Parallels installs just one kernel extension (unless I use the optional Parallels Access feature, which adds further background processes). VirtualBox installs four kernel extensions at startup, which remain loaded constantly even if I never use the app. Parallels, for example, automatically adds a folder of Windows applications to my Dock without my permission, so I have to remove it manually.
#Run windows vmware on mac mac
Similarly, any clutter, background processes, or other doohickeys that intrude upon my normal, day-to-day Mac use are a disadvantage.
#Run windows vmware on mac software
So many of the advanced user interface tricks that virtualization software provide are wasted on me. Furthermore, I don’t need Windows programs to appear as though they were native Mac applications (using, for example, Parallels’ Coherence mode or Fusion’s Unity view) I prefer to keep Windows in its own virtual display and to run Windows apps inside that. That means I’m not going to nitpick about the small differences in performance that might exist between one tool and the next. So, what am I looking for in a virtualization environment? For starters, I’m concerned only with conventional business apps-I don’t use virtualization for gaming, 3D graphics, or anything else that would tax virtual processors or graphics cards. VirtualBox is functional, but it isn’t as polished as VMware Fusion or Parallels Desktop. I just want to get my work done in the most efficient way possible, with a minimum of distraction and complication.) I have no particular allegiance to one developer or another. I have also been a Parallels user almost since its very first release. (By way of disclosure, I should mention that I wrote books about Fusion versions 2 and 3 it’s now at version 6. But I did want to explain why I’ve settled on VMWare Fusion as my go-to virtualization choice. Each of these products has its partisans, and I’m not going to tell you definitively which one you should choose. Using any of those three, I can pop into another OS as easily as launching an app. In addition to OS X’s Boot Camp, I have my choice of three virtualization products for Mac: Parallels Desktop, VMware Fusion, or Oracle’s VirtualBox. Fortunately, as a Mac user, I have several ways to run multiple operating systems without switching computers. My work requires me to occasionally use Windows and Linux, as well as older versions of OS X.