I need to do a lot of IM with someone who prefers to "appear offline" on MSN. Since I don't like the sluggishness of aMSN, and Adium doesnt exactly work 100% with offline messages, I've resorted to using Windows Live Messenger on Windows XP via WMware Fusion.

WLM is already set to be on startup for Windows XP. My question however is, how do I make Fusion boot up the XP virtual machine upon login/startup/boot?

I have no idea what WLM means, but I suspect WMware Fusion is a typo.

If you have the latest Beta then you can set what machine will open upon Fusion being loaded, short of that I have no other suggestions.

You'll need to download the latest VMware Fusion 2 Beta 1, then set up a VM to automatically load whenever you launch VMware Fusion, and then add VMware Fusion to your login items for your account. (Ctrl+Click on a dock item and it should give you the option to "Open at Login").

@purana: He means Windows Live Messenger (WLM).

Ok, got that all worked out now.

Next: can I make VMware BETA start in UNITY mode instead of single screen?

Excellent work Huy.

I dont' quite understand what I'm supposed to do with the downloaded Apple Script file. I'm a newb so can someone please explain?

NO script required. Super easy.

Boot the Guest (Virtual Machine), then load up the application or applications you want to be able to launch say from the dock to kick off this Guest (Virtual Machine) + said application without having to boot the Guest, then load the application manually etc.

Once you have done this, then put the Guest into Unity mode. Now shutdown the Guest etc.

Open up Finder, goto where you Virtual Machines are kept, typically ~/username/Documents/Virtual Machines, select the one that is your Guest/Virtual Machine, right click "Show Package Contents". When the new window spawns with the contents, locate the Folder called Applications. Double click, and you should see icons representing the Guest Applications you were running when you went into Unity mode.

Drag one of them to your dock, then launch it. The guest will be booted, and the application you just clicked should also load too.

These are the helper things the document refers too and what Huy stated above.

In unity mode, you should just be able to right click on a Dock icon and tell it to "Keep in Dock".

Who knows, I am merely relaying in simple terms what the document describe. You let me know if what you said works, as I assumed if it did they would also document it in the same docs. I cant say I have tried.

EDIT: it seems to work, but I cannot confirm if I click it that it will also boot the guest os too. Currently using my guest machine for something so cannot shut it down. But seems to work 50% so far.

Just tested it again to make sure, and yes it does work.

Thanks everyone, got it all sorted