How does Bootcamp work?

Maental2000

Hi guys,

I'm recently after buying a new macbook pro & it says that bootcamp is installed. Apparently, I can load windows onto it without having to buy additional software (apart from windows obviously). Is this true or am I understanding it wrong?
Also, how can I do it? I'm new to all this!

Cheers!!

Sad Professor

That's correct. More info here, but basically Bootcamp installs Windows on a separate partition. Then when you boot up you can hold down the option key and choose to start in either Windows or Mac OS X.

Installing is very straightforward and Bootcamp will guide you through the whole process. You'll find the Bootcamp application in the Utilities folder. See the link above for more info.

Freddie59

Maental2000 wrote: »

Hi guys,

I'm recently after buying a new macbook pro & it says that bootcamp is installed. Apparently, I can load windows onto it without having to buy additional software (apart from windows obviously). Is this true or am I understanding it wrong?
Also, how can I do it? I'm new to all this!

Cheers!!

If you can afford to spend a few quid, Parallels allows you to run both side by side. The only difficulty is that Parallels doesn't recognise the firewire port, so you can't use it on the Windows side. I'm running it on a 2010 iMac and it's seamless.

Bullseye1

I'm running Parallels on Mac in order to utilize AutoCAD. It runs very smoothly.

Maental2000

Freddie59 wrote: »

If you can afford to spend a few quid, Parallels allows you to run both side by side. The only difficulty is that Parallels doesn't recognise the firewire port, so you can't use it on the Windows side. I'm running it on a 2010 iMac and it's seamless.

I had been thinking about getting that but what's putting me off is that I had Virtual PC on my old Powerbook & it was painfully slow! But maybe that's cos my Powerbook only had 256mb RAM??
I have 4gb RAM on this!! Is it worth it so?

conor.hogan.2

Yes it wont be slow give it 1.5 gigs at it will be grand. Virtualbox is free and does the job for me but I dont game or do graphics.

The RAM wouldn't have helped matters but it would also have been slow because Virtual PC had to do processor emulation (PowerPC to Intel); this isn't needed anymore as Apple use Intel processors now.

Freddie59

Maental2000 wrote: »

I had been thinking about getting that but what's putting me off is that I had Virtual PC on my old Powerbook & it was painfully slow! But maybe that's cos my Powerbook only had 256mb RAM??
I have 4gb RAM on this!! Is it worth it so?

I'm running it on an i7 with 8GB RAM, so it's not slow. But I believe it's the same across the board. It goes on with the usual Windows shyte after a few months, but that's about all. Just one little issue is that Parallels doesn't identify the Firewire port, so no video editing through Windows, unfortunately.

silvine

If you're gaming it's best to game through bootcamp rather than parallels. I've had problems with graphics and what not in certain releases via VMWare.

Maental2000

conor.hogan.2 wrote: »

Yes it wont be slow give it 1.5 gigs at it will be grand. Virtualbox is free and does the job for me but I dont game or do graphics.

I've never heard of virtualbox, is that a download ya?

silvine wrote: »

If you're gaming it's best to game through bootcamp rather than parallels. I've had problems with graphics and what not in certain releases via VMWare.

I'm not a gamer so it won't make any difference to me, cheers!!

Maental2000

Karsini wrote: »

The RAM wouldn't have helped matters but it would also have been slow because Virtual PC had to do processor emulation (PowerPC to Intel); this isn't needed anymore as Apple use Intel processors now.

I was just thinking there, couldn't I just install virtualPC instead given that I have it on disc already or does that only work on PowerPCs??

Sad Professor

Maental2000 wrote: »

I was just thinking there, couldn't I just install virtualPC instead given that I have it on disc already or does that only work on PowerPCs??

No, it was never ported to Intel Mac. There was no need. It's long discontinued now anyway.

conor.hogan.2

Is this a different virtualpc than the one for windows? because that is still around, and ****e.

http://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads

conor.hogan.2

conor.hogan.2 wrote: »

Is this a different virtualpc than the one for windows? because that is still around, and ****e.

http://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads

Virtual PC was previously owned by Connectix and was originally developed as a PC emulator for Mac. There was also a Windows version but the Mac version was more common. Both were payware. Microsoft bought it and discontinued the Mac version.

K.O.Kiki

Bullseye1 wrote: »

I'm running Parallels on Mac in order to utilize AutoCAD. It runs very smoothly.

There's a version of AutoCAD for Mac now though:
http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/pc/index?id=15421056&siteID=123112

holystungun9

Any downside to Bootcamp?? I don't need to switch back and fourth constantly so don't need vritualisation. Would setting it up now on my macbook pro with all my files and music on it cause any problems? Would it interfere with my existing setup and time machine etc?? Thanks

fasty

I've never had problems creating/destroying a partition for Windows using the Bootcamp Utility and I've done it a couple of times. It typically doesn't cause problems with your existing files or Time Machine backups but do take a backup first of course! You can never be too careful.

