Using Boot Camp and Parallels Desktop to set up MS Windows (Vista) in Mac OS X (Leopard)

Below I summarize my experience of setting up MS Windows (Vista) on Mac machine (OS X Leopard 10.5.2) using Boot Camp Assistant and Parallels Desktop:

1. While in Leopard, I used Boot Camp Assistant to create a partition to setup MS Windows Vista.

2. Rebooted the system and installed Vista on the new partition. The installation was successful but not smooth, had some problems, which I will discuss later in the last few points.

3. After having installed Vista, I booted into Leopard and installed Parallels Desktop.

4. When setting up Parallels Desktop, I choose to boot from the earlier Boot Camp partition for Vista and then did all the other standard configurations.

5. Then when I ran Parallels Desktop, I had the "No Boot Device Found" error prompted.

6. After doing some reading on forums discussing Mac/Windows/Parallels Desktop/Boot Camp , I figured out the cause of the error:

During the Vista installation process, I deleted the partition that I created for Vista using the Boot Camp Assistant. I did this because I had problem proceeding with the Vista installation using that partition and when I deleted it, Vista installation worked fine. This was the mistake, instead of deleting it to fix the problem I should have just formatted the partition again using the Vista installation CD, as described by the Boot Camp Manual:

"Even though Boot Camp pre-formats the Windows partition, this partition can’t be used to boot the computer. You must reformat the new Windows partition using the Windows installer."

You may ask what could be the difference between the partition created by Boot Camp and that created by Vista CD so much so that deleting the Boot Camp partition and re-creating it using the Vista CD enabled vista installation to proceed but did not work with Parallels Desktop, whereas it worked the other way round as suggested by the Boot Camp manual?

I had the same question, and to answer it I did some tests, the results of which are described below:

I noticed that when using Boot Camp to create partition, two types of partitions are created:

1) A small sized "untitled partition" (we will refer to this as partn 1), and
2) the normal NTFS partition for Vista installation of size defined by the user (partn 2)

The following scenarios describe the role of each partition:-

Scenario 1:

Deleting partn 2 also deletes partn 1, which does not re-appear upon re-creation of the partition using the Vista CD. Windows installation works but Parallels does not work ("no boot device found" error is prompted).

Scenario 2:

Deleting partn 1 does not affect partn 2 and allows Vista installation to proceed only partially. Installation does not proceed further after the Vista CD installer has completed expanding the installation package and rebooted. The system prompts the message "press any key to boot from the cd" and does not do anything further. In normal situations, one does not need to press any key and installation should continue; however, this does not happen. Pressing any key would result in the CD being re-read to expand the installation package again and the whole process gets repeated.

From the above two scenarios, we can see that partn 1 created by Boot Camp is critical for Parallels to work and is the main difference between the partition created by the Boot Camp Assistant and the Vista CD.

7). After correcting my Vista installation based on the findings in step 6, Parallels worked fine and the "no boot device" error disappeared for good! I could use Vista either as a standalone OS using Boot Camp or run it concurrently with Leopard on virtual environment using Parallels. Since I configured Parallels to use the Boot Camp Vista, I could access the same programs/data either way. I did not have to double installation of programs. Of course, one could choose not to use the Boot Camp Vista and install Vista separately.

8). Please note that if you are planning to use the Boot Camp Vista on Parallels, be prepared to re-activate your copy of Vista on standalone Boot Camp. You have to get a new activation number from Windows support (call them up, tell them what you did and they should not have any problem giving you a new activation number because MS supports the use of Boot Camp Vista on Parallels).

9). Sometimes, you will get the "No boot device found" error if you have an external hard disk connected to the Mac. Removing the external drive fixes the problem.

10). Now, I am happily running Vista using Parallels on Leopard (4Gb Ram - split 2Gb for each). Occasionally, when I need more power, I run Vista at native speed by switching to the standalone version via Boot Camp. Parallel users, please note that after you have installed Vista using Parallels, do not forget to install the Parallel Tools, otherwise some of your hardware, such as the Ethernet controller, and software, such as Parallels Shared Folder (\\.PSF) functionality, may not work.

==Update==

A month after going through all the above, I stumbled upon the site below that provides detailed step-by-step guide to installing Vista on Mac:
http://www.simplehelp.net/2008/05/28/using-boot-camp-to-install-vista-on-your-mac-the-complete-walkthrough/

How I wished this site was posted before my adventure with Boot Camp and Parallels. Nevertheless, no regrets, I learned a lot and hope that people out there having the same problem can benefit from this post.

For my other experiments with Leopard, see: MyRamblings

==Update 2==

Recently, I was exploring Fusion VMWare, the competitor to Parallels, and came across a video on their website discussing the handling of Windows activation when setting up Bootcamp as a virtual machine while running Mac (Leopard). I found this video very informative and also useful for users of Parallels. Below is the video:



Key lessons learned from the video:

"It is very important that the VMWare tools installation happens before the activation. Otherwise, it is possible to get stuck in an activation loop, each time you reboot between the bootcamp partition and the bootcamp virtual machine."