And, when using my favorite FTP utility Transmit, selecting “Open With” within it would result in an even longer delay and would ultimately present me with a list of apps containing duplicate entries of every app listed.

In wondering about what was causing this, I thought that it might have coincided with me beginning to use shared folders within VMware Fusion (sharing selected folders between my iMac and the Windows virtual drive). I had been doing this for a long while, but maybe one of the recent VMware updates changed something.

I similarly wondered about Transmit, and whether a recent update to it may have impacted the Finder utility by virtue of the way it “hooks into it.”

Then, I wondered if it could just have been upgrading to Snow Leopard 10.6 (or a subversion) itself, and I suspected this to be the more likely case.

Anyway, it got so aggravating that I looked for ways to fix it, and found a way to do so with the nice little utility Onyx.

As shown in the following figure, I chose the Finder part of the Parameters section of Onyx, and deselected almost all of the window animation settings (all were selected originally), and then changed the Menu Bar Background from transparent to Gray. That fixed it!

The problem with dual entries in Transmit’s “Open With” list still exists, though. I have used the Rebuild LauchServices feature available through the Maintenance tab of Onyx, but it just hasn’t done the trick. I may need to disable shared folders in VMware (since I really no longer use them anyway).

So, I’m back to being a happy camper again.

Note that this is something you may want to look into even if you are not seeing sluggish response in the Finder. If you have one of the newer Macs or Macbooks, the combination of faster processors and more RAM may be keeping you from seeing a problem. My iMac is almost 4 years old, has only one 2.16 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor and only 2 GB 667 MHz SDRAM. (It could be that I might not have seen much responsiveness change on a newer system.)

Regardless, I highly recommend that you grab a copy of the free utility Onyx, as it has a lot of nice features.

I’m sharing this experience in hopes that it might be useful to others.

While dealing with the failure of the Bootcamp partition took time and aggravated me, I ultimately wound up with a better situation than before the failure. I now have Parallels Desktop 4 running a Windows XP Pro virtual machine without using a Bootcamp partition. It is incredibly fast, and I am more satisfied running Windows this way than running a virtual machine that is based on a Bootcamp partition.

Note that the circumstances associated with the failure of my Boot Camp partition might not lead to a failure for someone else. For example, because I was using Parallels Desktop to import a VMware Fusion virtual machine when this happened does not mean that Parallels Desktop (or VMware Fusion) caused the partition failure. If this happened with a lot of people, then one might infer a causal relationship, but a single failure is not sufficient to infer cause. Hence, I would not consider the following to be a lesson learned: “do not use Parallels Desktop to import a VMware Fusion virtual machine that is based on an NTFS Boot Camp partition.”

What I would consider a lesson is If it’s not broke, don’t fix it. VMware Fusion was running fine with my NTFS Boot Camp partition. But, I had recently read a comparison of Parallels Desktop 4 and VMware Fusion 2, and Parallels Desktop was said to be much faster and to not use as much memory and cpu cycles. So, thinking it would be cool to have an even better Windows experience on my iMac, I decided to purchase and install the Parallels Desktop 4.0 upgrade package. (I already had version 3.0) I figured I would import my VMware settings, and then uninstall VMware Fusion and all would be right with the world.

Okay, so lesson number 2: read up on other’s experiences before you jump into something yourself. It turns out that others have had problems importing a virtual machine based on an NTFS-formatted Bootcamp partition. Some were ultimately successful, and many did not have as bad an experience as I did, but there is operating experience available on this that I did not read up on until after I had a problem.

Anyway, I installed Parallels Desktop 3 and activated it, then installed Parallels Desktop 4 and activated it (the only reason for installing version 3 was that I had an upgrade package that required the previous version to be installed). When the version 4 package tried to convert the virtual machine that version 3 created, it got about 15% of the way and said something like “this partition is not executable.” (I did not write down the exact message.) Since I really just wanted to import the VMware Fusion virtual machine, I did not think very much of this, although it turned out being a warning of things to come.

Then I tried importing the VMware Fusion virtual machine into Parallels. It too got maybe 15% of the way and then said something like “this partition is not executable.” So, I tried importing it again. Same result. Then, I decided to run the VMware Fusion virtual machine to at least see that it had not been harmed, and found out that it gave me the same message (or a similar one).

