Run DVD Profiler on a Mac

I use DVD Profiler, a nice software from Invelos, to catalog my movies. It just has one flaw, it's Windows only software. As I wrote earlier I'm now using Macbook Pro at home. I had to make up my mind about this problem.

After few minutes of thinking I had these options.

• Give up on DVD Profiler and start using something else
• Keep using older PC laptop for DVD Profiler
• Install BootCamp and dual boot to Windows
• Try to run DVD Profiler in OS X using Wine
• Install Windows in a virtual machine

The first option is obviously not a real option. I have bought DVD Profiler licence and I find it very good for my use. I want to keep using it. The second option was quite ok, as my wife uses Windows. Still, this would not satisfy my inner geek :-)

So I had to pursue one of three remaining options. After another five minutes I made up my mind. Earlier, before getting my Mac I had an idea to setup BootCamp for dual (or triple) boot. Now I don't want it. As I bought Mac, I'm going to use it and OS X as much as possible. And besides, I find dual booting very clumsy. Wine has come a long way as sometimes even work pretty nicely (I use it sometimes to run Spotify on Debian). However, after quick googling I found out that getting DVD Profiler to run in Wine on Mac may not be hassle-free.

The last option in my list, running Windows in a virtual machine was good for me.

1. Install Virtual Box on OS X and run it
2. Create a profile and configuration for virtual machine
3. Get a Windows CD or image (I had Windows 7 RC image from Microsoft)
4. Install Windows in to the virtual machine (remember Virtual Box guest addons!)
5. Install DVD Profiler to fresh Windows installation
6. Restore DVD Profiler database backup

And there you go! In about 30min I had DVD Profiler running on my Mac. This option is the best as it allows me to run DVD Profiler in "native" Windows which starts up in around 10 seconds (resuming the saved state of virtual machine) and can be run inside OS X without dual booting. Me. Happy :-)

And my movie catalog is here, in case you would like to take a look..