Microsoft Virtual Pc For Mac 6.1 Review
Oct 11, 2004 The product was MicroSoft Virtual PC for MAC version 7 with Windows XP Pro included. Full version, not an upgrade. On a MAC Power PC G4 (single G4 1.5 GHz upgrade) 1.5 GB RAM, running MAC OS X 10.4 Tiger, for over six years, I've been running MicroSoft Virtual PC for MAC version 6.1 which came with Windows XP Pro.
Install Windows On Mac
Would you like to develop software for Mac OS X or iOS? While it’s easy to develop apps for Linux and Windows on any platform, developing software for Mac requires a toolset called XCode, designed and built by Apple specifically for Mac OS X.
XCode is an incredibly powerful piece of software. Not only is it a complete toolset for developing Mac apps; it’s also an interface builder, testing application, and asset management toolkit.
In this simple guide, you’ll learn how to use XCode on Windows – something that’s normally impossible. All you’ll need is a Windows PC, a copy of Mac OS X, an Apple account, and an Internet connection.
- Virtual PC 6 puts a Start icon in the Dock that you can click on to bring up the Windows Start menu. Backing up Virtual PC drives used to be a headache, as you had to back up the entire drive image. With this version, you can perform incremental backups with a program such as Dantz's Retrospect.
- Virtual PC 6.x. Originally an x86 emulator for Macintosh used to run Windows, Connectix, the company that made it, was purchased by Microsoft. Virtual PC was then retooled into a virtualization tool for x86 systems. Requires Mac OS 9.2.2, Mac OS X 10.1.5 'Puma', 10.2.1 'Jaguar', or higher.
- Virtual PC creates a virtual Windows machine inside your Mac. You can copy and paste—and even drag and drop—files from Windows to your Mac, and vice versa. You can display a Windows Start menu, as well as the icons of your running Windows applications, in your OS X Dock.
- The first major update to Virtual PC since Microsoft bought the emulation program from Connectix brings some user-friendly enhancements and compatibility with G5-based Macs. But it doesn’t.
Is this your first time using XCode? Learn how to program software for Mac and iOS with our 1 Hour XCode Introduction.
Installing a virtual PC application with Mac OS X
Since XCode only runs on Mac OS X, you’ll need to be able to simulate an installation of Mac OS X on Windows. This is surprisingly easy to do with virtualization software like VMWare or open source alternative VirtualBox.
For the purpose of this guide, we’ll be using VirtualBox. If you use a different virtual computer application, the process is much the same. Since VirtualBox is open source and free to use, it’s worth downloading it if you don’t already have a copy installed.
Have you never used VirtualBox before? Learn how to use this powerful virtual PC application by enrolling in our course, QuickStart! – Virtual Box. In addition to Mac OS X, VirtualBox can also be used to run Linux and other operating systems.
Running a virtual computer is quite a demanding process, and you’ll need to have a fairly powerful PC for it to operate successfully. You’ll also need a PC with hardware similar to that of a standard, Apple-constructed iMac, MacBook, or Mac Pro.
To successfully emulate a Mac using a Windows PC, you’ll need the following:
- A Dual Core Intel processor
- At least 2GB of RAM (4GB+ recommended)
- Hardware Virtualization
Is your PC too weak to emulate a Mac properly? Learn how to build a powerful PC for gaming, app development, and more with our Learn How to Build a Computer course.
You’ll also need an installation disc for Mac OS X. You can purchase this online from the Apple Store or, if you already own a MacBook, iMac, or Mac Pro, you can use the install disc you received with your computer.
Once you’ve installed VirtualBox, open the application and choose to install Mac OS X Server 64 Bit. Provide the virtual computer with at least 2GB of RAM (if you have more than 8GB of RAM, choose 4GB+) and more than 30GB of hard disk space.
VirtualBox will automatically configure the operating system, but you’ll still need to make a few changes manually. Open the Settings menu and carry out the following changes:
- On the System tab, uncheck Enable EFI
- On the Processor tab, select at least two CPUs
- On the Display tab, increase the video memory to at least 128MB
Installing Mac OS X and booting your virtual machine
Finally, you’ll need to download a Hackboot boot loader to install OS X. You can find a Hackboot install file by searching Google – in this case, you’ll need Hackboot 1 and Hackboot 2, as well as your OS X disc, to complete the installation.
Select your Hackboot 1 disc image, and then start the virtual machine. Your virtual machine will boot, and you’ll see an OS X screen. Using the menu at the bottom of the screen, launch the disc drive that contains your OS X installation disc.
From here, you’ll need to follow the installation instructions for Mac OS X. It takes several minutes to install the operating system. Once the process is finished, you’ll need to switch off your virtual machine and change your boot disc.
Reopen VirtualBox and, leaving all of your other settings the same, switch your boot disc from Hackboot 1 to Hackboot 2. You’ll boot into a screen with two icons. Select Mac OS X and press Enter to initiate the Mac OS X boot sequence.
During the Mac OS X configuration sequence, you’ll need to enter your Apple ID. This is necessary for downloading the XCode toolset later, so make sure you enter a valid Apple account when you configure your operating system.
Installing XCode on your Mac OS X virtual machine
Once you’ve configured your Mac OS X virtual machine, installing XCode is relatively easy. Before you install XCode, you’ll want to configure your virtual machine to your preferred resolution and settings using the System Preferences menu.
Is this your first time using Mac OS X? If you’re a PC user, finding your way around in the new interface can be a challenge. Enroll in Using Mac OS X for Windows Users to learn the basics of the OS X interface, from the Dock to features like Spotlight.
From here, installing XCode is simple. Open the App Store application from the dock and type XCode into the search bar. You might need to reenter your account details, or enter them for the first time if you didn’t do so during Mac OS X configuration.
