XP on Mac Parallels Virtualization

Published on April 6, 2006 in Blog. 3 Comments

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Check out how Intel “Vanderpool” Virtualization Technology (VT) is used in Parallels’ Workstation virtual machine.

Windows XP running in the VM reports that it has a single “T2300″ processor at 1.66GHz (this is on a Core Duo Mac mini).

Basically, VT allows Windows to use one of the CPUs and Mac OSX to use the other.

The result? A very usable Windows instance inside the VM. Faster than Virtual PC or Q. The fastest VM I’ve ever used.

Very promising for Mac users who need to keep one foot in Windows land…

Tim Germer
April 7, 2006 at 9:29 am

Very cool Josh! Wow.
BlueK
April 7, 2006 at 1:23 pm

Would this technique work both ways? Run virtual WindowsXP within MaxOS and run virtual MacOS from within WindowsXP?
Josh Bancroft
April 7, 2006 at 1:32 pm

Well, Parallels has a Windows version of their VM software, so theoretically, if you could get Mac OSX to install inside the VM, it would work.

The problem is going to be getting Mac OSX to install inside the VM.