Windows 7 in VMware Fusion 2
// January 16th, 2009 // No Comments » // Computing
Well I just finished downloading the latest Beta builds of Microsoft’s latest desktop operating system, Windows 7. I’ve always had a nasty habit of living on the wrong side of the cutting edge; you know the bleeding side. I was probably the only person in my zip code that bought a full copy of the 64 bit version of Windows XP Professional and that particular day would have been cheaper and less frustrating had I gone outside and found my car had a flat tire.
Fast forward to today, and I’m just now starting up VMware Fusion 2 and getting ready to install 64-bit Windows 7 on my Apple iMac. Just for the fun of it, I figured I’d post my findings as they come. I started out by mounting the 64-bit ISO and selecting “Windows 2008 Server x64 Edition. I decided to pass on the “Easy Install”; why set myself up for failure like that? I chose to stick with the default VM settings to start off with:
- 1GB Memory
- 40GB Disk
- Shared Networking (NAT)
Sticking with my Heroes theme, I called this one “Mohinder” for its experimental nature. I can already tell that this install is moving a lot faster than the average Vista install. We’ll see if that holds true throughout. Hmm, my choices are “Custom” install and “Upgrade”, “Custom” it is then.
… zzzzzzz … Why oh why did I have to say anything about the speed?
Actually, that wasn’t all that bad. Really picked up when it hit 45%. Just performed the first system restart. About 5 minutes later and the system restarted once more and boom at the login screen. The rest of the setup was simple, straightforward Windows stuff. It was very similar in look to the Vista install process, but actually much simpler. Of course, virtual installations are not real good indicators of how a physical install will go.
My first new feature, “Homegroups”. I’m not really well versed on this feature, but it would appear to be a new way for windows systems to share photos, music, printers, etc. It even gives you a password you can provide to other computers to setup what can only be a new form of trusted internetworking for home and SMB environments. I’m not going to dive in to this area right now, but can already tell that the feature looks like a welcome addition. If it works as advertised, that is.
EDGAR! Holy crap, the default Windows 7 desktop background is my long since dead beta fish named Edgar. I HAVE to put that background on my wife’s Mac desktop. You see, she killed him when she wasn’t paying attention while changing his water. Let’s just say that poor little Edgar wasn’t accustomed to hot tubbing. Seeing as he was named for Edgar Allen Poe, that image on her desktop would be the proverbial tell-tale heart.
OK, back to the task at hand. A couple of updates need a restart, so its time to bounce the VM. I don’t know about you, but if there is one thing I love about virtualization its the reboot times. And … We’re back. I’ll run a few more update checks and push my luck with installing VMware Tools. The tools install wants me to restart, but the VM is dogging a bit though, so I think I’ll be shutting it down and increasing that RAM instead.
OK, I couldn’t help myself. While I was increasing the RAM, I also checked the “3D Acceleration” box. It should handle it fine, but waiting until the box is fully operational before I through in a wrinkle like that would have been a good idea. Especially since it seems to be having a fit booting up right now. It came up, but it was flipping between two resolutions like crazy for about 30 seconds. It was either the tools install or the 3d acceleration check. See, if I waited I could say one way or the other.
Well, it is installed and everything seems to be working just fine. I’ll be kicking the tires over the next couple of days and will update the post with any bizarre happenings or problems, but so far it went as smooth as could be expected. If only I could have such luck with new Fedora or Ubuntu releases.