The only downside I can think of is that the Windows drivers for things like the trackpad if you're on a laptop are a bit crappy compared to Windows but it's not a showstopper.

vectra

My son bought a macbook pro i5 this week and has installed Win7 via Bootcamp.
He is missing several drivers.. Network etc.
Any ideas as to where he can find these?
He wants to do a bit of gaming on it.
Cheers

Sad Professor

When he was installing Bootcamp he would have been prompted to burn a Windows CD which would have contained all the drivers needed for Windows. I think they are also on the OS X disc. Just insert it while booted in Windows.

vectra

Sad Professor wrote: »

When he was installing Bootcamp he would have been prompted to burn a Windows CD which would have contained all the drivers needed for Windows. I think they are also on the OS X disc. Just insert it while booted in Windows.

he created a pendrive image at that point but deleted it when he thought windows had installed.. he says he got no OS X disc with the macbook

OK
Can he undo everything and re-start the process?

Cheers

Sad Professor

If he bought it new it would have come with an install disc. If he got it second hand he should make sure he gets the install disc off the original owner. It's very important. If he encounters any major issues he wont be able to do much without an OS X disc.

Going back into Bootcamp Assistant might allow him to create a drivers disc without having to do everything all over again. It's a while since i installed Bootcamp though so I'm not sure.

vectra

Sad Professor wrote: »

If he bought it new it would have come with an install disc. If he got it second hand he should make sure he gets the install disc off the original owner. It's very important. If he encounters any major issues he wont be able to do much without an OS X disc.

Going back into Bootcamp Assistant might allow him to create a drivers disc without having to do everything all over again. It's a while since i installed Bootcamp though so I'm not sure.

Bought it new in Harvey Normans last Monday
Must have a look through the box and see what is there.

Will Post back

Cheers

Sad Professor

The install disc along with a few booklets and some Apple stickers should have come in a black or white pack.

vectra

Sad Professor wrote: »

The install disc along with a few booklets and some Apple stickers should have come in a black or white pack.

Yup,
Got that.
Job done
Thanks

Condatis

Freddie59 wrote: »

If you can afford to spend a few quid, Parallels allows you to run both side by side. The only difficulty is that Parallels doesn't recognise the firewire port, so you can't use it on the Windows side. I'm running it on a 2010 iMac and it's seamless.

Is Virtual PC for Mac still on the market?

Sad Professor

No. It's long gone.

was.deevey

Virtualbox for FREE virtualization will work a treat with your spec Macbook.

Personally I like the idea of windows being sandboxed inside OSX and you can always keep a "working" copy of the disk image if something screws up.

VMware is another option (better than parallels IMHO) ...

I was demoing a Network of One Server 2008 & 4 XP clients in VMware .. switching between them all on spaces on my Macbook 13' with 4gb ram without much slowdown.

... client was impressed :P

conor.hogan.2

+1 for virtualbox.

Was running win7 ult, xp, ubuntu and snow leopard all with videos running on 13" macbook pro and even switched in spaces they all ran as if they were the only ones running.

silverwood

What's the story with Windows viruses if you run it on a Mac using Bootcamp or Parallels? Are you just as susceptible to them as you would be on a PC? If so, could it possibly affect the Mac side of things?

conor.hogan.2

I imagine paralells is like virtualbox, ie you can get any virus or whatever but its only in the virtual machine.

If its set to delete files it might be able to delete shared folders, but im not sure.

In bootcamp well it would screw up that whole partition and you would either have to run AV to fix it or re install whereas with virtualbox or parallels or vmware etc you could a working snapshot and rollback much easier than cloning windows and rolling back a full bootcamp install.

Ye it seems if a virus can delete files it will delete files if they are in a dropbox folder or shared folder with the vm.

greenman667

OK guys, complete newb alert

I bought myself a second hand MB Pro last week.

The previous owner has a dual boot install on it of Win 7 & Snow Leopard.

If I install virtual box, will I be able to call the Win 7 partition from within Mac OS?
Or am I better off to unpartition, do a fresh install of everything and install virtual box, keeping the Win 7 completely virtual?

Sad Professor

greenman667 wrote: »

If I install virtual box, will I be able to call the Win 7 partition from within Mac OS?

Afaik, with VirtualBox, no, not officially. There are workarounds, but I'm not sure how well they work. You can do this with Parallels and VMWare though.

Or am I better off to unpartition, do a fresh install of everything and install virtual box, keeping the Win 7 completely virtual?

If it was Parallels or VMWare you were using I would say no, as the Bootcamp partition gives you the best of both of worlds. But if you don't think you are ever going to boot up in Windows then I suppose you might as well.

greenman667

Thanks mate - I'll take that advice on - makes things a bit more clear to me