Comments on: My Fastest and Easiest Windows 7 Install Yet — Snow Leopard Required

By: Mike Kovacs

Mike Kovacs — Thu, 06 May 2010 20:39:07 +0000

I intend to install Parallels 5 on my 2009 MacBook Pro (2.26 Ghz/4MB RAM) and run Windows 7. My question is whether I should run the 32-bit or 64-bit versions of Windows 7. From what I've read, the biggest difference seems to be the ability of the 64-bit version to address more than 3MB of RAM. Are there any other considerations? Would the 64-bit version run as well on 2MB as the 32-bit version would? If so, I'd probably go with the 64-bit version in anticipation of eventually upgrading the MB Pro to 8MB. Your thought? Thanks!

By: Mikedaddy

Mikedaddy — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 16:12:25 +0000

Can you use the win 7 pro upgrade to create the VM with parallels 5 on a Mac Pro laptop, or do you need full version?

By: Joseph L Johnson

Joseph L Johnson — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 01:08:24 +0000

Also, I forgot to say that I have had 15 "windows" computers since 1984. And I have purchased at least 3000 dollars of OS upgrades. I love this mac!

By: Joseph L Johnson

Joseph L Johnson — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 01:06:35 +0000

Yes, the mac works. I have purchased "parallels", and installed windows 7, and windows 7 works better on the mac than it ever did on the windows computer. It sure installed a lot easier, also.

By: EddieW

EddieW — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 17:00:41 +0000

Oh, I forgot. I have the Windows 7 64-bit version. If you have the 32-bit version, only allocate 3GB RAM to the Windows OS because that’s all it can use.

By: EddieW

EddieW — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 16:59:38 +0000

On mine, I allocated 4GB RAM (1/2 for OS X and 1/2 for the VM) and assigned it to 2 processors. Seems to work fine for me…..

By: EddieW

EddieW — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 16:58:17 +0000

On the site where you downloaded your DR files is an instruction link that tells you the command line you have to use to create the bootable ISO to move to the CD. You can’t simply copy over the files (though I read one article somewhere that said the writer used the Windows XCOPY command to move the files to the DVD — don’t know how that worked, though!); you have to use the command line or it won’t work.

By: Ofer

Ofer — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 09:55:07 +0000

Did you ever figure this out? I’m having the same problem (downloaded Windows 7)

By: andy

andy — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 04:22:15 +0000

sorry to all you advanced techies here, but i am newbie to mac and so far LOVE it, but /MUST run windows programs…(some CAD/CAM stuff i have the new parallels 5.0 but have no idea how to start and don’t want to f**k anything up. i got the 27″ quad core mac and can’t wait to use it to its full potential… any advice on where to find EASY way to do this??

i was told that i can take an image of my XP PC and simply load it on the mac…is this true??

someone PLEASE help

thank you

By: Angela Adelle

Angela Adelle — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 02:50:26 +0000

In the process of installing Windows 7 on Parallels virtual machine. I have a 3 week old MacBook Pro with 8GB of RAM. What CPU number should I allocate? 1 or 2? And what about amount of RAM? 1024? 2048? More than that? Please help! I don’t know what to do here…

By: James Kendrick

James Kendrick — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 15:12:23 +0000

An EXE file requires Windows to run, so I’m not sure you can make that bootable. Someone would have to create a utility that extracts everything from those 3 files and create an ISO image.

By: Mark

Mark — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 15:03:59 +0000

i downloaded win 7 from digital river,via the student dowload. I want to upgrade my macbook to win 7 with parallels. the problem is the version i downloaded is not bootable or an .iso file. How can i make this download work with parallels? the download is three files, one being a .exe file

By: Damian Warburton

Damian Warburton — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 10:50:24 +0000

What experiences have people encountered thus far in installing Win7 into Bootcamp with OSX 10.6? I’m trying it right now using the 64bit clean install onto a 2.26Ghz 2GB MbPro and it seems problem free at present, but I’m only half way through…

By: K-Trileo

K-Trileo — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 22:29:34 +0000

I’ve just uninstalled Win7 from Parallels on SnowLeopard. I don’t certainly sure about why the performance was kind of slow. I have a Macbook of 2.0 GHz Core2duo, 2 GB RAM. I installed the x64 version. Tomorrow I will try the x86. I would appreciate any help, thanks.

By: Mugwump

Mugwump — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 18:58:25 +0000

You never say which version of Parallels you are using. Assuming it’s Parallels Desktop for Mac 4.0, I’m curious to know the exact build number. If it’s the very latest, 4.0.3846 according the manufacturer (see http://www.parallels.com/products/desktop/snowleopard), then you might consider contributing your information to the popular SL compatibility site, http://snowleopard.wikidot.com/. Thanks.

By: Chip

Chip — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 14:16:26 +0000

Despite Apple’s warning not to try this, I successfully upgraded my older iMac from OS/X 10.4.11 to 10.6. No problems, no requests to insert the original OS/X disc, nothing.

I made a backup of my files before I started, but it was not necessary. All the files, and configuration information like which programs to launch on startup, position of the dock, and so on, were preserved.

Thanks, Apple!