Dual Boot - Windows 7 and Mac OS X with Parallel Desktop 5

Well, I think most us are very familiar with Windows PC, right?? But when Mac introduce that their machine now are compatible with Intel, so their product price have been lowered to the affordable price that most of use are able to grab one.

Recently I've joint a new company that have given me the chance to use one of my dream machine, Mac. And I was given a MacBook Pro 15".

In the beginning I having a lot of trouble to make myself familiar with shortcuts and the folder path, especially when I'm doing my programming. So came across to me why not I create a virtual machine that could able to run Windows on the same machine.

I found an article which telling about creating a virtual machine by Using Parallel Desktop, a software that were made specially for Mac and Linux user. I give a try and managed to install Windows 7 RTM and it's running smoothly. I'll try my best to create a small tutorial on how to install on your Mac Machine.


Requirement

1.  Intel Core 2 Duo or higher
2.  4Gb DDR3 Ram or above (the more the better because you need to split the resources)
3.  Mac OS X 10.4 and later
4.  Windows Installation Disk (preferred Windows 7, due to the driver issues)
5.  Parallel Desktop 5 (latest version 5.0.9344)

Step 1

Before you start, you neeed to have full Administrator access to your Mac machine. Install Parallel Desktop 5. Follow the steps, if you are required to updated the software, just update and install the latest version. Installation of Parallel Desktop, have 2 ways, either through the installation DVD or you could download from their website (in .dmg format).

Step 2

Once you have finised your installation, insert your Windows 7 (x86 or x64) installation DVD. Then launch Parallel Desktop. You should see this screen:

Click at "New Windows Installation" and follow and follow the instruction. If everything ok, you'll get the normal Windows 7 installation screen:

Step 3

Once your Windows 7 installation completed, shutdown your virtual machine. On the top taskbar, go to Virtual Machine > Configure. On the General tab, change the Main Memory to 2Gb, by default it would set to 1Gb. You need to change it because minimum requirement for Windows 7 are 2Gb Ram.

Step 4

Once you have change your Main Memory, click at "Use your virtual machine", and you'll get this screen:

Start Windows 7, and now you'll be prompt that your are running n Coherence Mode, which means that you are in Dual Mode, whereby you could access both, Windows 7 and Mac Os in the same time.

By default, if install Windows 7 (x86 or x64), you'll see both OS in fullscreen.

Step 5

You need to activate your Windows 7, this is because Windows 7 need to automatic update your hardware driver. Once you have updated, then now you are ready to used both OS on your Mac machine.

I hope, this will help you guys. Any questions, I could be contacted at fudadesignz@gmail.com
Toodles...