How can I move to boot camp - need some help please

[reemas]

I'm using VMWare on my iMac. Right now I am using it through OS X and the VMWare software. This work for me 90% of the time. There are time when I need to boot the machine up without OS X (video programs) and run it natively through boot camp.

My question is, is there a way to retain all my data and transfer my current VMWare document to a boot camp partition? Will I have the option to boot it direct from boot camp AND run it through OS X depending on what I need? Any help is much appreciated.

[WoodyZ]

My question is, is there a way to retain all my data and transfer my current VMWare document to a boot camp partition? Will I have the option to boot it direct from boot camp AND run it through OS X depending on what I need? Any help is much appreciated.

There is not just one single tool to accomplish it as it requires a mixture of tools and technologies and while its technically possible to achieve it is none-the-less a difficult task and in the long run it is easier to start from scratch using Boot Camp and installing the OS and Apps then restore your data from Data Backups.

[reemas]

ok thanks for that. i can set up a new boot camp install, but for times when i dont want to restart my machine, will vmware be able to run that partition and data? how would I set up vmware to do that?

[WoodyZ]

ok thanks for that. i can set up a new boot camp install, but for times when i dont want to restart my machine, will vmware be able to run that partition and data? how would I set up vmware to do that?

One you have established a Boot Camp partition install of Windows you can run it as an Virtual Machine by selecting Boot Camp partition on the Virtual Machine Library window and then click Run button.

Next an Authenticate dialog box appears. "VMware Fusion requires that you type your password." Enter your Name and Password then click OK. (This is necessary to unmount the Boot Camp partition for Fusion to have direct access to it.)

Next you should see a Boot Camp partition message stating "VMware Fusion is preparing your Boot Camp partition to run as a virtual machine. This may take a few minutes. This will happen once."

When the Boot Camp partition Virtual Machine boots for the first time after this VMware Tools will install/update and reboot the Boot Camp partition Virtual Machine.

If you are using a Retail or OEM version of Windows on the Boot Camp partition you will need to reactivate it and then after that VMware Tools will handle the change between using the native Boot Camp partition and the Boot Camp partition Virtual Machine.