Using a Virtual Machine to Run ACD/Labs NMR Processors on a Mac

Jed Fisher, Faculty Professional Specialist, Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Notre Dame

I acquired a MacBook Pro (2 GHz processor, 1 GB RAM), and used Parallels Desktop to install a Windows XP 2002 Pro virtual machine. Other than the 512 MB Ram upgrade, this is an "entry level" Mac.

I was not able to open all of the ACD/Labs modules simultaneously, which appears to be a limitation of Parallels rather than of the ACD/Labs software. When opened separately, each opened and ran flawlessly and otherwise my report to you is one word.

Wow.

I experienced only one "crash", on an attempt to clean a structure in ACD/ChemSketch; however, closing and restarting the virtual Windows desktop is quick and the loss of data in this one crash was inconsequential. Several previous (and subsequent) cleanings did not cause the crash. The only "bug" encountered concerns the Mac keyboard "delete" key not being recognized. The user must use the menu pull-down instead.

I did not attempt to download the ACD/Labs update, since my virtual Windows had neither Firewall nor Virus protection. I mention this only because this limitation—can't implement updates—is mentioned with some regularity on discussion boards concerning Parallels. I executed the *.exe ACD/Labs installation file by creating a Disk Image of the ACD/Labs files (using the utility that Parallels provides for this purpose), and opening this disk image within Windows. This might be the preferred way for handling Mac updating.

With the price of Macs in a seeming freefall, I can't believe that any Mac user who wants top-end desktop ACD/Labs performance will balk at using Parallels/Windows to do so. The most difficult aspect of my using ACD/Labs software on the Mac was adjusting to the Windows interface. Using the ACD/Labs NMR software was easy, and using ChemSketch just less so (the program is too busy for my taste).

Everything that I've done so far on this Mac using the ACD/Labs modules (1D and 2D NMR Processor) occurs at breathtaking speed, calculating—almost instantaneously—a 2D COSY and HSQC each took less than 10 seconds). I spent more time keyboarding in the file, naming and saving, than the machine does computing.