[Mac User #001]

Can you use BootCamp for gaming on a Mac and then while in OS X, use Parallels to access that same Windows partition?

[C.A.T.S. CEO]

Yes.

[Mac User #001]

Thanks. Is there anything you need to do to make this happen? Or is it as simple as installing the two?

[ghporter]

When you set up your Parallels VM, tell it to use the existing Boot Camp installation. It thinks about this for a bit, then does it.

There is an interesting side effect: when Parallels starts booting the Boot Camp-based VM, it unmounts your Boot Camp partition (and you'll probably have to give it a password). It remounts that partition when you quit Parallels (maybe when you shut down the VM) so it's no big deal, but it can be startling when you see it for the first time.

[Mike the Knife]

Also, you might get an error msg that says "Unable to boot image Boot Camp". If that happens, try again and it should work on your second try.

[Mac User #001]

Thanks. And thanks for letting me know about the side effect.

[mac128k-1984]

Also if you're trying this Vista Its not going to work (Yet) parallels only supports XP at this stage, at least when using the same partition.