So, thinking that the import process had hosed the VMware VM, I had the bright idea that I would just recover the VMware VM from my Time Machine backups. I tried a backup from a couple of days before. No help. Then one from a week before. No help. Then an earlier one. Same result.

Then I started googling for help. One thing I saw in some forums was someone saying that Time Machine backups of virtual machines was not reliable. This was an unsubstantiated claim as far as I could tell, but interesting nonetheless. Another thing I saw was where someone said VMware stores a file type of 3 in its settings instead of a file type of 7 for NTFS, and that editing this would fix the problem. Since I couldn’t figure out for sure what they were talking about, I didn’t try this.

After reading, and fuming, for about an hour, I decided to just boot up straight into the Boot Camp partition and forget about the virtual machines for a while. I needed to do my taxes, and I figured I could just do them on the Boot Camp partition.

But, it gave me the same message (or a similar one) that the virtual machines had given me. So, it appeared to me that my VMs had not been hosed: my Bootcamp partition had.

So, I got out the Windows startup disk, used it to boot into the C drive and ran CHKDSK /R … it ran for a long while. When it finished and I attempted a reboot into Bootcamp, the reboot message was that I was missing a DLL file. So, I did the recovery disk thing again and recovered the missing DLL (using the expand command), and tried it again. It tried to boot, getting farther than it had before, but ultimately just hung up.

That’s when I decided to go ahead and get rid of the Bootcamp partition. But, before doing so, I wanted to at least get all of the data off the drive that I could, especially the tax files that I had started and my latest MS Money files. Fortunately, the Mac would let me access the drive, and I was able to copy all of the data files to a back up drive. So, even though the partition was not bootable, it was still readable.

Then, I wiped the Bootcamp partition and used Parallels Desktop 4 to install Windows afresh, with no Bootcamp partition (that is, strictly as a virtual machine). I’ve been very happy with this setup so far. Runs much faster than any other Windows setup I’ve had on the Mac before.

Now, in case you are thinking all of this is due to me having an NTFS formatting of the Bootcamp partition, I would caution that such a conclusion might not be true. It is possible, in my view, not being an expert, that this could have happened even if my Bootcamp partition had been FAT32. I do not know. I have not researched it and I am sure not going to experiment with it.

The fact that I had an NTFS partition is a data point, though, which you can consider as you do your own research regarding whatever your situation is or whatever arrangement you are thinking of trying. Actually, if I had to make an unscientific wild-ass guess, it would be that the Parallels Desktop version 3 somehow messed with my setup. But, again, that is just a UWAG.

One final note: I am not promoting Parallels Desktop over VMware Fusion, or vice versa. I’ve really had good experience with both, overall. Right now I am having a bit of difficulty with my printer and with Activesync using Parallels, though, and am wishing I had just stayed with VMware Fusion and hadn’t started down this rabbit hole.

I must say, this full backup surprised me a bit, in that I did not realize I had 35GB of stuff to backup: over 884,000 items. There are probably a lot of duplicates in that chunk of data that I can rid of, along with a lot of stuff I really no longer use. It’s probably time for some cleaning.

Until very recently I considered high-capacity drives to be overpriced. But, with the economy in the toilet, and with holiday specials, the prices are pretty good now. So, if you do not yet have a high-capacity drive for backups, you might want to think about grabbing one.

When I first set up a Bootcamp partition on my iMac, about a year and a half ago, I set it up to use the FAT32 file system. The advantage of doing so was that it enabled OSX to access files on the Bootcamp partition. I was not aware at the time of any disadvantage of FAT32, at least for my needs.

However, during the past month it seemed to me that Windows just kept getting slower, and I figured it was time to defragment the Bootcamp partition. But, in reading up on this, I learned that many people with the same configuration had run into several problems when defragging their FAT32 Bootcamp partitions, including making their partitions unusable.

Further reading revealed that the way around this is to convert the Windows file system to NTFS. Since both Parallels Desktop and the latest beta of VMware Fusion have tools that allow file sharing both ways (between Windows and OSX), there didn’t seem to me to be any downside to making the conversion. [Although Parallels and VMware Fusion allow you to create separate partitions, instead of using BootCamp, I preferred to have them use BootCamp: I figured "why waste space with another partition?"]

