New User - need urgent help

Hi - just got my 1st MBP Retina and having some issues (20+ yrs on a PC). Appreciate any help before I decide whether to keep it or not.

I've installed Parallels and Win 7 and have a few basic questions:

1 - The interface looks horrible on the retina display. What display driver is best to install as the default is the "standard graphics vga adapter"? (Win 7 updates are done. It's Win 7 64 Bit Ultimate.) Any other suggested Driver changes?

2 - I can't seem to copy text from a Windows 'window' screen to a Mac 'window. Tried cut-and-past, drag, copy etc. Nothing happens. Any ideas what I'm doing wrong? I 'think' I set it up in Windows mode rather than Mac mode - is that an issue?

3 - Main reason for trying Parallels is because I need excel to work with VB for macros, drop downs and a couple of plug-ins. Can I get around this without needing a virtual machine?

Also, I love Password Depot and they don't do a Mac version and every password programme I have tried on the Mac seemed to be quite poor. Any suggestions?

 

Have you installed Parallels tools in the Windows VM? You can try reinstalling them from the Virtual Machine menu. This might fix your issues.

For passwords, I adore 1Password.

Steve

 

Not impressed with Parallels - using VM Fusion instead

Hi,

I've decided that the best solution was to uninstall Parallels and install VM Fusion instead.

Fusion's new version works with no problems (so far), was less problematic to install, cut and paste between the VM and Mac works well, it had no issues accessing my DVD drive, the images seem to render better on the retina display (though not amazing, but then neither is Mac Office).

And given that no one from Parallels bothered to reply to my questions I don't think they deserve my money.
Oh - and Fusion is cheaper too.

Strells - I'll give 1password - thanks.

 

Not impressed with Fusion 5 - using Parallels 8 instead

Hi,

I am experiencing the exact opposite. I have been using Wmware Workstation 6 during four years on XP to reuse Windows 98 partitions from an old PC, or on Win7 to use an old dictionary in XP that didn't install well on Seven.

When I switched to the Mac, I naturally started by installing Fusion 5, and tried to migrate my production Windows XP system. But the migration assistant crashed Fusion. And the window of an OS X VM cannot be resized to the full width of the Retina display.

Hence I gave a try to Parallels, and, after 10 days of trial, I'm quite confident that I'll stay with Parallels : migration from PC OK, resize OS X window OK, I can even run Workstation 6 in an XP VM, which was not possible within Fusion (WS6 complained it couldn't run inside a VM).

Maybe I haven't examined all possible settings, and haven't insisted enough with Fusion. Maybe I have been lucky to download PD8 just after the bugs, on which many complain at the beginning of September, have been corrected.

Maybe this is a special period where competitors are releasing new (unfinished ?) versions (when I visited the Wmware site at the beginning of August, the major release was still Fusion 4), and comparisons should be renewed every week.

Hope that this will comfort you.

Bernard