installation of Fusion 6 on a new Macbook pro with Maverick

[sbgem]

I want to install fusion 6 on my new macbook retina 15 inch , will fusion 6 partition the drive or must I start by using bootcamp and than install fusion 6 and windows onto the partition i set aside?

[Coach300]

Fusion will not do any partitioning. If you want a Boot Camp installation, do that using the Boot Camp setup assistant in MacOS.

Fusion can use a Boot Camp partition. Or, it can use a virtual machine, which is a large file that resides on the main partition.

Are you planning on moving an existing virtual machine, or Boot Camp partition, from an older Mac to this new one? It would be easier bringing an existing Virtual machine (a .vmwarevm file) to the new Mac (when prompted, choose "I moved it" instead of "I copied it"). If you need assistance moving a Boot Camp partition to a new Mac, please ask away.

I just moved an existing virtual machine from a 2010 MBP to a 2013 MBP (1.5 weeks old) and the startup time is blazingly fast by comparison...so is everything else.

[WoodyZ]

Generally speaking VMware Fusion is an Mac Application that is installed under OS X and creates and runs Virtual Machines.  A Virtual Machine is a collection of files packaged together and resides on the Host's Filesystem just like all the other files do, whether they be OS, Application or documents created by any given Application.  It is the VMware Fusion software that enables the collections of files to act as a Virtual Machine in which one can install a Guest OS.  Through this process there is no actual partitioning of the Host's Hard Drive, whether it be a rotational or SSD type device.

If one installs Microsoft Windows via the Boot Camp Assistant this has nothing to do with VMware Fusion per se however VMware Fusion can create a set off files that are just meta-data that enable its use and run as a Virtual Machine while using the physical volume Microsoft Windows was physically installed to.

You do not need to physically install Microsoft Windows using the Boot Camp Assistant unless you have a real need to natively boot Microsoft Windows directly from the Apple Hardware and can instead just create a Windows Virtual Machine and install it to the virtual hard drive created.   During this process even though the virtual hard disk is partitioned and formatted this is just taking place in the binary files that comprise the virtual hard disk and not actually touching the physical hardware for other then storage on the Host's Filesystem, again just like all the other files on the computer.

If you do have a need to physically install Microsoft Windows using the Boot Camp Assistant to natively boot Microsoft Windows directly from the Apple Hardware you can also take advantage of this install and use it in a Virtual Machine using VMware Fusion thus being able to use both OS X and Windows simultaneously without having to shut down OS X and boot Windows.

So you can have it two different ways and for most uses Boot Camp isn't necessary and they choose to simply install Windows in a Virtual Machine.  Additionally installing Windows as a normal file based Virtual Machine provides access to features of VMware Fusion that would not be available when using the Boot Camp partition of Windows as a Virtual Machine.  Suspending and taking Snapshots are two that come to mind.

[sbgem]

Hi my concern is keeping my macbook and os clean! Windows users always complain of viruses etc, I have enjoyed a stable mac platform for years and want to keep it that way. Creating a virtual machine without a partition is that the safest route?

[WoodyZ]

Whether you install Windows via Boot Camp or as a Virtual Machine one needs to take all appropriate measures to ensure it does not get infected and allow it to spread to any other system, physical or virtual, that it's connected to.  Installing in a Virtual Machine does not necessarily provide an edge in security unless you disable all forms of connectivity between the Host and Guest although in a Virtual Machine you may find it easier to recover to a throughly clean state by way of Snapshots.  No matter what, all systems regardless of installed OS that are connected to the Internet or any system, physical or virtual, connected to the Internet need to be properly and appropriately protected from all threats!

[sbgem]

I am using windows 7 to enable the use of a cad program based on Rhino 3D cad software. Which would you choose virtual with Fusion 6 or partitioned with bootcamp?

Will cause the cad software to run faster or slower?

[WoodyZ · Accepted solution]

IMO CAD software will always run better installed under an OS installed natively on physical hardware however with the speed of processors nowadays and the amount of RAM available to consumer systems CAD software can preform well in a virtualized environment.  Obviously the larger and more complexed the work is the performance will degrade faster in a virtualized environment then when run natively.  My recommendation would be to test it out in a Virtual Machine first and do not activate Windows or the CAD software if possible until you've tested it and feel its performance is satisfactory when virtualized.

Also note if the CAD software you're using activates using a hardware calculated hash and phones home then if you install it natively under Windows installed via Boot Camp and then choose to run the Boot Camp partition as a Virtual Machine you might encounter product reactivation issue and might not be able to be run in both environments.  I'd strongly suggest you discuss this with the manufacture of the CAD software you are going to be using before proceeding!

[sbgem]

Thank you