Oolite Bulletins

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?

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

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.

maik wrote: ↑Wed Nov 01, 2017 8:35 pm

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

I'll give it a try - thanks!

phkb wrote:

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.

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.

ffutures wrote: ↑Thu Nov 02, 2017 1:08 am

maik wrote: ↑Wed Nov 01, 2017 8:35 pm

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.

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.

ffutures wrote: ↑Fri Nov 03, 2017 1:11 am

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.