Opening RAR file trouble

The txt file says ----

"Installation Instructions --

This software runs in its own ìWindows XPî environment in what is called a virtual machine.

Please follow the following instructions carefully.

http://www.emanualonline.com/info/Installing-VMWare-Player.html"

-- which means nothing to me ?

The instructions, provided in the link, would require that you install and run VMware on your Mac. VMware is an application that allow you to run multiple other operating systems on your Mac. Another similar program is Parallels.

You would then use VMware to create a guest operating system of Windows XP. Finally you would install the Unarchiver application in this WIndows XP virtual machine (VM).

A lot of work just to run an unarchiver program...

I would recommend that you look into a similar program that runs natively on OS X. Just do an Internet search for "RAR OS X" and you will find dozens of offerings including some already in the Apple App Store.

It seems the issue is not with unarchiving the file. The problem seems to be that the file itself is designed for use on Windows computers.

Go back to the support website and check if they have the manual available in Mac-compatible version (Word, PDF, ePub, etc).

I did a quick review of the website that provides the manuals. It appears that most, if not all, of the manuals are in PDF format.

Rysz is onto something. The RAR file that you downloaded seems to have the VMware Player application which appears to have a Windows VM included ... possibly why it is so large. Not sure where the actual manual is with this RAR package.

If you can just download the PDF version of the manual, you wouldn't need the VMware Player at all. Unfortunately, if that's not possibly your only other choices would be to borrow a Windows PC or not buy manuals from these guys.

Unfortunately there is no VMware Player app for the Mac - only for Windows. If you had Windows and downloaded the free VMware Player you would be able to 'run' the virtual machine in the RAR file and via it view the manual.

The nearest 'free' option is that you can configure a Mac to run VMware's ESXi - this requires a dedicated hard drive not just a volume/partition. You can then upload the VM to run in ESXi and then use the free VMware Standalone Remote Console to view and control the virtual machine.

What is not going to help here is the fact that there is a free version of Parallels Desktop Lite for the Mac, this however will only run OS X or Linux virtual machines and will not run Windows virtual machines. (Assuming you get past the step of needing to convert the VM format to Parallels format.)

You might however be able to convert the VM format to VirtualBox format. VirtualBox is free and will run Windows VMs.