How do I install Microsoft Windows Vista in Parallels 3?

I have the very same configuration you do and I can tell you that Vista runs great on my MacBook Pro. My specific config is Mac OS X 10.4.9, 2GB of SDRAM and a 2.33Ghz Intel Core Duo CPU. I also have lots of disk space on my MacBook, which is good, because Vista needs it! Finally, I also have a very nice transparent plastic Speck MacBook cover to keep my laptop spit-spot, but that's another story.

As soon as Parallels 3.0 was released, I took advantage of the upgrade to also finally install Vista on my Apple computer, so I can share with you every single step required to get it working, from the proverbial soup to nuts. I also installed Vista Home Premium as my reference OS though I am led to believe that its license terms actually prohibit it being run in a virtualization environment. Microsoft, you can sue me now if you want, but really, what a goofy restriction!

The first step on this rather long journey is to ensure that you have a copy of Vista and have installed the very latest version of Parallels from their site. Now launch the "Parallels OS Install Assistant" and follow along:

You can manually install Vista and go through all the many steps required or you can let Parallels do the work for you -- which I recommend -- by selecting "Windows Express". Next you get to choose which of the two operating systems Wndows Express supports, either Windows XP or Windows Vista:

It wouldn't be a software installation without a forty-seven character random key that you have to enter exactly right, but at least here Parallels is asking for the key so it can automatically feed it to the Vista installation process at the right moment:

Almost ready to put that Microsoft DVD into the drive. Next up it's time to name the Parallels partition for Vista. It suggests "Microsoft Windows Vista", but that's too long, so I shortened it:

Now here's a big one: when you have both Vista running within Parallels and other Mac applications running in Mac OS X, do you want to give Vista the nod as more important, or do you want to have your Mac apps run faster, even at the possible cost of performance on the Vista side?

I always have the virtual OS get priority because it's easy in Parallels to pause a running OS, which then gives 100% of your computer back to Mac OS X on demand. You might opt otherwise, and you can also change it later if you find it isn't to your liking.

And, finally, it's time to insert the Vista installation DVD and let Parallels do all the work while you use another app (like your Web browser) to see what's going on:

I didn't time the full installation but I would estimate it took about 40 minutes or so, and undoubtedly some of that time was spent waiting for me to approve foreign drivers, as we'll see in a moment.

After a short while of watching text march past first a blue screen than a black screen, I got the lovely Vista desktop and was in the proper Vista installer:

What's that? Not quite ready for all the glorious technicolor of the 21st century? No problem, Vista still has white text on a black screen like all retro 70's operating systems should have:

More chugging along with the install, back in color:

Some time later, Vista will be fully installed and it'll be time to install Parallels Tools for Vista, a vital step to have things work smoothly:

Tip: I have had Parallels stall out on installing its tools in the past, in which case you should select "Stop Installing Parallels Tools" from the Actions menu, then choose "Install Parallels Tools..." from the same menu.

Here's a critical second notice from the Parallels system that you see after a moment or two:

Sure enough, you'll see plenty of these unverified driver warnings that tell you, correctly, that Microsoft can't verify the publisher of the individual Parallels drivers:

In all cases, click on the second option, "Install this driver software anyway", to approve and allow the installation of the unsigned driver. It's okay, trust us. :)

Finally, much time passes, the disk grinds, the DVD player spins, and we reboot into a full installation of Windows Vista in the Parallels universe on my Mac:

Very nice! This is unquestionably a must-have application for your Intel Mac.

(Want to install Windows XP instead? See my earlier tutorial Installing Windows XP in Parallels Desktop Mac)