Windows Xp Media Edition (and compatibility with Camtasia Studio)

[UKbob]

Hi - I am looking to purchase VM Fusion and couldn't find a simple

place to ask a very basic question: I currently have a laptop running

Windows XP (Media Edition). Can I clone this system and will it run on

my iMac as a virtual machine? I know that XP is supported, but whether

the Media Centre Edition presents any problems would be useful to know.

Secondly, Can I load Windows applications subsequent to installing VM

Fusion (such as Camtasia Studio) or do I have to install them before I

clone the machine?

Finally, had anybody actually run Camtasia Studio in a virtual machine

environment and if so - have they had any problems capturing desktop

activity between open mac and windows programs?

Knowing the answers to these questions would really help me to make up my mind about how to go forward with VM Fusion.

Many thanks in advance.

[WoodyZ · Accepted solution]

First of all you can download a fully functional normal release version of Fusion and get a Free 30 Day Trial Serial Number so as to test whether or not Fusion is right for you.

Secondly you can use VMware vCenter Converter to create a Virtual machine of a Physical Computer however if the Windows OS came pre-installed from the OEM or is an OEM version then it is not legally transferable to another computer by its EULA and may also check that it is running on OEM Hardware and would not work anyway. If you have a legally transferable copy of Windows and intend to remove it from the physical hardware after the conversion then that is an option however with Windows Media Center not all features will work when virtualized and it is the Media Center specific features that typically have issues.

As far as Camtasia Studio I have installed this in a Windows XP Pro Virtual Machine and played with it a bit however not enough to say it's 100% usable within all of its features.

The best thing I can suggest is to take advantaged of the Free 30 Day Trial Serial Number and see if Fusion is a viable option for your needs and also there is Boot Camp where you'd be running Windows natively on the Apple hardware and would not have any issue any different then any other supported physical hardware.

[UKbob]

Thanks for your advice WoodyZ. I guess I will have to go with a new copy of XP just to be sure. One last thing - I'm assuming I can just install windows programs directly from CD/HDD once I have got the VM client installed and running?

[WoodyZ]

I'm assuming I can just install windows programs directly from CD/HDD once I have got the VM client installed and running?

Yes you can install software in a virtual machine the same way as if it was a physical machine.

[UKbob]

Just installed VM fusion - no problems at all. Downloaded and installed Camtasia, fine too. However, Camtasia cannot recognise my inbuilt iSight camera. Any suggestions? Many thanks!

[admin]

Camtasia cannot recognise my inbuilt iSight camera.

Did you install Apple's Boot Camp drivers (these include iSight drivers)?

[UKbob]

I installed from a new copy of XP - I don't believe I was asked for anything from the Apple Mac. How would I install these drivers? Are they already on the mac or would I have to get them from my leopard disk or download from somewhere? Thanks

[WoodyZ]

The Boot Camp Driver are on the Leopard Install Disc 1 DVD or Leopard Upgrade DVD and cannot be downloaded legally from anywhere but Apple and what is available at Apple is a Boot Camp Driver Update that requires Boot Camp Driver to already be installed to install.

Insert the DVD in Windows and you can just execute the AppleiSightInstaller.exe or if you what install everything. If all you what is to access the Apple Built-in iSight then I recommend only executing just the AppleiSightInstaller.exe file.

[UKbob]

Thanks. I am not sure how to get the windows virtual machine to recognise my D drive. After inserting the Apple Leopard disk 1 - and then going into VM and looking at the available drives under 'my computer' - I have the D drive, but it doesn't recognise that a disc is in there. Can I somehow transfer from the apple and into what folder?

[WoodyZ]

The Leopard Install Disk 1 DVD and the Leopard Upgrade DVD are a cross-platform DVD and the Boot Camp Drivers Volume can only be read at the User Level under Windows. If you cannot see it when the DVD is connected to the Windows Virtual Machine then your options are to insert the Disc on a Physical Windows Machine and then make an ISO Image or copy the files. Or on the Mac make an ISO Image of the Leopard DVD using Disk Utility.

To create an ISO Image using Disk Utility...

1. Insert the CD or DVD disc in your computer's optical drive.

2. Open Disk Utility (/Applications/Utilities/Disk Utility).

3. Select the CD or DVD disc in the list of disks and volumes.

4. Choose File > New > "Disk Image from (Name of Disc)."

5. Type a name for the disk image.

6. Choose "DVD/CD master" from the Image Format pop-up menu.

7. Choose "none" from the Encryption pop-up menu.

8. Click Save.

Obviously if you do this on the Mac vs a Windows system it going to take much longer and require more space. The Boot Camp Driver volume is small ~ 500 MB IIRC when done under Windows and the entire Disc is ~ 7.76 GB when done on a Mac.

[UKbob]

Ok. I couldn't see the disk on my actual windows machine (XP media edition), so I copied the disk on my mac as suggested (although I didn't have the option you suggest "Choose DVD/CD master" - I left the default at "Mac journaled" (there was an option for MS DOS Fat 32 though). Got the copy and simply pulled it into my VM windows desktop. Windows doesn't know what program to use to open it. So, I still can't see the bootcamp files. Help.....!

