Stupid Mac Question

[ffutures]

I need to use a Windows program on my Macbook Pro occasionally - since I didn't want to pay for Parallels I installed Windows using Bootcamp, so that I have a separate Windows partition on my hard drive. But I'm now finding rebooting etc. REALLY annoying. I could probably get away with using Virtualbox, it's not a program that needs incredible speed, except that I would have to reinstall Windows and I've already used the license key.

Is there any way to run the installed version of Windows virtually?

[maik]

Have tried Wine? It works for surprisingly many applications and games.

[phkb]

I think you should be able to just reinstall the copy of Windows into a VM. Microsoft allows for a couple of installs of a license before they get thingy about it. And even if they do, they give you a number to call, you tell them what you're doing, and they give you a key to allow for the license to install. That's been my experience, anyway.

[ffutures]

Have tried Wine? It works for surprisingly many applications and games.

I'll give it a try - thanks!

I think you should be able to just reinstall the copy of Windows into a VM. Microsoft allows for a couple of installs of a license before they get thingy about it. And even if they do, they give you a number to call, you tell them what you're doing, and they give you a key to allow for the license to install. That's been my experience, anyway.

I'll try Wine first, I'd prefer to leave removing Windows and having it virtual only as a last resort, because sooner or later I might need it at full speed.

[hoqllnq]

It should be possible to have VirtualBox boot off of your bootcamp partition.

I have not done this myself, but the internet says so. Googling for: virtualbox bootcamp partition
gives some explanations of the steps involved.
Boils down to: you have to unmount your bootcamp partition from MacOSX and make a virtual disk file that is kind of an alias to a block device.

However, when you take this route, I would not be surprised if Windows still prompts you to (re)activate, as it may 'feel' that it's running on a different machine now.

[Diziet Sma]

Have tried Wine? It works for surprisingly many applications and games.

I'll give it a try - thanks!

Specifically, WineBottler is the best way to use Wine, on Mac.

[ffutures]

It should be possible to have VirtualBox boot off of your bootcamp partition.

I have not done this myself, but the internet says so. Googling for: virtualbox bootcamp partition
gives some explanations of the steps involved.
Boils down to: you have to unmount your bootcamp partition from MacOSX and make a virtual disk file that is kind of an alias to a block device.

However, when you take this route, I would not be surprised if Windows still prompts you to (re)activate, as it may 'feel' that it's running on a different machine now.

Sounds VERY likely. I'll give this a try if I can't get Wine sorted.

Specifically, WineBottler is the best way to use Wine, on Mac.

I wish I'd known that before I tried installing Wine last night. Pain in the ass and I don't think it's working properly, it certainly won't run the program I want to use. It's possible it's incompatible, of course.

[Diziet Sma]

I wish I'd known that before I tried installing Wine last night. Pain in the ass and I don't think it's working properly, it certainly won't run the program I want to use. It's possible it's incompatible, of course.

Wine on the Mac really is a pain in the ass.. WineBottler makes it a lot simpler*. Still takes some reading and setting up, of course, but nowhere near the hassle that straight Wine is.


* Recently, I was even able to get the PC version of Star Wars Episode 1 Racer running on my mate's MacBook, using WineBottler. A little bit of Googling around, and had it going in less than 15 minutes from starting.