Windows Vista

Does anyone know if the Windows Vista public beta works with Parallels?

 

It will not work in current version of Parallels because of lack of ACPI support in our system BIOS. We will add Vista support in version 3.0.

 

Given that we're not even at 1.0 yet, when can we expect 3.0?

Not that I'm interested in Vista, just curious about your roadmap.

 

Internal version of Parallels Desktop is 2.2. We just don't show it because it is first Mac version. 3.0 is scheduled for this year - I can't give precise date though.

 

I understand how implementing something like ACPI compliance isn't done overnight, but I'm sorry to hear it won't be available in a 2.x release. As I would expect that a 3.x release will probably require an upgrade.

Still, I bought this for XP, not Vista. I can only imagine how slow Vista would run sharing resources with Mac OS X. I'd suggest a minimum of 2 GB RAM.

 

My guess is that by the time you turn off all the various Vista UI goodies to comply with the lack of hardware graphic acceleration imposed by virtualization, Vista will look (and operate) shockingly like XP. Unless your doing development or running some Vista only app, I suspect most people will be much more statisfied with XP or W2k for quite a good while to come.

 

By your argument why would anybody want to use it at all? Even with the gui stuff (if your hardware supports it), it's still an unfinshed piece of software full of bugs, missing features, and is really just XP with a few nice looking things added to it...

Kind of like OS X 10.5 is just 10.4.7 with a backup program and a new version of mail, why would anybody want to use it? Why would anybody bother downloading it and risk getting fired in the process?

Why would anyone upgrade to 10.4? It's just 10.3 with dashboard and spotlight. You can get dashboard like functionality from Yahoo Widget Engine anyway so really all you get it spotlight... And who really uses spotlight enough to justify buying the new version anyway???

You see where I'm going here... I would like to be able to boot vista just because I "could" (if parallels supported it). I purchased a copy of XP Pro for parallels, and it's the only VM I ever use. But I still would like to at least be able to take a look at vista...

 

I see. I actually use my machine for work, and generally don't have time to investigate things just for fun. But if I really wanted to eval Vista, I'd surely do it on a dedicated PC. But that's just me. I use XP to run apps that I have to get my job done. Nothing else. I guess I assume (incorrectly) that if you're using a Mac, it was to get away from Windows, except when required. It certainly is my reason.

 

Want Parallels for Vista SOE testing...

I must admit that I'm interested in running Vista but for somewhat different reasons.

I manage a project that is about to start with the intent of developing a Vista SOE for our client organisation. It would be nice if I had the ability to run Vista within Parallels so that (if necessary) it is an easy job to blow away the virtual machine and install from scratch again for testing purposes - possibly regression testing as well.

Given the timeframes for the project, we will be ready for initial testing towards the end of the year so I'm just hoping that V3 will be ready by them.

 

The best thing about using a virutal machine like this is you don't have to take an entire machine up to do it. I've never had any desire to install Mac OS X beta products on my Macs specfically because I don't want to take over my system by an unfinished piece of software which would likely require me to format and start over anyway. With virtual machines, if anything goes wrong, you can just toss the HD image without loosing anything imporant...

I have 4 pc's for work and would not bother trying to install vista on any of them because once I did it wouldn't easily be rectified... It seems more logical to use a VM because of that...

Besides, there is a very good non-work reason for having windows (all be it via boot camp makes more sense for this reason): Gaming... There are still many games out there that cannot be run on a mac (EVE Online is one I've kind of been looking at)... So there are non-work reasons to have access to windows...

I actually don't use my VM very often (though I do have it running all the time). The primary reason for my purchasing it (and VPC in the past) was specifically for the occasional tasks that I cannot do on a Mac... There are certain tools that I will on occasion need to run that I cannot find a Mac version of... But these tools are normally for personal reasons as apposed to work reasons (primarily security and configuration tools used for web development)...

 

I've been a registered tester of Vista for a while now. I have a dedicated machine for that purpose, and I wouldn't mind running it in a VM. My verdict has been for a while that it is essentially XP 1.3. In other words, you would upgrade to it just like you would upgrade to SP2, but it's not going to blow you away.

Ultimately, we're going to need Parallels to support it because it will be included with systems, and, because people will upgrade to it. They just won't be that amazed.

 

We're talking Mac users here, of course they won't be amazed with vista...

 

There are actually lots of "under the hood" improvements between 10.3 and 10.4.
For example, ruby 1.6 to 1.8 update, java update, full implementation of BSD's dummynet, etc.

The $150 I spent for a 10.4 family pack is well worth the money.

 

I haven't seen any comments on whether Parallels Desktop build 1884 will work with Vista RC1. Does it?

Even though it is supposed to provide (preliminary) support for Vista, I get the following error when trying to install onto a Windows XP Pro sp2 system (OS type set to Vista in Parallels):

You must make the following changes before installing Windows:

This computer is not compliant with the Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI) standard. Windows must be installed onto a computer that supports ACPI. Contact your computer manufacturer for a BIOS update or install Windows on a ACPI-compliant computer.

 

Latest Parallels 1884 doesn't work with Vista RC1

I just tried installing Vista RC1 with the new version of Parallels and it failed. I get the following blue screen of death

*** STOP: 0x000000A5 (0x0001000B, 0x50434146, 0xFFD01050, 0x00000000)

I thought Parallels was billing this to work with Vista? Which Vista if not the just released RC1?

 

I got a similar BSOD (blue screen of death) when I tried to install Vista into a blank hard disk file and used the Vista ISO image file intead of burning a DVD. After the BSOD, I tried upgrading Windows XP Pro sp2. Oh well...

I think the Vista they were speaking of was either the beta 2 or the pre-RC1 and not the RC1.

Parallels?

 

Beta 2 is the only build that works, nothing else. I've tried all of them, Checked Build Beta 2 doesn't work either. FX doesn't work so far, no PCI bridge drivers. The rest is ok, functioning. I didn't look for Vista bugs or some Parallels incompatibilities. Installation process was a pain, I must say, I even had to re-boot my iMac once completely, to refresh the memory and restart the processes.

 

I'm not sure what is the relationship between Apple and Parallels but IMHO, Jobs has to sponsor your developments because you guys seriously contribute his market share. For many many people the only reason to stay with PC are those couple of needed applications they're used to. Parallels re-defines completely the meaning of Mac and turns it into a powerfull cross-platform engine, that is able to host practically every application of the world. Thank you for this brilliant quality and speed you deliver updates and changes!

..I hope this all is still relevant to Visa..

 

Any Updates

I did not see this forum until now and posted my question in the General Questions area. I see in June of last year, Andrew @ Parallels said:

and later that day said:

Any updates on when this will be available. SInce I am running Build 3150 RC2 of Parallels listed in the Finder as version 2.5 and am running into this problem, I am a bit concerned it will be a while before this issue is resolved. Any encouraging words out there?

Paul

 

Vista is fully supported both in 1970 GA (2.2) and in 3150 RC2 (2.5). What is your problem with Vista?