Run BootCamp binaries in a Parallels VM without reinstalling them

[rjbailey]

I recently discovered that although you cannot run a Parallels virtual machine directly from your BootCamp partition, mounting the BootCamp partition read-only as a shared drive in parallels allows you to access any files you have there and--at least in the cases I've tried--to run binary program files in the Parallels VM without reinstalling them there. I like having the option of booting in BootCamp or running Parallels. After I installed several hundred megabytes of program files while in XP-BootCamp, I didn't want to bloat my Parallels disk image file by reinstalling exactly the same programs in XP-Parallels. Instead, I selected the directory in the BootCamp partition (formatted in NTFS) in which my program files reside, shared the directory in Parallels, assigned the directory a drive letter (required for my applications), and--voila--they opened and ran normally. This may not work for all applications, but it works fine for the few applications for which I need Windoze.

[lillumultipass]

Thanks for the tip!

I am really interested in doing this, but as I am new to Mac and Parallels, I don't know how to mount my Bootcamp partition ias a shared disk in Parallels. For instance, under Parallels, I see neither the MacOS partition nor the Windows-Bootcamp partition.
Hox did you do that?
Thanks!

[lillumultipass]

Well, I think I have been able to enable the Bootcamp partition as a shared folder (at least it appears in my Parallels shared folders) but how do you assign a drive letter? Is it "map network device"? In any case, it does not really work for me...I can open some apps, but they usually close immediately.

[rjbailey]

Yes, it's "map network device". This gives you the option of assigning a drive letter (how 1980's!) if the application you're using requires it.

The programs I was referring to are NOT installed via typical "Setup" installers. These may make changes to the registry or whatever (like I care) that don't allow the program to run if it's not in the "C:\Program Files" directory. A Windows expert could tell you for sure.

If your programs that won't run are in a folder in the "C:\Program Files" directory in your Boot Camp partition, you might try to make an alias ("shortcut" in Windows parlance) to that shared folder and place it in your "C:\Program Files" directory in Parallels. That may work.

[joem]

YIf your programs that won't run are in a folder in the "C:\Program Files" directory in your Boot Camp partition, you might try to make an alias ("shortcut" in Windows parlance) to that shared folder and place it in your "C:\Program Files" directory in Parallels. That may work.
Good thinking, but that won't work either. The registry entries have to be in the booted registry.

What you might be able to do, if you can access files on the bootcamp partition, is install the software again in Parallels, but install it on top of the bootcamp files. This will write the same files on the bootcamp partition twice, which is harmless, but will make the correct registry entries in both bootcamp and Parallels.

Once you do this, don't change the drive letter for the bootcamp partition.

The location of the programs (c:\program files, or anywhere else) isn't the issue. The registry entries are the issue.

[rjbailey]

Aha, there's your real answer. But it requires RW permissions on the Boot Camp partition, so you need to format it in FAT32 rather than NTFS. I didn't do that, so the only reason my Boot Camp programs run in Parallels is that they didn't make entries in the registry.