running windows

By Louis, 1 July, 2012

Forum
macOS and Mac Apps
Hello, I will unfortunately be forced to run Windows on my mac. However, I am totally clueless about this process. What is the best way to go about this? I will be installing NVDA as my Windows screen Reader of choice. Any help will be appreciated.

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By Daven on Monday, July 9, 2012 - 16:24

Hi Luis, My best bet would be VMWare Fusion. Everything can be done without any sighted assistance, and the software itself is pretty accessible with Voice Over. For me the best feature of VMware is you can install any windows operating system independently. You just need the Installation disc or ISO files of the Windows OS, and then follow the steps by step guide from VMware, and it will do anything for you. you don't need to do anything on the process of the installation. Actually, I'm currently writing this on a Windows 7 virtual machine with NVDA on my iMac, and I must say I'm very please. Good luck!

By Khafsa2015 on Monday, July 9, 2012 - 16:24

Hi Daven When you've installed windows 7 with VmWare Fusion, can you use it like a normal windows computer? like can you use ms word, powerpoint and excel? Also, can you use it with JAWS? Sorry for the questions, i've looked on this forum before, but the conversations between members seem to turn into a competition about who can use the most technical jargon so I get really confused about it all. Thanks :)

By Maria on Monday, July 9, 2012 - 16:24

HI. how would you go about getting nvda on the virtual machine without sighted assistance once windows is installed? On a mac keyboard which is the windows key? would windows u bring up narator so a screen reader can be installed independantly? thanks.

By Michael Hansen on Monday, July 9, 2012 - 16:24

Member of the AppleVis Editorial Team
Hi everyone, I've seen some discussion lately about running Windows on the Mac and different ways to do it. I personally love the superiority of Apple hardware and have to send my Windows laptop in for repair in the near future, so I thought I'd try the whole windows-on-Mac thing for myself. Yesterday (7/6/2012), I installed Windows 7 on my Mid-2011 11" Macbook Air. I installed Windows using Boot Camp because it seemed like a simpler option than trying to duel-boot using VMware Fusion. It is important to note that (1) you will need a fully-licensed copy of Windows (you can't use an "upgrade" license) and that (2) using Boot Camp does require sighted assistance for the Windows instalation, so if there is no sighted assistance available then VMware Fusion would probably be your best bet. The setup process was pretty straightforward overall. I followed a very helpful guide from Macworld entitled "How to use Boot Camp with Lion," which can be found at http://www.macworld.com/article/1165272/bootcamp.html. Apple does have their own Boot Camp guide, but I thought the one from Macworld was easier to follow. One of the mistakes I made during the instalation was not allowing enough hard drive space for Windows. When you install Windows on a Mac, Boot Camp creates a "partition" on your hard drive. Think of a partition as a virtual "wall" which separates your hard drive into two parts--one part for the Mac OS and one part for Windows. I have a 64 GB solid state drive, and in Boot Camp I only chose the default 20 GB for the Windows partition--just barely enough for Windows, iTunes, and JAWS with a couple gigs left over. When I go back and reinstall Windows, I am going to use as much space as I can for the Windows instalation.

By Dave Nason on Monday, July 9, 2012 - 16:24

Member of the AppleVis Editorial Team
Hi All, I've been considering this too. Has anyone tried the likes of Parallels? Rather than booting one OS or the other, it allows you to run both at the same time. But I don't know how VoiceOver and a Windows screen-reader would react. Can anyone help? Thanks