VM for running Visual Studio on a Mac

1

Hi all

Just upgraded my Mac and looking to get Windows and VS running on it. I’ve used VirtualBox before but never with Visual Studio. Is it a good option or should I look at Parallels instead?

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Yes, it works pretty well. I use a MacBook running Parallels, and use Parallels to access my code via a shared folder. Not the world’s fastest way to use Windows, but very convenient.

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Yep I prefer Parallels as well and this is actually how I do all of my Windows development/testing for JUCE. I personally don’t access the code via a shared folder because sometimes Windows messes up line endings, permissions, etc. but I guess that’s a matter of taste.

VS runs fast enough to be useable if you have a fast up-to-date Mac. You could also install Windows natively using BootCamp, I guess VS could run faster then, but then you’d lose the ability to easily share files with the Mac world which I find really useful.

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I also use Parallels and it works very well… but be aware you’ll have to upgrade it every year and the previous version mysteriously seems to slow down a few months after a new version is released (but maybe that’s my imagination :slight_smile: ).

Rail

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I’m using VirtualBox and it works great with Visual Studio (2013, 2015) on Windows (XP, 7, 8, 10). Like jules I use shared folders. I also use Little Snitch to provide the Windows VM with very restricted network access.

VirtualBox has improved over the last 2 years tremendously.

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Thanks all I’ll prob give VirtualBox a try as I’ve used it before and if I need more check out Parallels.