Using Windows Virtualization on Mac for Outlook Use
Hello,
I have a user that uses a Mac Pro for all of her office work. We, however, use Microsoft Exchange for out email. She doesn't like the way Entourage or Maill.app handle her email so she asked if it was possible for her to remotely connect to our office server and use Outlook from there. Are there any other programs out there besides Microsoft Remote Desktop Connection that allow a user using a mac to remote in and act as if one of their screens is another computer and go back and forth between the different screens (one as a mac and one as the pc)? I remember reading about something like this in a magazine, but can't find where I had found it. Also, the user has multiple monitors on her computer. I thought about using VMware or Parallels, but it is very resource heavy. I have tried it in the past and it just slows everything down.
Thanks for any help!!
I have a user that uses a Mac Pro for all of her office work. We, however, use Microsoft Exchange for out email. She doesn't like the way Entourage or Maill.app handle her email so she asked if it was possible for her to remotely connect to our office server and use Outlook from there. Are there any other programs out there besides Microsoft Remote Desktop Connection that allow a user using a mac to remote in and act as if one of their screens is another computer and go back and forth between the different screens (one as a mac and one as the pc)? I remember reading about something like this in a magazine, but can't find where I had found it. Also, the user has multiple monitors on her computer. I thought about using VMware or Parallels, but it is very resource heavy. I have tried it in the past and it just slows everything down.
Thanks for any help!!
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@aktharchowdhury:
On our server, we have it set to be constantly pulling and syncing files from users computers, so everything on her mac would be in a folder on the server. As for the webmail client, when you don't use Internet Explorer to access it, it disables about half of the features and goes into "Lite" mode.
@nappy_d:
As I said, I have tried both VMWare and Parallels and both are such resource hogs that we just stopped using them. I have tried that feature on Parallels and it does work well, but again, just too slow.
I have been using RDC for a while and it actually seems to be working well. It really isn't going as slowly as I thought it would. Are there any other VNC type programs that would be better for this?
On our server, we have it set to be constantly pulling and syncing files from users computers, so everything on her mac would be in a folder on the server. As for the webmail client, when you don't use Internet Explorer to access it, it disables about half of the features and goes into "Lite" mode.
@nappy_d:
As I said, I have tried both VMWare and Parallels and both are such resource hogs that we just stopped using them. I have tried that feature on Parallels and it does work well, but again, just too slow.
I have been using RDC for a while and it actually seems to be working well. It really isn't going as slowly as I thought it would. Are there any other VNC type programs that would be better for this?
Parallels and Fusion are two different products. You should at least give Fusion a try. I run this on my Macbook Pro with 512MB of RAM allocated to Fusion for my XP guest OS. Also diasble spotlight from cataloging the Fusion directories.
You get a 30day tril with Fusion, what's it gonna hurt?
Also Remote Desktop Client will not allow your user to view their email offline(cached mode).
You get a 30day tril with Fusion, what's it gonna hurt?
Also Remote Desktop Client will not allow your user to view their email offline(cached mode).
ASKER
Why is VMWare fusion better? Does it consume less resources than Parallels? I would certainly give this a try (I even think our company has a license somewhere for it), just from my previous experience, it has slowed down the system greatly.
Is 512MB ram good enough for just running outlook? The only thing I like about RDC is that you can set it to only open a certain program, so it will only open outlook and not even explorer.exe and it goes much, much faster.
Is 512MB ram good enough for just running outlook? The only thing I like about RDC is that you can set it to only open a certain program, so it will only open outlook and not even explorer.exe and it goes much, much faster.
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That is what I am doing now and it seems to be working fine as well. Is there any downside to doing this versus VMWare or vise versa?
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Also, from what I am reading Parallels is faster and speedier than VMWare...
http://gizmodo.com/5167056/vmware-fusion-vs-parallels-desktop-for-mac-which-is-faster
http://gizmodo.com/5167056/vmware-fusion-vs-parallels-desktop-for-mac-which-is-faster
I am basing this purely from experience and day to day usage. Give it a try and judge for yourself.
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nappy_d:
VMWare seems to be working alright. The only problem I am having is accessing shares on my network by using the hostname.
For example, to access my file server, I type \\dctnetworks\fileshareher
VMWare seems to be working alright. The only problem I am having is accessing shares on my network by using the hostname.
For example, to access my file server, I type \\dctnetworks\fileshareher
This has to do with DNS. Your Fusion machine is not performing lookups to the proper DNS server or your DNS Servers are having issues.
ASKER
How would I fix that?
1. Make sure you have installed VMWare Tools.
2. Try setting your VMWare network interface to Bridge rather than NAT.
2. Try setting your VMWare network interface to Bridge rather than NAT.
ASKER
Thanks to all of you for your solutions! My user (and me at some point) will be using both RDC over VPN with the laptop and VMWare with the mac pro.
Also, switching to Bridge made the hostnames work.
Thanks for all your help!
Also, switching to Bridge made the hostnames work.
Thanks for all your help!
Perhaps you can use the webmail client (Exchange 2007's version is pretty decent). Alternatively, having her mac run a virtual windows XP might work (but you mentioned that was too slow). Otherwise, you'd be looking at a Citrix setup and presenting her a published outlook app. Not too cheap for 1 user.