Mac (Snow Leopard) setup – continued

Recap:

  1. Backed-up via Time Machine to a low-cost (£60) USB-powered 0.5TB hard drive that will be carried around with the laptop (can that drive be backed-up itself?)
    • Turned off Time Machine (auto-backups) afterwards.
  2. Updated everything
    • Several system restarts required, and re-ran the Update function until no more updates available.
  3. Backed-up again viaTime Machine.

Continue:

  1. Ran Boot Camp Assistant
    • It prompted me to print its instructions.  I decided to accept this.
      • I connected my printer.  System prompted for printer-driver download – I accepted.
      • I selected the print option to format the instructions specifically for my (make of) printer.
      • From Preview, the instructions occupy 14 pages.  Thinking green (and clutter-avoidance) I elected instead to save it as PDF to a memory stick that I can view elsewhere.
  2. Read thru the Boot Camp instructions
    • It seems I have done it right so far (update everything & backup)
  3. Boot Camp Assistant: Actions
    • Click Continue (onwards from the printing stage).
    • Partitioning:
      • Select Divide Equally
        • (Don’t know what sizes I need, presumably can alter proportions later if needed using e.g. via iPartition).
      • Click Partition
        • (Is very fast)
    • Windows Installation
      • Insert Windows disk.
        • There are two options (disks): 32-bit and 64-bit.  Let’s go for 64-bit.  In case of any residual doubt:
      • Click Start Installation
        • (Even though Boot Camp Assistant (BCA) does not mention Windows 7 as an option, onlyXP & Vista.)
      • Locale info:
        • Language: English; Units: UK; Keyboard: UK
          • (What is “UK Extended” ?)
        • Next
      • Install Now
        • (Accept License)
      • Installation option: Upgrade or Custom(BCA instructions don’t mention this choice)
        • Default is Upgrade but this is a fresh installso choose Custom
          • Warning (from instructions): “It’s important to select the correct partition when installing Windows so that you don’toverwrite Mac OS X on your computer.”
        •  Selected the Boot Camp partition (Disk 0 Partition 3), but…
          • “Windows caannot be installed to Disk 0 Partition 3”
          • …because it has not yet been formatted as NTFS (did I miss that stage?)
        • Clicked Drive Options, and, with Partition 3 selected, clicked Format.
          • There were no format options e.g. NTFS or other, it just did it, taking only a few seconds.
        • Clicked Install, now it worked.
        • Looking thru the BCA instructions, that formatting step is indeed mentioned, all is well.
          • “The Windows partition is formatted using the NTFS file system”
        • (installation automated processes took half an hour or so)
        • Enter names for user (account) and computer (to distinguish it on a network)
        • Enter a password
        • Enter Product Key and accept default option to automatically activate when on-line.
        • Select Use Recommended Settings (e.g. for updates policy)
        • Accept TimeZone as UTC
        • JoinWireless Network
          • Enter key, accept Automatically Connect policy
          • Selectit as Home Network (trusted)
        • (Windows now began its update processes)
          • First it downloaded a manifest- list of available updates
          • After this it prompted to “click here for available updates”.  Did so.
          • It offered “11 important updates” and “2 optional updates”.  I accepted them all.
            • An update clash (my term) occurred – it said “Some updates were not installed” and “…try again in a few minutes”
            • Waited several minutes and tried again – it worked: 10 updates successfullyinstalled, then required restart (did it).
    • First proper login to Windows.
      • Note there had been no prompts for drivers etc.
    • Mac Hardware Drivers for Windows
      • Insert the Mac OS install-disk … after ejecting the Windows install-disk.
        • But the”Eject Disk” button has no effect (presumably due to no driver yet)
        • Workaround: Windows Explorer > DVD Drive > Eject
      • Autoplay (yes/no): Windows Support > setup.exe.  YES.
      • Security: Allow it (Boot Camp) to make changes to computer.  YES.
      • Boot Camp: Accept license, allow “Apple software update for windows”
        • (It took some significant time)
      • Restart
        • Doh – I left the Mac OS install-disk inserted; as a result I feared the machine would boot from that disk.  However in practice it was Windows that came up.
          • The default OS can be changed via the Boot Camp icon in system tray.
        • Unable to log in – keyboard doesn’t work.
