I installed Desktop for Mac, installed and launched Windows XP Pro. When I try to instal Adobe CS2 the installer reports I haven't got enough ram. My system has 512 mb and when I set up the configuration in paralles it say don't use more than 192mb or virtual environment will suffer. First, why is the configuration setting 192 as a maxixmum, is it because it see that my system has only 512? If I install another 512 chip will this eliminate my problem. When I try to install CS2 it reports that I need at least 384 mb of ram, yet when I set the ram in the configuration editor to 384 and tryed to install CS2 again still got the error about not enough Ram. How much RAM are others using in the MACS?
Honestly, I would expect 512M to be just about unusable with Parallels for anything but the most basic of tasks. I have 2 G and run Photoshop in parallels and it's extremely fast. I would think another 512 (total 1G) should be considered the minimum for what you want to do. Personally, I'd add another 1G for a total of 1.5G
I have 2GB of memory in my MacBook Pro. 1GB is allocated to Parallels and 1GB is left for OS-X. Despite Microsoft's minimum memory value for XP Pro, the minimum usable memory if you want to run anything significant is 512MB. I don't know what OS-X's minimum memory requirement is but I think the minimum they sell on a MacBook Pro is 512MB. That tells me that you need at least 1GB if you want to run XP Pro in Parallels.
Thanks for the tips!! Can you explain something eles to me, why does Parallels Configuration state that maximum ram allowed is 192mb on my MacBook Pro. Does this have anything to do with the fact that my system has only 512?
Yes. You can only set 192 because you only have 512. Parallels must claim a minimum set of OS memory in order to work. However, the size of the set of memory Parallels can claim is directly related to the amount of memory you have installed. When using parallels (or any virtualization product) you should strive to allocate the MINIMUM amount of ram to your guest that is necessary to run your set of applications. This is because the host os (OSX) needs ram to service all the various requests, including those from the guest os (Win XP or whatever). My own testing indicates I get best Parallels and XP performance on my 2 G MBP when running MS Office if I allocate 384M to Parallels. I kick that up to 768M when I run Photoshop.
