VMware Communities
smrussell
Contributor
Contributor
Jump to solution

Unable to install Office 2007 on Macbook/Fusion

I have a Macbook aluminum and Fusion 2.01.

Purchased Office 2007 (Enterprise Edition) through Microsoft's Home Use Program. Comes on a DVD. Can't get it installed -- all help would be greatly appreciated.

When I insert the DVD (w/o Fusion running), the drive spins and grinds for ~30 seconds, then spits the DVD out. Does the same thing when Fusion (XP VM) is running. So, as is, I cannot install off this DVD directly onto the VM -- the computer will never even read the disc. I have checked the drive with other media and it works fine; also, checked the DVD on an XP PC and that computer recognized the disc fine.

Tried looking around, found a few older threads with similar problems but no results. Here is what I tried next, without success:

Put the DVD in my networked XP PC's drive, and shared that drive. Could then see the files on the DVD, on the shared drive, in OSX. Copied all files to the Macbook onto a folder shared with the XP VM, and I could then see the files in the VM and run Setup, but it gets stuck looking for the "setup.xml" file after I select what parts of Office I want to install, even when pointed to specific directory where file located. So can't get past that error message, and have to cancel setup.

Next, used Disk Utility to create an image of the CD (with the source being the shared drive w/ disc inserted). I burned the image to a new DVD. Now, OSX will accept and can see the files on the newly-burned DVD. However, when I start the XP VM, it doesn't recognize the disc. The VM does recognize other media in that drive, however, so I don't think it is a general settings problem now.

I don't know if this is some kind of Microsoft security measure or what... Haven't been able to find any solid answer after searching, so I may be approaching this wrong and that's the problem. I don't think it is a physical disc issue, because the original disc was accessible on an XP PC.

Here are the prior threads on this site with similar issues:

http://communities.vmware.com/thread/102441?tstart=0&start=0

http://communities.vmware.com/message/1075882#1075882 (see post about 2/3 way down)

http://communities.vmware.com/message/726255#726255

Thanks!

- Steve

Reply
0 Kudos
1 Solution

Accepted Solutions
WoodyZ
Immortal
Immortal
Jump to solution

Since you have a Windows System available that can read the DVD Disc I'd make an ISO Image of the DVD Disc on the Windows System and then move the ISO Image via the Network, or other methods, to the Mac and then attach the ISO Image to the Virtual Machine's CD/DVD Drive and install form the iSO Image.

VMware Fusion (menu bar) > Help > VMware Fusion Help > Managing Virtual Machines > Configuring the CD/DVD Drive > Connecting and Setting Up a CD/DVD Drive

View solution in original post

Reply
0 Kudos
6 Replies
borisdusek
Expert
Expert
Jump to solution

Hi Steve,

from the fact that the original DVD does not get read by Mac OS X itself (without Fusion running), I guess it is some incompatibility between the DVD media and the Mac.

Much more easier would be to use the CD image directly in Fusion without burning it (Fusion can do this) - Virtual Machine -> CD/DVD -> Choose disk image ..., select the image (note that it can't be .dmg, only .cdr or .iso - if you created .dmg with Disk Utility, create a new image the same way, just select "CD/DVD master" as image type upon creating). Then Virtual Machine -> CD/DVD -> Connect CD/DVD (if it has not yet been connected), and it should work. If nothing happens in Windows, go to My Computer and right-click the CD/DVD drive icon and choose Auto Play or Open or similar. Hope this helps.

Boris

Reply
0 Kudos
WoodyZ
Immortal
Immortal
Jump to solution

Since you have a Windows System available that can read the DVD Disc I'd make an ISO Image of the DVD Disc on the Windows System and then move the ISO Image via the Network, or other methods, to the Mac and then attach the ISO Image to the Virtual Machine's CD/DVD Drive and install form the iSO Image.

VMware Fusion (menu bar) > Help > VMware Fusion Help > Managing Virtual Machines > Configuring the CD/DVD Drive > Connecting and Setting Up a CD/DVD Drive

Reply
0 Kudos
WoodyZ
Immortal
Immortal
Jump to solution

Much more easier would be to use the CD image directly in Fusion without burning it (Fusion can do this) - Virtual Machine -> CD/DVD -> Choose disk image ..., select the image (note that it can't be .dmg, only .cdr or .iso - if you created .dmg with Disk Utility, create a new image the same way, just select "CD/DVD master" as image type upon creating).

That would be fine if the OP hadn't said "When I insert the DVD (w/o Fusion running), the drive spins and grinds for ~30 seconds, then spits the DVD out." so if OS X cannot read or even keep the Disc in the Drive then how can one use Disk Utility to create an ISO Image when there is no Disc in the Drive to read?

Reply
0 Kudos
smrussell
Contributor
Contributor
Jump to solution

I can access the disc if I insert it into a DVD drive on a separate, networked XP PC, then share the drive. (Unfortunately, I cannot access the disc in the XP VM this way.)

I tried last night to use the image instead of physical drive in the XP VM, but got some sort of "cannot read media, it may be corrupted" error message -- can't remember the exact wording off the top of my head. I am going to try again with making an image tonight. Yesterday I made two separate images, one directly from the disc (on other computer) and one from the files after I copied them to the Mac. Perhaps the image I tried with the XP VM was the one made from the local copies of files, in which case there may be some kind of file system issue (i.e., XP VM can't read OSX content when contained in image file). Those kind of things are over my head, but in any event perhaps that's the problem.

I wish I could find something about whether Microsoft has implemented some kind of copy protection/security measure in its DVDs that prevent this version of Office on an MS-pressed DVD from being read at all by OSX.

Reply
0 Kudos
WoodyZ
Immortal
Immortal
Jump to solution

I wish I could find something about whether Microsoft has implemented some kind of copy protection/security measure in its DVDs that prevent this version of Office on an MS-pressed DVD from being read at all by OSX.

I doubt that Microsoft has done anything to stop the disk from being read on a Mac and this same behavior I've seen many times before with other manufactures products as well and the bottom line is when I've made an ISO Image on a Windows System and then copied it to the Mac I had no problem installing from the ISO Image created from the CD/DVD that wouldn't stay in the Mac's Optical Drive yet had no problem in a Windows System.

I've also had Disc's that wouldn't read/stay on one Mac yet on another they would so this is not an unusual problem and is really just an inconvenience especially if one doesn't have another system to make an ISO Image on.

Reply
0 Kudos
smrussell
Contributor
Contributor
Jump to solution

I created an ISO of the DVD on my XP PC, copied it to the Mac, and was able to then install from the ISO in the XP VM without problem.

Thanks for your assistance, boris and woody. Much appreciated!

- Steve

Reply
0 Kudos