          • (Yes, this is familiar Windows behaviour…)
      • Restart again.
        • Now it works fully.  Keyboard and disk-eject too.
    • Settling-in to Windows
      • Config the system tray to always show all icons.
      • Got warned that there is no antivirus as yet.
      • Purchase Parallels 5, which Kapersky AntiVirus comes bundled with, and I want Parallels anyway.  Cost around £60.
    • x
  4. Install Parallels
    • Purchase & download Parallels 5 desktop for mac.  Is a “.dmg” file of size 222 MB.
    • Restart machine in Mac mode.
    • Backup (Time Machine)
    • Run installer.  It says the installation will occupy around 450MB of disk.
    • Backup (Time Machine)
    • Run Parallels.  Prompts for activation (license key/code).  Did so.
      • (Parallels then did a “prepare for first start”)
    • x
    • Create new Virtual Machine onto the Boot Camp Windows 7 system.
      • New Windows Installation
      • Boot Camp Partition
      • Windows 7, “Let other Mac users access this virtual machine”, sharing “Home folder only”.  Create.
      • Done.
    • Now I have two new desktop items, for Parallels Virtual Machines (VMs): “My Boot Camp” and “Windows 7”.
      • How come I’ve got two items, not just one?  What are each of them for?
      • Others are similarly confused, e.g. http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=829128
      • Looks like the answer is at http://download.parallels.com/desktop/v5/docs/en/Parallels_Desktop_Users_Guide/23414.htm,”If you install Parallels Desktop on a Mac computer with a Boot Camp Windows partition, and Parallels Desktop detects that there are no virtual machines on the computer, it automatically creates a new virtual machine for this Boot Camp partition and places it to the following location: <Username>/Documents/Parallels/My Boot Camp
      • So I need not have created one explicitly.  I guess “Windows 7” is the one I (explicitly) created, “My BootCamp” is the one that Parallels (implicitly) created.  In that case all I need to do is delete the “Windows 7” one.   Did so.
    • Ran the “My Boot Camp” virtual machine for the first time.  It said “Setting up forthe first time – may take some time”.  In that case I regard this as part of the installation process.
      • Got to the login prompt (for Windows 7) and, reasonably enough, required me to log in before it could act further.  Dod do.
        • (It said “Please wait while the virtual machine is being upgraded”, then after several minutes “…was successfully upgraded”)
      • Now I had a Windows login prompt again.  Logged in.
        • The VM runs in Coherence mode by default.
        • (It said “The Windows application folder is being added to the dock” and “To remove the folder, edit the Shared Applications settings in the virtual machine config)
      • Installed Parallels Internet Security (Kapersky AntiVirus etc.)  – it is not installed by default – you have to take action, did so as follows.
        • Select the Parallels VM Launcher (window).  In the Mac (top-screen) menu (when that window is selected), click:
          • Virtual Machine > Install Parallels Internet Security
        • (Took maybe 30 minutes to download)
        • Began installing itself.  As part of this, Windows Firewall was disabled (as indicated by a Windows security message), so I unplugged my router, just in case.
        • At the end of installation, the VM restarted itself (successfully).
        • Following restart, I plugged my router back in and told Kapersky to update.
        • Following Kapersky update, a VM restart was required.  Did so.
        • Did another Kapersky update.  Status: Up-to-date.
      • Ran a full system scan.  Takes quite some time (started 18:08, finished ????).  No issues detected.
      • Windows security messages about “No firewall” and “Parallels Internet Security is on but reporting its status to Windows Security Centre in a format that is no longer supported”.
        • The “no longer supported” message: someone said “I had to uninstall Kaspersky as well as Parallels Tools, and then reinstall Parallels Tools, to fix this problem. That seems to have worked.”  http://forum.parallels.com/showthread.php?t=96492&highlight=longer+supported
        • I tried simply the VM Launcher option “Reinstall Parallels Tools”, because being simple, it was worth a try.  It restarted the VM.
          • No effect – didn’t fix it.
        • Try following another person’s advice “If Tools are already isntall, you can remove them from (Control Panel > Add/Remove Programs>) Programs & Features list, restart Windows and load them from Virtual Machine menu. “.  Did so.  VM Restart.
      • Configure: Do not backup with Time Machine.  This is very important!
    • x
  5. x

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