This tutorial is for anyone with an Intel based Mac who would like to install Longhorn Reloaded, and has about an hour to kill (not including the time it takes to download Longhorn Reloaded).
The steps and screenshots used for this tutorial are specific to VMWare Fusion version 1.0b3 (43733) running on a MacBook Pro w/ OS X (10.4.9). With that said, they will be nearly identical if you have a Mac Pro, Mac Mini, MacBook or any other Intel based Apple Mac.
VMWare Fusion is a virtualizer, or as they put it, “the best way to run Windows on your Intel-based Mac”. It’s currently in beta, and free, but that will almost certainly change at some point in the future. Sign up for the beta and download VMWare Fusion here.
Note: I spent about 3 hours trying various configurations to get Longhorn Reloaded working in Parallels. Though I was able to get it up and running, I couldn’t get the color settings higher than 4bit, or a screen resolution higher than 640×480. With VMWare Fusion it worked on the first try.
- Launch VMWare Fusion and select click the New… button.
- Review the Introduction screen and click Continue.
- Select Microsoft Windows as the Operating System: and Windows Longhorn (experimental) as the Version:.
- In the Save As: area, enter a name. It doesn’t matter what you call it, but something descriptive is a good idea. If you wish, you can change the default save location (Where:), but it’s not necessary.
- Choose a size for your Disk size:. I’m not sure what the minimum size you can specify and still have a working OS is, but I would suggest 9GB. Once you’ve made a decision, click Continue.
- Select Use Easy Install: and enter the user name and password you want to use in Windows. Enter your product key in the space provided. If you wish to make your home folder in OS X accessible to Windows Longhorn Reloaded, place a check in the box labeled Enable file sharing. Click Continue.
- Make sure that Start virtual machine and install operating system now remains selected. If you’re installing/booting Longhorn Reloaded from a CD, leave the default Use operating system installation disc checked. If you’re using an .iso file (as I do in this example), select Use operating system installation disc image file: and then choose Other… from the drop-down menu. Navigate to the .iso file and select it. Finally, click Finish.
- Watch as Longhorn Reloaded boots.
- The install will begin automatically. You may want to go get a cup of coffee at this point, as it can take a while. Or, you can sit and watch the sometimes entertaining overview windows.
- After the installation has completed, Windows Longhorn will reboot on its own. At this point, VMWare Tools will start to install itself.
- You’ll be prompted a number of times to install drivers. Click Install now each time.
- Don’t be surprised if one of the driver packages fails to install. If this happens, just click Cancel and the other drivers will continue to install.
- Windows will reboot again.
- Watch the pretty boot screen…
- And start using Longhorn Reloaded. At this point you’re done, but you may want to continue reading for some additional thoughts/comments.
- Don’t be shocked if Explorer crashes fairly often. I’m not sure if this is related to Longhorn Reloaded running in VMWare, or that Longhorn Reloaded is in a beta status. Either way, just click Cancel when it happens and explorer will relaunch.
- At some point when Longhorn Reloaded is powered off, you’ll want to change your CD-ROM from an .iso file to the drive itself. To do so, select the Settings button from the top toolbar in VMWare Fusion.
- Select the CD-ROM entry from the left window, and place a check in the box labeled Automatically detect physical CD-ROM. Then click Apply.
- I still can’t get sound to work in Longhorn Reloaded (while running in VMWare Fusion). If you figure it out, by all means please leave a comment below and I’ll update the tutorial (giving you credit of course).
I couldn’t get sound to work either, but otherwise a great tutorial. Thanks!