I'm sending this message using Windows Internet Explorer (64-bit) running on Windows 7 (64-bit) on VMware Fusion 3 on Snow Leopard 10.6.2. It is satisfying to have finally arrived at this point after a struggle lasting several hours. In an effort to spare others the same stress, I warn you to leave the default settings alone during installation. The installation app offers an opportunity to change things. I increased the number of cores accessible to Windows and also the amount of RAM. After experiencing three installation failures, I uninstalled Fusion 3 and Windows 7 and decided to just leave all settings as is during installation. It went smoothly. This smooth installation took 59 minutes start to finish. The main reason for the long installation is that a Fusion application update runs 16 minutes as soon as Fusion 3 finishes downloading.
Another warning: The tape that shows installation progress goes blank until about 94MB of data have been installed. Then you start to see the tape. I thought the installer had frozen until I noticed that my cable modem was very active. Checking Activity Monitor confirmed that the network and disk activity were both very active. The temptation is to shut down and start over.
After the installation is complete, the settings can be adjusted without a problem. You have to go to Virtual Machine>Shut Down. This shuts Windows down while the settings are adjusted. You then click on a startup icon to reactivate Windows 7.
One last warning: At one point at the end of the installation, Fusion 3 offers to download a complimentary one year subscription to McAfee. I accepted that offer, and the machine acted like it was doing something, but, when the installation was over, I couldn't find McAfee anywhere. I then went to their web site and purchased my own copy which installed correctly and functions well. They're having a sale right now.
After going through hell all afternoon, the final result is really quite good. At present, I'm pleased with the functioning of VMware Fusion 3 and with Windows 7 (64-bit). It's the easiest, simplest version of Windows I've ever used and I used three of its predecessors (not Vista). Notwithstanding this praise, I still highly prefer the Mac. As they say, it just works. 10.6.2 is as smooth as glass for me and very quick. I hope this report is helpful to someone.
Last edited by JoBoy; 11/15/09 05:28 AM.
