Installing Fusion
For this article series, VMware Fusion was used as the virtualization software for Mac. So, before any virtual machines (Windows, Ubuntu / Linux) were created, Fusion software was installed on the Mac. Please refer to the following article for notes on installing Fusion on Mac:
Installing Fusion on Mac OS X
Remainder of this article goes through creating a Windows Vista Ultimate virtual machine on a Mac using the Fusion software.
Create New Virtual Machine
When File - New menu item is chosen on Fusion, the New Virtual Machine Assistant window comes up. Fusion software itself does not include the operating system disks/software – meaning, it does not include the disks for Windows Vista, Linux, etc. Software for these operating systems must be acquired separately.
Figure 1. The New Virtual Machine Assistant window from VMware Fusion. If there was a CD/DVD, then Fusion will automatically recognize the operating system on that media.
At this point, if you insert a Windows Vista disk into the Mac, Fusion will automatically detect that disk and will ask you if you would like to install that operating system.
Figure 2. Installing Windows Vista. Here Fusion automatically recognizes that the operating system on DVD is Windows.
If you click on Continue, you will get into Windows Easy Install. This will make it easy and quick to install Vista after filling in the basic information just once. This dialog box also asks for the Windows Product Key. As mentioned above, the Fusion (which costs $79) itself does not include the software or license for Windows Vista Ultimate (which costs $300+) or any other operating system.
Figure 3. Windows Easy Install Dialog Box. Just fill in the basic information and Fusion will take care of the rest.
Then you can specify sharing the folders between Mac and the new Windows Vista virtual machine. This makes life very easy sharing information between OS X and Vista back and forth. As the warning suggests, the newly created Windows Vista should also have anti-virus software.
Figure 4. Sharing the folders between OS X and Vista. From the Windows Explorer you will be able to see the shared files and folders on Mac.
After you have installed the Windows Vista virtual machine, you can see files from Mac OS X from within the Windows. In the figure below, you can see a drive named Z: in the Windows Explorer pointing to the home folder on the host (the host here, of course, is the Mac OS X).
Figure 5. Folders from the host (Mac OS X) can be seen from the Windows virtual machine created with Fusion. This is the Windows Explorer after the virtual machine has been created.
What resources to give to the Windows Vista virtual machine?
Fusion suggests the following (default) resources for Windows Vista Ultimate virtual machine on a Mac:
- Guest Operating System: Windows Vista
- Memory: 1 GB
- Disk Size (maximum): 40GB
- Networking: Shared networking (NAT)
- CD/DVD: MATSHITA DVD-R UJ-875
Figure 6. These are the resources suggested by Fusion to give to the Windows Vista Ultimate virtual machine. You can change these settings using the Customize Settings button.
The primary resources of interest would be 1 GB of RAM and 40 GB of disk space. For “normal” situations, these are more than enough. Look at other articles in this article series to see that a whole bunch of powerful applications can be installed on that 40 GB hard disk.
In this case, the iMac where this is being installed on has the plenty of resources.
Figure 7. Resources of the iMac where these virtual machines are being installed.
This iMac has 4GB RAM and 1TB hard disk; so, giving 1GB RAM and 40GB of disk to Windows Vista virtual machine is not a bad deal. These numbers can also be altered later.
You would typically want the networking access in Windows Vista as well. You would want that OS to access the CD/DVD drive also.
Clicking on the Finish will let you save this virtual machine. Then you will see the Windows Vista operating system get installed on the Mac.
Figure 8. Windows Vista getting ready to install on a Mac with Fusion. The virtual machine is contained inside a Fusion window. The Windows OS does not take over the real Mac machine.
You can also see this installation in Full Screen mode by clicking that icon at the top. The Unity mode is not available yet during the installation -- this is the mode where the windows from Vista will be displayed as individual windows on the Mac desktop (unlike the Single Window mode where all the windows are contained inside a single window of the virtual machine).
Figure 9. An intermediate screen where Windows Vista is being installed. Since the Windows OS here only knows a virtual machine (not the physical Mac), the Mac will not be restarted during the installation by the installer.
The Installation window for Windows says: “Your computer will restart several times during installation”. In this case, since this is a virtual machine, the physical Mac itself will NOT restart; instead Fusion takes care of it from the software perspective. You will see different restart-type things (like blacked-out windows, etc.) happening inside the virtual machine window; but the actual physical Mac will not get restarted.
After a little while, the Vista will get completely installed; and you will see the welcome screen.
Figure 10. Fully installed Windows Vista Ultimate virtual machine under VMware Fusion. It is the regular Vista operating system – it just works inside a window (or in other modes, but managed by Fusion).
Use the password that you provided at the beginning of the installation process. Fusion takes care of setting up Vista automatically.
Figure 11. Windows Vista Ultimate virtual machine inside a Fusion window with Start menu open.
You can see everything is installed and setup for you. You can see the network accessed (the network icon at the bottom of the screen). If you click on the Full Screen button, the iMac would look just like a Windows Vista machine. To get back to the window mode, press control-command-return.
Figure 12. Windows Vista Ultimate virtual machine in a Full Screen mode. While the iMac begins to look like a Windows machine (a bit disconcerting :-), all the OS X programs are just clicks/key-strokes away.
More Fusion Articles
The next article goes through using Windows in a virtual machine environment. Effect of Fusion on Aero is also discussed there:
Using Windows on a Mac with Fusion
This article series on Fusion goes through a couple of virtual machines created with Windows Vista and Ubuntu operating systems. These articles also go through using popular applications like Microsoft Office, SQL Server, and Visual Studio on these virtual machines created with Fusion. They also discuss the pros and cons of virtual machines, graphics, sound, video, and Internet connections in them.
Article Series: Fusion on a Mac
