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Table Of Contents
Getting Started with Fusion 2
With Fusion, you can run personal computer (PC) applications and devices on your Intel-based Mac.
Designed for the Mac user, Fusion takes advantage of the security, flexibility, and portability of virtual
machines to run Windows and other x86 operating systems at the same time as Mac OS X.
This chapter includes the following topics:
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“About VMware Fusion,” on page 13
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“About VMware Fusion Pro,” on page 14
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“System Requirements for Fusion,” on page 14
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“Install Fusion,” on page 14
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“Start Fusion,” on page 15
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“How-to Videos,” on page 15
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“Take Advantage of Fusion Online Resources,” on page 15
About VMware Fusion
Take a quick look at what Fusion does and how it works.
What Fusion Does
Fusion enables you to run your Windows applications and PC-only devices on your Intel-based Mac. You
can run multiple operating systems and applications at the same time, along with your Mac applications.
The operating systems and applications are isolated in secure virtual machines.
How Fusion Works
Fusion maps the physical hardware resources to the virtual machine’s resources, so each virtual machine
has its own processor, memory, disks, I/O devices and so on. Each virtual machine is the full equivalent of a
standard x86 computer, although it is represented in a single file package on the Mac.
After you install Fusion and create a virtual machine, you can install and run complete, unmodified
operating systems, and associated application software in the virtual machine, just as on a physical PC.
Operating systems you can use include Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X. Fusion offers the benefits of having
a second PC without its added expense, physical setup, and maintenance.
The operating system of the computer on which you run Fusion is called the host. Mac OS X and Mac OS X
Server are the only hosts supported for Fusion. The virtualized operating system you run inside Fusion is
called the guest.
VMware, Inc.
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