Last week I wrote about how Parallels Transporter failed to import a Windows 2000 computer and it was suggested to try VMWare Converter. Well VMWare Converter worked great. Thanks for the advice. I figured I'd give Parallels Transporter one more try and I imported the VMWare VM into Parallels and that worked too. I guess Parallels Transporter either doesn't work with Windows 2000 or something on that particular system causes problems.
The Mac version of VMWare Player is VMware Fusion which is currently in beta. In the mean time you can down load the beta from here. There is a note at the top of the page that if you pre-order VMWare Fusion you can get it for $39.99 at a 50% savings. Here is a video of a Unity a cool new feature in VMWare Fusion:
This is the first time I used Parallels or VMWare on Mac and I found that one feature was really anoying compared to VMWare and Microsoft Virtual PC when running on Windows. When running in the VM the mouse cursor is totally owned by the VM window. To get the mouse cursor back you must press CTRL + ALT (Control + Option on my Mac) for Parallels and Control + Command for VMWare Fusion. It seems that VMWare's Unity feature doesn't work on Windows 2000 so I'm going to install Windows XP and probably Windows Vista to see what the user experience is.
Update: I just installed Windows XP and the VMWare tools were able to install unlike the Windows 2000 VM and this mouse problem is solved. So I take everything back.
Update: Alt + Tab (Option + Tab on the Mac) doesn't seem to switch tabs in a my remote desktop session from VMWare Fusion. Also for some reason Unity put a link to Internet Explorer on my Dock. Naturally this bugs me because I didn't put it there. I'm sure there is a logical reason I just haven't figured it out yet.
Update: I figured out why Internet Explorer shows up in the Dock. Any running application in the VM shows up in the dock when running Unity. Duh!
Also the Eject button doesn't work when running a VM from VMWare. I hope they fix this before they ship. It is a pain to suspend the VM just to put a CD in the drive.
Interesting side note, if you do a Google search for "parallels transporter" my last post on this subject ranks #4.
Friday, July 20, 2007
VMWare Converter Worked when Parallels Transporter Failed
6 comments:
Very cool Chris! In the end I know I will be getting a mac someday. I can't believe I just typed that. Kinda on the subject... have you come across any VCL components that simulate the Bubble Bar on a mac? I know Dev Components have a .Net solution for this
http://www.devcomponents.com/dotnetbar/BubbleBar.html
but have you seen a Delphi solution?
Thanks!
Hi Chris,
Glad you got to try out VMware Fusion! Unity does work (experimentally) with Windows 2000 if you install VMware Tools from the Virtual Machine -> Install VMware Tools menu.
You can eject your CD from inside a virtual machine by Control- or right-clicking on the CD in Windows and choosing "Eject".
Unity looks awesome! I ordered a Macbook Pro the other day (should arrive in a couple of days). I can't wait to try it out. I wonder if Delphi will work with Unity. That will be one of the first things I try. That and running my own Delphi apps through Unity.
Dana,
I have not seen any Delphi Bubble Bar components.
Ben,
For some reason the VMWare Tools wouldn't install into the Widows 2000 VM. I don't know why. And when that VM was running the CD would not eject until I shut down the VM. Something doesn't seem to be right when using VMWare Converter on Windows 2000. But it does allow one to archive the OS.
Post a Comment