. Stuff from one does not crossover into the other so its like having 2 independent computers residing in 1 box.
Under VirtualBox however, I don't see any physical evidence of the Windows HD. When I Cmd+I the Mac HD, I see the same original size of HD. So how does this work?
Am I right in thinking that VB runs Windows out of a cordoned off part of the Mac HD? But on the Mac HD I can't find any evidence of a Windows installation. Where are the files? And if I am right, will my Mac HD get corrupted if I get a Windows virus ?
TS, Bootcamp was never a good way to run Windows on a Mac, Parallels came out before bootcamp and has been a better solution ever since. Parallels, VMWare Fusion, etc do not partition the hard disk. They just create a folder on the hard drive reserved for itself, and partition the memory. Windows basically runs as a app under the MacOS, just like any other Mac app. Bcoz the mac memory management is from Unix and is bullet proof, all applications run very well. Under Fusion or Parallels, you can even resize the Windows window and move files from the mac finder straight into the windows desktop. Bottom line: forget bootcamp, get Fusion or Parallels. Cheers.
Pandu
Sorry, I saw your other comments later.
USB and CD/DVD management is much simpler and intuitive on Parallels and Fusion.
VirtualBox may be free, but it is a latecomer to the party and I wouldn't trust Oracle, it will have corporate baggage that will be annoying. Fusion is from VMWare, a company dedicated to virtual processing only and Parallels is even more focussed - only Mac applications!
Btw, viruses on windows only affect the windows session, the mac is unaffected, thanks to the bulletproof memory partitioning.
Pandu
I will stick to VirtualBox. Only ever need to boot up Windows on my Mac if my main trading computer crashes. It works well enough for me.
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