[WoodyZ]

Ok. I couldn't see the disk on my actual windows machine (XP media edition)

Are you saying with the DVD inserted on a Windows Physical Machine you saw absolutely nothing from the DVD Drive in Explorer? Does your DVD Drive on the Windows Physical Machine support Dual Layer Discs? Do you have any software installed on that system that let you read HFS+ Formated Volumes like MacDrive by Mediafour?

so I copied the disk on my mac as suggested (although I didn't have the option you suggest "Choose DVD/CD master" - I left the default at "Mac journaled" (there was an option for MS DOS Fat 32 though).

Steps 6 and 7 in my previous post are not optional! If you do not follow those directions you will not end up with a ISO Image that will work.

Got the copy and simply pulled it into my VM windows desktop. Windows doesn't know what program to use to open it. So, I still can't see the bootcamp files. Help.....!

See answer directly above.

[UKbob]

Woodyz, I am sorry to be a pain, but here's where I am at:

I have tried viewing the Leopard Disk 1 in 2 different Windows machines - but neither can see anything on the drive. I clearly haven't got a dual layer drive in either of them.

I retraced my steps and succesfully copied the whole of the Leopard master exactly as you said, ending up with a file on the mac which has a .cdr extension (and yes it took considerably longer than my first attempt - so I believe I got it this time).

Wasn't sure if the next step was to burn a copy of this disc image, but as it happens - I don't currently have a DVD big enough to do so. Consequently:

Dragged the .cdr file across to windows on the VM.

Windows doesn't know what program to use to read the file.

So, what I need to understand now, is:

Do I go and get some sort of double density DVD so that I can burn a duplicate from my .cdr file? And then, is it likely that inserting this into my mac drive will somehow then be accessible to the VM when the original master disk was not?

Do I purchase and download Media four and if so - where to: onto one of my physical windows machines or directly into the VM? If onto a windows physical machine, can I then assume that I will be able to see all of my files on the Leopard master and can locate the driver I'm after? - or if I download Media4 to the VM - will I be able then to read the Leopard master and just extract the relevant file directly within the VM?

Or, do both: burn a copy of my master Leopard disk as originally suggested - and use that with media four installed on the VM?

Sorry, but I am very unsure of the best way to proceed. I don't really understand why my 2007 iMac (2.8ghz, 24-inch) cannot permit the VM to read the Leopard master - as it read the XP master no trouble at all. It just keeps asking for a disc to be inserted into D (even though its already there). Similarly, when putting another Windows program disc into the mac drive instead - the VM cannot see that either (but the mac does). I'm assuming that the only way forward is to get the bootcamp driver into the VM, so purchase Media four for one of my physical windows machines , extract the driver file and then simply copy it onto a memory stick and transfer it to the mac - then drag it into the VM and presumably windows will know what to read it with? Or burn the relevant driver to a disc and assume that (as it is a windows formatted disc) the VM will see it - but if the VM cannot currently see windows discs - surely this wouldn't work either?

This is probably a very simple procedure ordinarily - but I am struggling!

[UKbob]

Just exploring the icons at the very bottom of the VM window. 2 things: there is a greyed out option to connect the iSight camera - which I did and of course it asked where the drivers were. However, it did permit camtasia to actually see the device - but sadly not to permit recording; secondly, there is an icon which gives control over the VMs CD device. I played with this and one of the options is to point it at a disc image. did that but still can't open the disc image folder. Left it pointing to my "Optiarc" (inbuilt Mac drive). Unfortunately, still of no help. I have rebooted in the hope that something would work - but afraid not.

I even tried an external usb drive with one of my physical windows machines - this time I got the message that it couldn't read the Mac Leopard master it as it wasn't in a windows format. Not helpful, but at least it was able to detect that a disc was in there.

I cannot get the VM settings to change to autodetect the drive - or for that matter to allocate more ram. Apparently I have to power off the VM? But if I do that, how do I access it to change the settings?

[WoodyZ]

Just assign the image you made of the Leopard DVD to the CD/DVD in the Virtual Machine's Settings.

[UKbob]

Ok - experimented and found that by putting Windows into suspend mode - I could change my VM settings. So, increased the ram no problem, and switched to autodetect for the drive. Put in the Leopard DVD and this time it detected that it wasn't a windows disc and wouldn't do anything with it. Have to suspend windows to get the disc out (returns control to mac) and then put in an entirely different Windows program to try to get it to load that. It wouldn't. The drive whirs and windows knows there is something in the drive - but it won't read it.

This latter issue must point to something else altogether. My priority is to simply get Camtasia working, but if I can't get my drive to load windows programs from disc - then I am going to be very limited with what Windows can do for me in VM. I can't believe this to be the case - what am I doing wrong?

[WoodyZ]

Just assign the image you made of the Leopard DVD to the CD/DVD in the Virtual Machine's Settings.

Have a look at: VMware Fusion menu bar > Help > VMware Fusion Help > Managing Virtual Machines > Configuring the CD/DVD Drive

[UKbob]

Sorry Woodyz - I have already tried that one. I can assign the image I created to the drive. But that doesn't permit me to interrogate it seemingly. It is a .cdr image. I cannot read it by looking at the d drive in windows and windows won't read the image file by double clicking it - it wants a program to do so. Furthermore, even if I could read it - what happens when I want to load another windows program - the assigned (mac) drive won't read windows discs.