Multiple OS's

R

robocrop

Bit poster
I have a few questions about parallels that I can't find answers to on the main site, can anyone help?

1. Can I install XP and Vista and then run them both at the same time on os x 10.5.4? The reason for this is that I am a web developer and I want to code and test my sites in internet explorer at the same time.

2. Is there a way to get multiple versions of internet explorer running v6, 7 and 8beta? would this mean installing XP 3 times?? (for example).

3. I have a macbook, 2.4 intel core 2 duo, 2gb. I have a 20gb partition for bootcamp running vista which I only use for Quickbooks Pro. Can I bring that into Parallels? If so, is it possible to get rid of that partition (so effectively I won't need bootcamp any more)?

Thanks in advance.
 
You can create as many VMs as you wish, and run them at the same time, you can run both Vista and XP in Parallels without Boot Cam, unless you are using lowlevel software, or specific 3d applications
 
The only limitations on running Parallels multiple times is the amount of memory your mac has. I routinely run 2 or 3 VMs at a time. I have found that the computer itself slows down if all of your VMs are on one HDD, especially when one of them is starting up.

I tend to start XP, pause it. Start Win2k3 and then unpause XP. Things seem to be fine after that. Some extensive writes slow everything down, but that's a limitation of the computer, not Parallels. If you can afford to I would suggest an external drive for holding the VMs. However, that's not a very portable solution.

As far bringing your boot camp installation into parallels there are ways, mainly cloning the hard drive and then restoring it, but that's a PITA. I would just reinstall whatever OS is on your bootcamp installation, in the end it'll probably be easier. Once you've done that and restored all of your files you can remove the bootcamp drive and relcaim the space.

As far as having multiple instances of IE, that's just IE's default behaviour to only have one instance on a computer at a time. This means having multiple copies of XP / Vista for each IE instance or perhaps looking into CrossOver for Mac, which could work out better for you. There are ways of tricking Windows into installing different versions on one computer, but because of the way DLLs are handled it doesn't always work right.
 
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