Hi there everyone - I finally managed to convince my father to ditch his PC and use a late 2013 13" Retina Macbook Pro, but like me he still needs Windows from time to time and so I've sold him on Parallels since I've been so happy with it. A few days ago, I got him started on the Parallels 9 trial software and created a new virtual machine using a genuine Windows 7 Ultimate installation DVD. It clearly says "64 bit only" on the disc and so I was surprised to see that the system info was only showing it as 32 bit once it was up and running and Windows Update had installed all of the required updates. A bit of time with Google unearthed the ability to "upgrade" from 32 bit to 64 bit and I thought I'd give that a try. Using either the "Upgrade" or "Custom" options on that yielded no joy, but the "custom" option did make that Windows.old folder that sucks up 10gb or so of the old installation. No sense in having that, so I thought "perhaps I missed a check box in the installation process to opt for 64 bit?". I de-activated the license key, deleted that virtual machine entirely and started over being very careful about all of the options I selected. The rMBP has 8GB of RAM and I even thought that giving the VM access to 5GB might force the installation of a 64 bit Windows instance (why not...). Unfortunately, nothing's working and I need some help. Is this happening as it should? I thought that Parallels was able to run a 64 bit guest OS and I have no idea how a "64 bit only" DVD will install a 32 bit Windows instance, but it has. Is this a limit of the trial software? Is there something obvious (or perhaps not at all obvious) that I'm missing? Many thanks in advance for the advice! Cheers - Dom
Hello DominicCR, Thanks for your brief explanation. There isn't any limitation for the trial version of Parallels Desktop 9 for Mac. It supports all the features like how the full version works! Also Parallels Desktop does support all the 64 bit Windows OS. It just installs Windows OS based on how the image file or the installation media is designed. It might be a 32 bit DVD that you would have been using by mistake. Kindly try with a different installation media for Windows 7 64 bit or try to get an image file for Windows 7 64 bit and then install it on your Parallels Desktop by following the steps as suggested at : http://kb.parallels.com/4729 and it should work for you!
Thanks Maheesh! Even though the installation DVD I was using was clearly a genuine Microsoft disc and clearly says "64 bit software" on it, there must have been some kind of error on it. I managed to download a 64 bit image from Microsoft directly and that worked just fine. I'm good to go! Hopefully this tale helps anyone else who may have run into this - the images are readily available for free online. Got grab one of those and the key that you purchased should work just fine. Cheers, Dom
