8.1

Understanding Fusion 3
Fusion harnesses virtualization to give you a powerful tool to run PC applications and devices on your Mac.
This chapter includes the following topics:
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“Virtual Machines and What Fusion Can Do,” on page 17
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“Navigating and Taking Action by Using the Fusion Interface,” on page 21
Virtual Machines and What Fusion Can Do
With Fusion, you can run virtual machines inside your Mac, which gives you access to a wide range of
Windows and other x86 operating systems and applications.
What Is a Virtual Machine?
A virtual machine is a software computer that, like a physical computer, runs an operating system and
applications.
A virtual machine typically contains a display, a hard disk or disks, one or more processors, memory, a
CD/DVD drive, a network adapter, and a USB controller. All of these components are virtualized. That is,
these elements of a virtual machine are all created by software and stored in files on your Mac.
The virtual machine runs in a window on your Intel-based Mac. You install an operating system and
applications in the virtual machine and operate it as you would a physical computer. An operating system
cannot distinguish between a virtual machine and a physical machine, nor can applications or other
computers on a network. What you can do with a physical machine (install software, save files, add
additional drives, and so on) you can do with a virtual machine.
Virtual machines are fully supported by Fusion with the underlying physical hardware. For example, you
can configure a virtual machine with virtual components that are completely different from the physical
components that are present on the underlying hardware. Virtual machines on the same physical host can
run different kinds of operating systems (Windows, Linux, Mac OS X, and others).
Fusion Capabilities
With Fusion, you can create, open, and run VMware virtual machines, and use PC-specific hardware with a
Mac.
With Fusion, you can perform the following tasks:
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Run x86 operating systems, including Windows, Linux, Mac OS X Server, and others, on Mac OS X
without rebooting.
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Run Windows and Linux applications on your Intel-based Mac.
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Run most Windows 3D applications that require DirectX 9 or DirectX 10 on your Mac.
VMware, Inc.
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