FM on a Mac

[Peter Gold]

Hi, Scott:

I'm using FrameMaker 9 on VMware Fusion2 and Windows 7 Release
Candidate on Mac OS X 10.5.8. I have no idea if your idea would work,
or if it works, how stable it might be. I haven't installed multiple
OSs, only Win7.

The files I create on OS X and Win7 are stored only on my Mac
partition, in case there are fatal problems on the virtual drive. In
fact, I had a problem that whose cause I can't identify - a bunch of
the virtual files that comprise the virtual machine disappeared
inexplicably. Perhaps a power or system failure during an operation of
some kind. I didn't find out about it until some time long after, when
launching the virtual machine displayed a message that file xxx was
missing and halted the launch. I searched VMware's site for
explanations and recommended solutions, but I couldn't follow the
steps well. As I was about to create a new virtual machine, I found a
Time Machine backup of the drive that I'd forgotten about; restoring
it to the shared drive gave me a new start at the saved state.

This taught me not to rely on Windows' Restore Point feature, because
they are lost if the virtual machine is lost.

I had forgotten about the backed-up virtual machine because I'd
removed it from the backup list; the reason I did this is that Time
Machine backs up changed files, and each launch of the virtual machine
(120GB in my case) marks the whole set of files that comprise the
machine as changed, so it backs up the 120GB each time. Time Machine
can't distinguish which of the many files that comprise the virtual
machine have changed, and selectively back them up.

My plan now is to keep the "seed" VM backed up, and when I need to
install or update its components, to save that state as a newer "seed"
on a backup drive. These will be my restore points.

I've had no problems saving and opening files from the Mac OS X file
system in the Windows virtual machine applications - FrameMaker and
InDesign mostly. Especially with InDesign files, it's a good example
of cross-platform compatibility, because I have InDesign CS4 on Win7
and Mac OS X.

Perhaps if you describe your intentions for the configuration you're
describing, someone on the list can offer more advice. I also suggest
that you check the VMware site and contact VMware support to see
what's already been discovered.

HTH

Regards,

Peter
_______________________
Peter Gold
KnowHow ProServices





On Thu, Jan 7, 2010 at 12:46 PM, Scott Prentice <sp at leximation.com> wrote:
> Just wondering if anyone has tried this ..
>
> When installing FM (8 or 9) in a VMWare image of Windows XP on a Mac ..
> install to a "Shared" folder (mounted with a drive letter) so that the
> installation files will be available to other images of Windows on that
> computer. It seems that in theory this should work, but I have a feeling
> that I'd need to clone the registry entries between the various
> instances of Windows. This may not be too hard for multiple instances of
> the same OS version (XP), but what if I wanted to be able to use the
> same installation of FM for XP and Vista (and 7)?
>
> It's probably not a good idea at all .. just wondering if anyone else
> has tried this.  :)
>
> Thanks!
>
> ...scott
>
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