new install on mac

[jarose]

I just purchased my mac, vmfusion and windows xp. I am getting ready to install everything tonight. do I need to install the vmfusion first,

or do I install the windows xp . does the vmfusion install on the windows bootcamp side, or does that not matter.

please respond, I would love to start this tonight.

thanks

Message was edited by: Badsah (added TAGS)

[admin]

Hey, jarose, welcome to VMware. I am going to move your posting into the Fusion discussion forum; the Customer Education forum (where you originally posted) is for discussions of VMware's professional training services. But I'll take a stab at answering your question anyway, just so you're not kept waiting around.

The simplest way for you to move forward (and the one I recommend to almost everybody) is to install VMware Fusion first, then use Fusion's New Virtual Machine wizard to install Windows XP into a virtual machine. Here's a movie that shows how to do it: http://vmwareelearning.blip.tv/file/1259538/

You asked about Boot Camp. As you may know, Boot Camp is Apple's technology for letting you boot your Mac into either Mac OS or Windows (but not both at the same time). Fusion has a nice forgiving feature: if you already have a pre-existing Boot Camp setup on your Mac, Fusion will let you use it as a virtual machine. So that means that, if you get impatient and do a Boot Camp installation of Windows XP before installing Fusion, you're not out of luck.

The pros and cons of an ordinary virtual-machine install of Windows versus using a Boot Camp installation as a virtual machine are technical. You'll find other posts in the Fusion forum that go into the differences, and I'm sure folks will tell you more if you ask.

Good luck!

[Badsah]

Moved to the VMware Fusion community.




---

Badsah Mukherji

VMware Web Communities Team

[jarose]

Thanks I haven't done anything yet just a lot of reading its scaring me to death don't want to screw this up I also saw something about splitting bite space have no clue but my xp windows has not gone in yet so I don't have to use the other side of boot camp

[VladN]

its scaring me to death don't want to screw this up

It's not that scary... If something goes wrong with XP installation or later on - you can simply delete the VM, create a new one and install XP from scratch.

[jarose]

i did it and its cool.was up late did a lot of reading, but how can

you reduce the xp fusion side so it doesn't take up the whole screen.

I would like to have it to the side while working in mac. do i need

to use spaces on the mac. i was looking for more "how to work

fusion"after install but could not find it.

thanks.

[WoodyZ]

Spaces is a very nice OS X feature especially if you want to run in Full Screen however can be used in any view. As far as side-by-side one can treat the VMware Fusion Interface or Virtual Machine window just like any other Application window in that you can resize it and move it around the screen where one wants. From the sound of it you may want to look at using Fusion in Unity view as this will hide the Windows Desktop and show Windows Applications on the Mac Desktop just as if they were a Mac Application.

I have found that for my one use I will use all views depending on what I'm doing. As an example when I need to spend a large amount of continuous time in Windows I typically run Full Screen in it own Space and if it's something quick an simple and not going to take to long I'll usually just have it windowed on my primary working Space and I personally hardly ever use Unity however once in a while I do and I like how it integrates making it appear as just another application on the Mac. My suggestion is to give all views a try and see what suites your working habits/needs the best and act/adapt accordingly.

[jarose]

Thank you I'm playing around with the the top tool bar does and doesn't allow me to get in and I have a full screen with no way to reduce it , but I am still navigating this . Its great to no your all in the back ground. After being out of work and back in school I want all access of working downloads etc on both worlds thanks