Reco for iMac setup - dual OS or vm

[tselog]

Hi all. I just want to get your input on how to setup my iMac.

I upgraded to a new-to-me iMac (27-in Mid 2010). I upgraded it from Yosemite to Sierra. I had an older iMac (20-in iMac 2007) running Snow Leopard that crapped out, which had Office 2008, Adobe CS2 Premium, and Adobe Acrobat 8 Pro. I use these programs heavily and often (for school). I want to be able to keep using these programs, but I think these cannot install and/or run on Sierra.

Without buying the new versions of these programs, I suppose I have a few options:

Option 1. Do a fresh install of Yosemite, install Office 2008, Adobe CS2, and Acrobat 8 Pro.

Option 2. Partition my boot drive (1TB) to 2x 500GB (or more?) and install Mavericks/Yosemite and install Office 2008, Adobe CS2, and Acrobat 8 Pro on the lower OS? This means I will have Sierra boot without the programs I use, and Yosemite boot with these programs.

Option 3. Install VirtualBox or some VM ware on Sierra, run Yosemite in VM, and install Office, CS2, and Acrobat 8 in the virtual machine.

I have the least experience with vm, so I am a bit hesitant to go through this option. But I will do it if it is highly recommended.

Or if you have any other suggestions. Thank you in advance for your help.

-Lon

 

[jasnw]

If you're happy with Sierra I'd suggest the VM option. It's a lot easier than the dual-boot option, and you won't need to repartition your HD. I did a quick google and found this article (link) about putting Snow Leopard inside a VM on Lifewire. You'll need to buy/install a VM, or install one of the free/share-ware VMs, (I use VMware Fusion) but after a bit of a learning curve I think you'll be much happier than a dual-boot setup.

 

[nambuccaheadsau]

Check this for what will or may work:-

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/macos-sierra-10-12-compatible-apps.1977335/ Sierra.

 

[sfca]

Hello, Lonnie. Please let me know what worked for you.

I am in a similar situation. I also have an iMac Mid 2010 running Sierra. Prior to this, I had an old MacBook with Office 2008, which finally crapped out. I figured it should be fine for me to install Office 2008 on my iMac, since I am no longer using it on my laptop (where it was originally installed).

I tried using Oracle's VirtualBox, and installed Yosemite and Office 2008 successfully. But I can't seem to resize the window; it is stuck on a low resolution (1024 x 768 I think) and the window will not adjust when I resize. This limits the document size I can view, which is not optimal.

Any help would be appreciated.

 

[hfg]

On my iMac, I have the SSD partitioned with a dual-boot Windows 10 partition and OS X Sierra. In OS X, I also run VMware "Fusion" virtual machine using the bootable Windows installation. Thus I can run the same environment both as a virtual machine in a OS X window, or boot to Windows for best performance. I like the flexibility this gives and a single installation saves disk space and activation issues.

 

[tselog]

I also had the same problem using VirtualBox. So my setup is as follows: I am running Snow Leopard (to install and run CS2) and Yosemite to install Office 2008 and Acrobat 8 Pro. When I try to resize the window for either boot, the resolution stays the same, and does not adjust to the new window size. I've looked up this issue, and it looks like other people also have resolution issues when installing on a Mac. I will look into VMware Fusion next, since it seems to work for jasnw and hfg.

-Lon

 

[kschendel]

The VirtualBox inability to resize might be because the VirtualBox Guest Additions weren't installed in the guest OS. At least, that would be the answer for Linux guests. I've never tried an OS X guest in VirtualBox.

 

[Fishrrman]

I'd suggest you partition the boot drive.
Fewer problems than with virtual machines.

Or... (and this will work as well)
Create an "external booter".
Of course the boot speeds will be slower, but again, you'll have a "native" (non VM) boot to work with.