Newbie Question: Parallels And Bootcamp

[sharonkinsey@aol.com]

I have a lot going against me - new to Mac AND trying to learn Parallels which I love. I see a lot of discussion about using Bootcamp AND Parallels. Forgive my ignorance, but I thought you used one or the other. Why would I want to use both? My understanding was that with Bootcamp you could run either in OSX or Windows but not both whereas with Parallels you can run both simulaneously.

Be gentle with me please...

 

[msvista]

well ...yes... also, if you want to install XP, you can either dual boot or use parallels on the same image as well.

Do the following steps if you want XP:

1. Install Bootcamp
2. Run BootCamp Assistant and parition 32G or 20G for Windows partition
3. Follow on screen steps to install XP (make sure to burn drivers CD when boot camp aske to do)
4. Once you booted to XP, install drivers and update using windows update
5. Once you settled their create a restore point for safely
6. Boot back to Mac and install latest parallels
7. Start parallels and OS as XP and point hard disk to pick boot camp partition
8. Now start the OS and it starts back to your windows OS that exists in boot camp, it colocated to mac now
9. Install parallel tools so that al drivers are installed; which will enable the performance


You all set now
For more info, check another newbie experiements here:
http://venublog.com

 

[Purplish]

I think you are asking why someone would want BOTH Parallels and Bootcamp.

There are a couple of reasons for this.
1) People like Parallels because it is convenient, you don't have to shut down your OSX in order to run Windows applications. However, there are some shortcomings. Some USB devices don't seem to work and programs (mostly games) that require DirectX video support do not work.

2) Having a bootcamp option gives you a couple of things if you don't mind the reboot. USB devices work fine. You get to use both cores of your processor on the Windows apps. You get full DirectX video support so you can run games.