FM on a Mac

[Scott Prentice]

Hi Peter...

Thanks for the info .. very helpful.

I was hoping to be able to test FM under various versions of Windows 
without installing separately on each OS. In theory, using Fusion on a 
Mac, I can install on each OS (XP, Vista, 7) to the same "shared" 
location, and it *should* work. The problem is going to be authorization 
of each instance since that data is stored in the registry of each OS. I 
have a feeling that I'd not be able to authorize it under each OS since 
that would be akin to installing on three separate computers (even 
though it's not really).

Oh well.

Thanks!

...scott


Peter Gold wrote:
> 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 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
>>
>>