So, I updated a backup of my Windows My Documents folder, and got the nerve to do the conversion. I booted into Bootcamp (holding down the Option key when starting up my iMac), and ran the following command:


CONVERT C: /FS:NTFS


and selected the option to have it run the conversion at next startup. After booting back into Windows, the conversion was done in less than 5 minutes.

NOTE: The conversion is a one-way process. After you convert from FAT32 to NTFS, you cannot convert back to FAT32 (not without loss of data). So you need to ensure this is what you really want to do. It worked fine for me, as described below, and for many others, based on the research I’ve done. But it is permanent.

Then I ran the built-in Windows defrag tool. The tool showed that the partition was horribly fragmented (no surprise to me), so running the defrag was a good idea. After a bit of testing, it was clear to me that the defrag really improved the performance of Windows.

Then I booted back into OSX and attempted to run Windows via my existing VMware Fusion virtual machine. Oops! VMware Fusion would not run the new configuration, so I did some researching and found that I really needed to create a new Bootcamp virtual machine by deleting the %2Fdev%2Fdisk0 virtual machine settings under the /Library/Application Support/VMware Fusion/Virtual Machines/Bootcamp directory.

Doing so forced VMware Fusion to create a new Bootcamp virtual machine interface, but I had difficulty booting into it. I think this could have resolved if I had stuck with it, but instead I purchased Parallels Desktop, and lucked out by getting it at $20 off (not sure how long the sale lasts). It easily setup a virtual machine for the Bootcamp partition and I am very happy with how responsive Windows is on it. Of course, the first run of Windows (I use XP Pro SP3) required reactivating Windows, but that was painless. Update: I was later able to boot into Windows using VMware Fusion … installing the latest version, 2.0 instead of the 2.0beta I was using, appeared to help. I am pleased with this because I prefer VMware Fusion to Parallels.

Now I am happy with my Windows virtual machine again.

About 8 months after doing the NTFS conversion, I was doing something that messed up my Bootcamp partition. Whether the mess-up was in part attributable to the NTFS formatting, I do not know. But, for those who would like to know more, the details of this are provided here: lessons from a failed Boot Camp partion.

“Unity 2.0—Tighter Windows-Mac Integration: Building on Unity 1.0, you can now launch any Mac file with any of your Windows applications. Mirror your Mac and Windows special folders—like My Documents, Desktop, etc. Custom keyboard mapping between Mac keyboard and virtual machines.”

My problem was with the mirroring of documents. Specifically, I set up VMware Fusion so that my iMac’s Desktop and Documents folders could be accessed via the Windows XP virtual machine of VMware Fusion. Oh, it worked. But it slowed the Windows system to a crawl, and a few reboots did not improve the situation. The main slowness was in trying to open the iMac’s Desktop and Documents folders. It would open them, but it was slow and painful.

Once I undid the settings, the Windows virtual machine became responsive again.

It could be that this problem only occurs with the settings I have. Specifically, I first installed, long ago, Windows XP on a Bootcamp partition on my iMac. It was not a virtual machine implementation: it was a dual boot, with the Windows partition using a FAT32 file system and a 32GB drive. (For the iMac to access the Windows folders, the formatting has to be FAT32 and can be no larger than 32GB.)

When VMware Fusion became available, I installed it and let it overtake my Bootcamp partition, so I could run OSX and Windows simultaneously. No complaints about that. I love how well it has worked, and VMware Fusion is one of my favorite products.

But, it could be that this arrangement is not the best one for allowing Windows to access the Mac files. What might work better is for me to use the migration tool within VMware Fusion to set up a separate Windows virtual machine, one that uses the NTFS file system. I could migrate all of my programs and settings over, and this might work better.

However, my current solution is to just forget about the mirroring feature, and just use the rest of the beta. I really do not need the mirroring feature. I could already use my iMac to open files on the Windows partition, and I have used that, but I really do not have a need to open a Mac file in the Windows system. If that need were to arise, I could just gmail the document to myself, copy it to my Amazon S3 shared folders, or copy it an external drive accessible by OSX and Windows.

