Fusion 5 & Win 8 Bootcamp (RTM)

[HandsMalone]

I just tried Fusion 5 to boot my bootcamp of Win 8 RTM and my Windows activiation just got wacked.. (I was able to reset it)... I am a little worried about continually having to reactivate.. can anyone confirm/deny/clerify if Fusion 5 and Win 8 (RTM) on bootcamp is "officially" supported or not? It obviously boots & running, but running but killing activiations isn't eactly working :-P.

Thanks

Josh

[Entegy]

Considering one of the advertised new main features of Fusion 5 was Windows 8 support, I'd say it's supported. You should be able to reactivate with no issue.

[WoodyZ]

From some other posts I've read in the forums it's my understating, although I've read nothing from VMware officially, that Apple is not yet officially supporting Windows 8 on the Boot Camp partition and VMware will not officially support it in that use case until Apple does.

[WoodyZ]

Yes, Windows 8 is officially supported in normal file based Virtual Machines however I saw nothing about official Windows 8 Boot Camp Virtual Machine support and in the past VMware did not officially support running an OS in the Boot Camp partition as a Virtual Machine until Apple officially supported the given OS under Boot Camp.  Remember going from Windows XP to Windows 7?

[HandsMalone]

Its working for the most part.. Seems a touch sluggish... But its running.. However Office 2013 preview really doesn't like switching.. I've had to reactivate it 3 times now... Windows only required 1 reactivation.. Office 2013 seems to need a reactivation about every other time I switch between a VM and bootcamp.

As for "official" Apple support, ya hopefully Apple will be benevilent here... Even without it in bootcamp the MBR is the best Win 8 hardware on the market right now.

Josh

[jim_gill]

Windows 8 is fully supported as a Boot Camp virtual machine in VMware Fusion 5. The process has not changed from what you used in Fusion 4 or with windows 7.

The process is:

1) Install Windows 8 into Boot Camp

2) (Optional but highly recommended) Install Apple Boot Camp drivers

3) Activate Windows, if you haven't already done so or let it be done automatically.

4) Restart your Mac in OS X

5) Use Fusion 5 to create a Boot Camp virtual machine

6) Install VMware Tools, or let it complete automatic installation. VMware Tools are required for Boot Camp support.

7) Under Fusion, you must reactivate Windows (*) in the Boot Camp virtual machine because the hardware looks different to Windows.

😎 (Sometime later) shut down Fusion, and restart your Mac under native Boot Camp.

9) Under native Boot Camp, reactivate Windows one final time. This reactivation does not count against any Windows activation limits, as the hardware signature has not changed since its original activation.

10) Your Boot Camp virtual machine is now fully activated in both native mode and as a virtual machine.

(*) To activate Windows 8: Open Control Panel (most easily accessed from the charms on the right side of the screen), go to the "System and Security" pane, then the System subpane. You will find a link to activate Windows near the bottom of the page.

I'm afraid we don't have support for Boot Camp activation for the Microsoft Office 2013 Preview at this time. My recommendation to minimize Office reactivation hassles by limiting your use of the Office 2013 preview to one mode or the other (native or as a VM). Fusion 5 does include Boot Camp activation support for all officially-released versions of Microsoft Office for Windows.