Navigate to the XCode app and click Install Now to download it. If you don’t have an Apple account, you’ll need to create one in order to download the XCode toolset for your virtual machine.
XCode is quite a large application, and downloading it could take anywhere from a minute to several hours, depending on your Internet connection speed. Once your download is finished, open Applications and click XCode to launch the installer.
Once the installation process is complete, you’ll be able to use XCode within your virtual machine to program apps for Mac OS or iOS. You can also download other Mac apps to use on your virtual machine, although they may not run smoothly.
Developing iOS Apps and more using XCode
XCode is an incredibly powerful toolkit for app development. It’s also refreshingly easy to use, especially for developers accustomed to cumbersome and complicated programming software for PC.
Learn more about how to use XCode by reading our iOS programming tutorial. It’s a great overview of the XCode interface, the programming characteristics of iOS, and much more.
2015 is going to be a big year for Microsoft with the forthcoming release of Windows 10 — you can read all about Microsoft's big January event right on our sister site Windows Central. Windows 10 is available as a technical preview, and if you're interested in trying it out on your Mac, you can do so safely without jeopardizing any of your Mac stuff, using virtualization software. What's more, you don't need to spend a dime doing it. Because both the Windows 10 preview and the virtualization software is free.
Step 0: Virtualization or Boot Camp?
Microsoft lifecam studio mac too bright. Before you get Windows on your Mac, you have to decide how you want to run it: virtually within OS X, or on a separate hard drive partition using Boot Camp. Using software provided by Apple, you can turn your Mac into a dual-booting computer capable of running Windows or OS X natively. When your Mac is running Windows using Boot Camp, your Mac is a Windows PC. In order to do this, however, Boot Camp requires you to repartition your Mac's hard drive.
Virtualization software works differently: You're not messing with your Mac hard drive's partition map, you're just creating files and running Mac software that creates a virtual instance of a PC. If something goes really wrong — and this is preview software, remember — it's a lot easier to clean up the pieces using virtualization software than it can be if parts of your Mac's hard drive gets hosed.
Boot Camp doesn't officially support Windows 10 yet, and as such, its drivers may not play 100 percent nicely with the technical preview if you choose that route. I plan to revisit Boot Camp support for Windows 10 after Microsoft officially releases the new version, and I'll post my results. In the interim, though, I don't recommend using Boot Camp for Windows 10 Technical Preview.
Step 1: Download virtualization software
Running virtualization software seems to be the smartest option on the table at present for Microsoft's Windows 10 preview, and both Parallels Desktop or VMware Fusion are good options if you have them around. Mac microsoft file autosave hidden.
Virtual Machine On Mac
If you don't already have virtual machine software on your Mac, you can download Oracle's VirtualBox. It's a virtualization tool just like Fusion and Parallels, but it has the virtue of being free. There are trial versions of Parallels Desktop and VMware Fusion which won't make you pay a fee for a two weeks or one month, respectively, so you're welcome to try those out if you prefer. But if you never want to pay a fee, check out VirtualBox.
My experience is that compared to VMware Fusion and Parallels Desktop, VirtualBox doesn't offer the same sort of robust performance or have quite as polished Mac integration (though there's no charge for it). You get what you pay for, et cetera.
Here are some links to virtualization software you can download for your Mac:
Step 2: Download Windows 10
After you have virtualization software, you'll need to download an ISO image of the Windows 10 technical preview. The ISO image is, for all intents and purposes, an exact copy of a physical Windows installation disc. You get this image from Microsoft itself by downloading it directly.
To get the disc image, you will need to register as part of Microsoft's Windows Insider Program. If you haven't already created a Microsoft account for OneDrive or Xbox Live or the like, you can do this during registration. You can also link the account to an existing email address to make it easier to remember and find later (much like iCloud).
Once you're set up and registered, Microsoft links you to a web page to download links; that page includes the product key you need to activate your preview version of Windows 10.
Step 3: Create a new virtual machine
- Launch VirtualBox.
- Click on the New button.
- In the Name field, type 'Windows 10' or whatever you'd like.
- Leave Type as Microsoft Windows
- Click on the Version menu and select Windows 8.1 (64 bit).
You should be able to use the default settings for the next several screens, assuming your base goal is to just poke around Windows 10 and see how it works. Create a virtual hard drive; set the file type to VDI; and make the drive dynamically allocated. This will create a virtual machine that will be listed in VirtualBox's Manager. Select it and click the Start button.
Step 4: Install Windows 10 Technical Preview
When you finish creating your virtual machine, you'll be prompted with the following: 'Please select a virtual optical disk file or a physical optical disk to start your new virtual machine from.' Click on the folder icon to bring up a file browser which you can use to locate the Windows Technical Preview ISO file you downloaded.
Click the Start button.
Follow the instructions given by the Windows 10 Technical Preview installer. It will ask you where you want to install Windows; the only option should be a drive with unallocated space corresponding to the virtual hard drive you've just created in VirtualBox. Select it and click Next.
The rest of the process is just a step-by-step setup, and that's literally all there is to it. After a virtual machine restart, you should soon be staring at a virtualized desktop of Windows 10, running on your Mac.
Any questions?
As I mentioned above, VirtualBox's Mac integration isn't quite as tight as its commercial virtualization alternatives; it's a bit easier with those to switch display resolutions, use accessories, and integrate your Mac's own files. But if you're on a short budget or just want to mess around with Windows 10 prior to its release, VirtualBox and the Windows technical preview can give you what you need without setting you back any cash. That counts for something.
And if you run into any problems or have any questions, let me know in the comments.
Virtual Pc For Mac Ppc
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Virtual Pc For Mac Reviews
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