Now, to the other new features. There are several:

• Safety Features for your VM: Take and manage multiple snapshots of your virtual machines. Use AutoProtect, or automated, timed snapshots of your running virtual machine to protect your VM from unexpected bumps in the road.
• Video and Usability: Great 3D support gets better and more stable. CPU usage is thinner and lighter. 1080p High Definition video runs near natively in VMs, while VMs now integrate with Mac OS X Leopard’s “QuickLook.” Status bars and the Fusion icon glow to signify activity, and Fusion 2.0 increases it market leadership and uses even less of your Macs valuable resources.
• Power Tools—In addition to multiple snapshots, VMware Fusion now allows up to four virtual CPUs on a VM, Mac OS X Server in a virtual machine, and support for VMrun command line scripting, showing more flashes of its datacenter lineage.

To access it, all you have to do is select the Software Update from your main menu. Once it checks and confirms that an update is available for you, you will see a link that describes the upgrade. (Several security fixes and a number of bug fixes for Airport, iCal, and Safari.)

After the update, it might also be a good idea to clean your system up a bit. As I’ve mentioned before, I like the freeware OnyX for doing a periodic cleanup of my iMac.

Although my iMac is only a year and a half old, and still runs mighty well, I have been wondering if I could tweak it a bit more by using iDefrag. I have seen some problem reports suggesting that it cobbles a Bootcamp or VMware partition, though, so I am hesitant to try it out without some assurance that it won’t hose my Windows boot-ability. Any of you have experience with it in this area?

• Team Fusion

Several of you will find this blog to be very interesting, since, like me, you have multiple operating systems. I personally know of no better way to run Windows than to run it as a virtual machine on my iMac using VMware Fusion.

The blog’s sidebar notes that the purpose of the blog is

A blog about virtualization on the Mac platform, and how it’s changing the way people interact with their Macs, PCs, and more. From the team that brought you VMware Fusion, the most seamless way to run Windows on your Mac.

They already have several great articles up, including a demo video which is to be followed by others. Look for this to be a great how-to resource.

I also learned from their blog that VMware Fusion was named an “Editor’s Pick Best of 2007″ by Amazon.com … that is impressive. Regular readers know that I am personally impressed with VMware Fusion, and consider it one of my best software purchases, ever. Clearly I am not alone in that view.

I have already subscribed this great new blog, and encourage you to do so as well.

They tell me it has about 15 bugs fixes, which surprised me because I didn’t know it had 15 bugs. It works great for me.

But the big change is that it now remaps the keys within your Windows Virtual Machine so that you can use the native Mac keyboard shortcuts (such as Command C) instead of the native Windows’ ones (such as Control C). Might not seem like a big deal, but it is something I have longed for: I hate having to remember to use different shortcut keys for copying and pasting when using a program within the Windows Virtual Machine. Now I don’t have to. So, I really appreciate this change.

Perhaps next they can make the numeric keypad on my keyboard work within Windows.

VMware Fusion is one of the best software purchases I ever made. I love being able to access Outlook while I am working within my Mac, and the Unity Mode of VMware Fusion makes it so easy to do so. And, I can copy and paste material from a Mac program into Outlook and vice versa. Here’s a snapshot of Outlook residing within my Dock on my iMac (see right side of picture):

Kewl, huh?

But, interestingly, perhaps ironically, I have decided to choose today to start back tinkering with my Ubuntu distribution. I have not fooled with it at all in at least six months, and it is woefully out of date, as are my Linux skills.

Despite my platform agnosticism I have been spending almost all of my computer time on my iMac. (I periodically boot into Windows, but seldom spend more than 30 minutes a day on it.)

Time to remedy that and spread it out some. It will help me be more technically competent all the way around, and may help me generate a couple of good articles for you that I might otherwise never think of.

Anyway, it has been so very long since I have done anything serious with Linux that I would love some pointers from you guys on the best book(s) to buy. I know there are some Ubuntu-specific books I could get, and I am open to suggestions on which are the best, but a good overall Linux book would probably be good for me, too. Recommendations appreciated.

One final I am wondering: have any of you used VMware Fusion to set up a Linux mount on your Mac? Right now I have Ubuntu mounted as a dual boot with Windows XP Pro on my laptop, but am wondering how well it would work on my iMac.