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Jimbo435
Contributor
Contributor

Windows Versions help

I apologize if this in the wrong place.

I am running a Mid 2009 MBP, with OSX 10.11.6 and Fusion 8.5.10

2.53 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 8GB DDR3

Can I install a Windows 10 Home VM?

I am currently running Windows XP, and I figure it might be a good time to upgrade.

No heavy usage, just a couple old video games.

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scott28tt
VMware Employee
VMware Employee

@Jimbo435 

It's supported as a guest OS on that version of Fusion: https://www.vmware.com/resources/compatibility/search.php?deviceCategory=software&details=1&operatin...

So any potential issue is really more of a Microsoft question, check the hardware requirements here that you would need (as a minimum) for your VM: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/windows-10-specifications

 


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Technogeezer
Immortal
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According to the VMware Compatibility Guide , Windows 10 is officially supported by Fusion 8.0 and later. 

- Paul (Technogeezer)
Editor of the Unofficial Fusion Companion Guides
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ColoradoMarmot
Champion
Champion

You can install it, but you're going to have performance problems.  Windows 10 wants 2 cores and 2GB of RAM at a minimum.  That'll overload your host and cause resource contention.  Windows 7 (if you have an ISO and key) would be a better option from a performance standpoint, but it's no longer supported and should never connect to the internet.

Unfortunately that applies to your host too - El Cap has security vulnerabilities, and is risky to run these days.  If you can, it's probably time to upgrade to a supported platform.  Note that the new M1 machines cannot presently run windows VM's.

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wila
Immortal
Immortal

If you complain about El Cap having security issues.. then I'd argue that you cannot really advise Windows 7... as it suffers the exact same problem.

In that case.. I would suggest Windows 8.1, it's a bit of a hated version because of the missing start menu, but it is not really a bad windows version and it still gets security updates too. EOL date is 01/10/2023.

So it is a lot safer to use. No problem with support & used resources either.

--
Wil

| Author of Vimalin. The virtual machine Backup app for VMware Fusion, VMware Workstation and Player |
| More info at vimalin.com | Twitter @wilva
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Jimbo435
Contributor
Contributor

My 2009 MB has 2 cores, and 8GB ram, so it should be ok.

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Jimbo435
Contributor
Contributor

Thanks everyone.  I couldn't figure out how to use that compatibility tool.

I went and bought a version of Windows 10. 

I'll try to remember to come back and let you know how it goes.

I don't really use that old computer for anything but playing some Windows games with my son.

Not TOO worried about security.

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wila
Immortal
Immortal


@Jimbo435 wrote:

My 2009 MB has 2 cores, and 8GB ram, so it should be ok.


The problem with that is that your macOS/OS X wants some CPU resources too...
It might work though (hopefully it does)

Good luck!
--
Wil

| Author of Vimalin. The virtual machine Backup app for VMware Fusion, VMware Workstation and Player |
| More info at vimalin.com | Twitter @wilva
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Jimbo435
Contributor
Contributor

OK, while I have your attention, it has been ages since I created a VM.

Do I want a Windows 10 VM or a Windows 10 x64 VM?
Would one or the other work better on this hardware?

I can't get Windows to install.
It only wants to install from network.
I've created a cdr file from the USB using Disk Utility, but I can't get it to use it.

1) I open Virtual Machine Library
2) Click on Add, select New
3) Leave default to Install from disc or image
4) Highlight my cdr image (also tried renaming a copy to an iso file)
5) Select Windows 10 (tried x64 too)
6) Finish with default settings
7) It starts VM, tries to boot from network, then fails for lack of OS

I tried a few other things like redirecting the CD/DVD to my cdr file to no avail.
What am I doing wrong?

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gringley
Hot Shot
Hot Shot

My suggestion is to download the Windows 10 ISO from this link - https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10ISO

If you are playing games and the games are older too but known to run on Windows 10, x86 (32-bit) may be a better option.  The x86 Windows tops out at 4GB of RAM.  If you want to run games or apps that need more than 4GB of RAM, you can run Windows x64 as you have the Core 2 Duo CPU, but 6GB is the most RAM I would give the VM.  Looks like OWC sells 16GB of RAM for your MBP for $80 - might be worth it if the games need a lot of RAM.

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ColoradoMarmot
Champion
Champion

The host needs at least 1 core that's not allocated to the VM.  Windows 10 is very marginal on that hardware.

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gringley
Hot Shot
Hot Shot

I agree the 2007 iMac I had was chugging hard on 10.11 and the Windows VMs were not very usable.  Maybe by 2009 it go a little better?!?

But does Fusion really count in real cores?  Or does it count in Hyperthreaded cores?  There are four hyper threaded cores available?

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gringley
Hot Shot
Hot Shot

My other suggestion would be to consider Boot Camp for this instead?  My experience with Windows 20H2 and older hardware is that you will have to go into Optional Updates in Windows Update and manually add the rest of the drivers you need after Boot Camp gets things running.

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Jimbo435
Contributor
Contributor

Thank you so much!

It would have saved me 3 hours if it just said "Hey, I can't read that iso file!"

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Jimbo435
Contributor
Contributor

I thought of boot camp.

I tried it.

My boot camp only wants to install Windows 7

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gringley
Hot Shot
Hot Shot

Ah good point.  I recall now that Windows 10 not have drivers for the Apple WiFi on my 2011 iMacs and Microsoft would not automatically upgrade my Windows 7 Boot Camps, so probably bigger problems with the 2009 MBP.

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ColoradoMarmot
Champion
Champion

Fusion only counts real cores in the N-1 guidance.  Core 2 Duo is marginal even for Windows 10 in bootcamp.

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