Test Drive Windows 8 Release Candidate on Your iPad with Parallels Mobile

It may no longer be referred to as "Metro" style, but Microsoft is refusing to give up on its tiled user interface when Windows 8 debuts in October. Curious about how it might work on the company's own Surface tablet? You can get a taste of it on a tablet today thanks to Parallels Desktop 7.

Microsoft won't be releasing Windows 8 until October 26, but thanks to the free Windows 8 Release Preview, the radically changed operating system is available for everyone to download and poke around with before having to fork over $39.99 for an upgrade.

Of course, most of the excitement surrounding Windows 8 comes from the user interface formerly known as Metro -- no longer Windows as we've known it, the new look uses a tiled design which tucks the classic Desktop neatly away for most users.

What's driving Microsoft's radical decision is undoubtedly the success of the iPad. Rather than simply ape iOS, Redmond has chosen to roll the dice and put its tiled future into one basket capable of running on legacy PCs with Intel processors as well as ARM-powered tablets (not to mention smartphones via Windows Phone 8).

Although there aren't yet any ARM-powered tablets from which to run Windows 8, we can get a pretty good idea of what the experience will be like right now thanks to the iPad, Parallels Desktop 7 and the Parallels Mobile iOS app.

Get Your Mac Ready

First you'll need a copy of Parallels Desktop 7 for Mac, which is available directly from the Parallels website for $79.99 ($49.99 for upgrades from Parallels Desktop 5 or later). Now is a great time to buy if you haven't already, since the company is throwing in an upgrade to the next major version at no additional charge.

After installing Parallels Desktop 7, you'll be prompted to create a New Virtual Machine. At the middle left is an option to "Download Windows 8 Free," which is the option you're looking for. Select it and click Continue.

You'll be offered a list of available language choices -- for most of us that will be English (the first one), so select it and click Continue again.

Parallels Desktop will fill in the required product key (which is the same for everyone using the Release Preview) and for most of us, select a 64-bit Express installation. Click Continue.

You'll now be asked whether you want Windows 8 to act like a Mac or a PC; the default is "Like a PC," which keeps your Windows environment in its own Finder window. Since we want to run it from the iPad, this is the desired choice. Click Continue.

You'll now be presented with the option to rename your Windows 8 virtual machine and select where you want it installed (such as an external hard drive, so it won't take up space on your boot disk). Tweak these to your liking, then click Continue.

Parallels Wizard will now download and install Windows 8, which will appear as a virtual machine alongside any others you already have set up.

Parallels Mobile Setup

Before installing the Parallels Mobile app on your iPad, head to Parallels Desktop > Preferences and click on the Mobile tab.

Here you'll want to enter your email address and password used with your Parallels account, which will make your Mac -- as well as all of its available virtual machines -- available to the mobile app. Be sure to check "Connect Parallels Mobile directly to my Mac" at the bottom to enable direct access to your virtual machines.

Next, head to the App Store and purchase the $4.99 Parallels Mobile (and do it quick -- the app will go back up to its standard price of $19.99 anytime now).

This universal app is your gateway to Windows 8 on the iPad: Simply enter the same email and password used for your Parallels account and within moments, you'll see the computer appear with your Parallels Desktop 7 installation, with a list of any virtual machines that can be accessed from it.

Windows 8 on the iPad

Now, even if Parallels Desktop 7 for Mac is closed, iPad users can access the the virtual machines it uses while on the same local Wi-Fi network, complete with sound, gestures and touch-enabled mouse clicks.

If you're using a Retina Display-equipped new iPad, you may not get the best tablet experience with Windows 8 at first launch. Although Parallels Desktop 7 for Mac doesn't yet fully support hiDPI resolutions inside guest operating systems, a few tweaks on the Windows side will get things looking sharper and optimized for the iPad's Retina Display.

From the tiled Start screen, tap on Desktop -- this will return you to the classic Windows 7-style desktop many of us know and love. Tap and hold, which is the Windows equivalent of a right-click. Select "Screen resolution."

From the Resolution pulldown menu, select 2048 x 1536, which will perfectly match your Retina iPad display. Tap Apply to commit the change, then "Keep changes" when asked if you're happy with the change.

Next, tap "Make text and other items larger or smaller." From here you can select "Large - 150%" which will increase the size of on-screen elements to make them fit better with the higher resolution. Another option is to tap "Custom sizing options" and manually enter 175 percent from the pulldown menu, then tap OK. This will optimize the Windows 8 desktop for the iPad.

Tap Apply; you'll need to sign out to commit this change, so tap "Sign out now" to do so.

Your Windows 8 virtual machine will restart (you may need to enter your account password again) and you can now dig into all of the goodness Microsoft has in store for PC and tablet users this fall.

There are a few caveats with this solution -- you'll have to dial back the resolution settings when using Windows 8 on your Mac, otherwise the text will look too large and the display won't quite handle the additional screen size. MacBook Pro with Retina Display users will have less of an issue here, of course.

Also, while the Windows 8 desktop will look good this way, the tiled Start menu may appear to small. Feel free to tweak the resolution settings until they're exactly the way you want them (1920 x 1440 is a nice compromise that keeps both screens looking pretty good.)

One final tip for using Windows 8 on your iPad: The new charms menu can be a bit of a nightmare to access via Parallels. This is where a handy keyboard shortcut comes into play! Tap the keyboard icon in the top menu bar, tap the Cmd (Command) modifier key and the "C" key and up pops the charms menu from the right side of the screen, ready for you to access.

Follow this article's author, J.R. Bookwalter on Twitter

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Original Page: http://www.maclife.com/article/howtos/test_drive_windows_8_release_candidate_your_ipad_parallels_mobile

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Regards,

Derik Chan