Clone advice needed

I'm running Parallels 5 on a Mac Mini 2009 (2.26 GHz, 4 GB RAM), and I've installed Windows 7 in it. So far so good. However, I'm pretty new to the whole VM scene, and 90% of the information in the documentation goes right over my head.

I want to have two Windows 7 VMs on the machine, because I want to be able to run two different versions of some Adobe applications that cannot be installed simultaneously on the same machine.

Logically (from my noob perspective) it seems like I should be able to CLONE my current VM, which will give me two identical VMs, both with Windows 7. I can then install one version of the Adobe apps on VM1 and the other version on VM2. Then, when I want to use the Adobe apps, I just open the VM that has the Adobe version I want to use.

Makes perfect sense to me. But I've been around long enough to know that things are never that simple. Please let me know if this really will work this way.

The only problem I can anticipate is that maybe Windows 7 will complain in the cloned version because it was just "cloned" and not "installed." Will it ask for a registration key? Can I simply re-use the legitimate one I used on the original version?

Are there any other holes I might fall into?

All help appreciated! Thanks!

 

Clone advice

Hi,
cloning shouldn't be a problem, at least it isn't with Windows XP. Use Winclone, good for backup too. I'm not entirely sure that you can make two BootCamp partitions on one drive though.
I'm pretty sure it is NOT possible to have the second BootCamp on an external drive, however if you clone your Mac Mini (use SuperDuper) and clone the BootCamp afterwards to an external Firewire or USB harddrive, it just might work.
This means you'll have to reboot first the Mac and then BootCamp - kind of cumbersome I admit.

Cheers

Kurt

 

Thanks KurtP, but you're way over my head. I'm a noob WRT this whole VM scene. I just have Parallels installed, verbatim, no frills. No Bootcamp. I don't even see the point of Bootcamp if you have Parallels. I tried to figure it out, but there's this enormous wall of information about both systems with highly knowedgeable people talking to each other, but there's hardly anything for people like me who want to understand the basics first.

But hey, I stuck in the Parallels disk, followed the on-screen instructions, and now I have a VM running Windows 7. It works, and it works well, so why does everyone go on and on about Bootcamp and partitions? (OK, that's OT, but I'm still wondering.)

WRT my original question, I just followed the instructions and cloned my Windows 7 VM (using the "Clone" command in Parallels). It created a whole other Windows 7 VM that was an exact clone of the first one (different name), including all installed applications. Both of them work just fine, so there were no Windows validation issues.

 

Or not

Hi Ed,
well what d'ya know - I didn't even know that it was possible to install Windows directly in Parallels without having BootCamp!!
One advantage with BootCamp could be that it's possible to boot your Mac directly in Windows, thus having all the installed ram to work with. I am very pleased with this option since my Parallels has packed up with a problem I have posted elsewhere and simply doesn't work. Even when it did work, I had to resort to this solution now and again, since the Wireless network didn't work properly for me through Parallels.
Anyroad, I have thought of an easier solution for you - if it works.
How about if you just set up en extra user in your Windows? If you could install your two different Adobe versions with two different users, you'd only have to log out and then log in as the other user in order to switch. This ought to be considerably easier than having to reboot.
What application is it anyway? I've had InDesign CS2 and CS3 running simultaneously without problems.(But that was on my Mac, not Windows)
Cheers
Kurt

 

Hey KurtP. I don't have a big need to run in full Windows mode. In fact, I don't plan on doing anything in Windows aside from occasionally running a few apps that aren't available on Mac, in which case I'll work in Coherence mode. I am NOT going to go on the internet or get my email in Windows.

I ran out of patience and went ahead and made the clone and it worked perfectly. You're right that I could have just created a second account within the existing Windows VM, but I didn't think of that. Perhaps I'll go do that anyway and get rid of the cloned VM; probably be less of a burden (less disk space at least).

The application is Adobe Technical Communications Suite, which is huge. It includes FrameMaker, RoboHelp, and Acrobat 3D. Version 2 also includes a full version of Photoshop CS4. It takes two DVDs to hold it all, and it took about three hours to install (including a 600 MB update that had to be downloaded). Man, does Adobe do bloatware!