In this week's installment of our Take Control of VMware Fusion 2 blog series, we are going to talk about installing Boot Camp drivers in your Windows virtual machine. If you are new to the series, the ebook Take Control of VMware Fusion 2 by Joe Kissell, teaches you all the fundamentals of VMware Fusion 2, as well as tips and tricks to get the most out of running Windows on your Mac.
Here is this week's excerpt from Joe Kissell's new book Take Control of VMware Fusion 2:
INSTALL BOOT CAMP DRIVERS
The VMware Tools package includes drivers for most of the Mac hard-ware that Windows will use when running in a virtual machine, with a few notable exceptions—particularly Apple’s proprietary devices that use USB internally, including iSight cameras, Bluetooth transceivers, and the infrared port used for the Apple Remote. Drivers for these devices are available only from Apple, and only as part of the Boot Camp driver package (included on your Leopard Install DVD—you can’t download them separately).
So, if you want Windows applications to be able to access your iSight camera or Apple Remote directly, or if you want to use Bluetooth devices such as headsets or PDAs in Windows without going through Mac OS X, you’ll need these drivers. (If you’re already using a Bluetooth mouse or keyboard in Mac OS X, you can continue using it in Windows without any additional drivers.) If you don’t plan to use any of these devices in Windows, you can skip this section.
To install the Boot Camp drivers under Windows:
1. With Windows running in Fusion, insert your Leopard Install DVD. The Boot Camp installer should run automatically.
Auto repair: If the installer doesn’t run, check if the virtual CD/DVD drive is in use. To do this, open the Virtual Machine > CD/DVD menu. If Disconnect CD/DVD is enabled, select it. That should cause the Boot Camp installer to run; if not, choose Start > (My) Computer and double-click the DVD icon.
2. Follow the onscreen instructions to install the software.
3. You’ll be prompted to restart Windows when the installer finishes.
After your virtual machine has restarted, you can use your iSight camera (see the section “Connect and Disconnect Devices”), Apple Remote, or Bluetooth devices from within Windows. (To learn about using USB devices, read the section “USB Device Settings.”)
To learn more about the book Take Control of VMware Fusion 2, or buy it, click here.
