Parallels Desktop for Mac allows you to run operating systems that were never envisioned by their developers to run on Mac hardware. Foremost among these "foreign" operating systems is Microsoft Windows.
Parallels offers multiple ways to install an operating system; the two most commonly used methods are Windows Express (the default option) and Custom. I prefer the Custom option. It includes a few more steps than the Windows Express option, but it eliminates the need to do much tweaking to achieve the best performance, a common problem with the Windows Express option.
With this guide, I'll take you through the process of using the Custom option to install and configure Windows. This process will work for Windows XP and Windows Vista, as well as any other OS that Parallels support. We won't actually install a Windows OS – I'll cover that in a separate step-by-step guide – but for practical purposes, we'll assume that we're installing Windows XP or Vista.
What you will need:
- Parallels Desktop for Mac v3.0 or later.
- The installation CDs for Windows XP or Vista.
- 20 GB free disk space. You can get by with less (I've performed an installation with as little as 8 GB of available disk space), but you'll appreciate the extra room if you later want to install more Windows applications or store larger Windows files than you originally intended.
- About an hour of free time, for the custom setup and to actually install the operating system.
