Upgrade to Leopard - Strategy?

I have a 6 month old MacBook running OSX 10.4.x and would like to upgrade to Leopard, but my Parallels / Windows installation is giving me pause...

I am running Build 4128 of Parallels with Windows XP Home version. I had a little trouble getting Windows installed (had to build a disk image on my hard drive), but once I got it working it has been pretty much trouble free ever since. So I am reluctant to mess with success...

If I do attempt a Leopard upgrade, I would also like not to have to reinstall Windows, all my apps, data, etc. So, what is the recommended approach for upgrading to Leopard?

I gather there is a new build of Parallels that is compatible with Leopard? Can I download and install that over my present build without disrupting my Windows install?

Assuming that step is viable, would I then be able to upgrade to Leopard? What I most want to avoid is having to wipe the Mac HDD and starting everything from scratch.

I know there are no guarantees and I will certainly back everything up before I attempt any upgrade like this, but before I do I'd like to know what is the recommended procedure.

Thanks,

--PS

 

Hello,

please uninstall Parallels Desktop first.
Parallels Desktop for Mac distribution provides an Uninstaller application for easy product uninstallation.
Please note, that Parallels Uninstaller application does not remove Virtual Machines from your Macintosh HD.
To find Uninstaller application, if you have a Parallels Desktop for Mac CD, please insert it into your Mac CD/DVD drive. The Uninstaller application is there.
If you have previously downloaded Parallels Desktop for Mac from the web site as a .dmg package, please double-click it. Once the .dmg package is mounted, you will see an Uninstaller application there.

Then install Leopard and after that install Parallels Desktop. Do you have US/UK version of Parallels or a localized one? I will provide you with an appropriate link to a new build.

Best regards,
Stacey

 

That sounds manageable enough.

I have a Parallels Desktop v3.0 CD, US/UK version.

So you can provide me with a link to the version of Parallels that will run with Leopard? So, what, I just download it to my Mac desktop, and install it? It will find my WinXP installation and run it? It has been a very long time since I installed Parallels (and I needed phone support to get it running), so I don't quite remember how all that works.

So, to summarize, all I need to do is a) uninstall parallels b) reinstall with new build c) upgrade Mac to Leopard?

That sounds do-able.

Thanks,

--PS

 

Here is the link.
You need to:
1. Uninstall Parallels Desktop.
2. Just in case back up your .hdd and .pvs file.
3. Upgrade to Leopard.
4. Install Parallels Desktop with a link I gave you.
5. Start Parallels Desktop. It should detect you your VM. If not, please create a new VM using your existing .hdd file via Custom Installation.
6. Re-install Parallels Tools in your VM.

Best regards,
Stacey

 

This is GREAT, Stacey, and I REALLY appreciate it. Now, just tell me where exactly I will find the ".hdd" and ".pvs" files so I can make SURE they are backed up, and I guess I'll be ready to attempt this.

Thanks,

--PS

 

In the Finder browse to the virtual machine folder (the default path is: Documents-Parallels-Virtual Machine).
Or please use Spotlight to find them.

Best regards,
Stacey

 

This is my wish: That driver49 will post here again after a day or two and let us ALL know that this works so well. I, and I'll bet others, have been asking themselves these same questions about moving from 10.4 to 10.5 for weeks, since the 5582 build was released. Good luck driver49!

 

I'm not exactly sure how to take that... you mean, what? That you don't really think it is going to work? That others have tried this path to Leopard and it hasn't worked?

On that score, I'd like to hear from others. I mean, if it's not likely to work, there is really no imperative for me to f up a system that works.

As for my own time-table, don't hold your breath. It is surely not going to be "a day or two" before I get all my ducks lined up to try this, and likely not a week or two, either.

Like I said, it's not a priority, just something I'd like to do... at.... some point.

--PS

 

I have no reason to think that it will not work. There are many of us, like yourself, who are satisfied with our current performance of both OS X Tiger and Parallels 3 with whatever build #. There are also many posts on this forum that seem to indicate not all goes well when moving to Leopard. Those clients may have had bad advice, no advice, poor techniques, bad hard drives, bad data, you name it. This is the first step-by-step recommended-by-Parallels methodology I have seen, so I can only hope it works well. Backup everything is always the best fallback position. But even being able to resotre to a previous configuration is not something any of us wish for the others.

 

The best thing to do if upgrading to Leopard is to back-up your machine, and do a fresh install of the OS.

When a major change like this occurs, if there are any little problems lurking in your system, they rear their ugly heads up and bite you where it hurts. Just a general tip.

 

Driver49,

See my post "Upgrading to Leopard". I used Stacey's method from above, and added some steps and commentary, and it seems to be working fine. A day or two of work will be the test,

mjokerst

 

I realize this thread is over a month old and I haven't done anything about upgrading my MacBook yet, but I just got a MacPro with Leopard. I like it a lot. I don't need Windows on the Mac Pro at all, but there are features I would like to have on the MacBook, so I am probably going to do the upgrade, maybe in early March.

I'm weighing the "erase and start fresh" option. Will probably do multiple backups before I attempt such a thing.

mjokerst, can you give me a link to your post, "Upgrading to Leopard" ?

Thanks,

--PS

 

My post is here http://forum.parallels.com/showthread.php?t=19108. If you can make a bootable backup of your Macbook, I highly recommend the erase and install. I've done it on two machines, and both upgraded with no issues. It's probably not much more effort on your part than "archive & install". Whichever way you go, there is some preliminary work to do cleaning up and testing your drive. As I noted in my post, the ebook "Take Control of Upgrading to Leopard" was very useful in this regard. It took a couple hours to do these chores ahead of upgrading. What you are doing in these prelim steps is removing potential leopard incompatibilities before you upgrade. Best of luck.

 

I also have been wondering about how to make the upgrade to Leopard. I have a MacBook and am running Parallels build 3214. What do I need to do in order to upgrade to Leopard as well as keep all the current files I have on my virtual Windows XP intact? Thanks!

 

The following is from post 19108. I did this in January and have been using Leopard+Parallels daily since, for work. I have since installed 10.5.2 and the graphics upgrade with no issues. (The only problem that has crept in and keeps snagging is my HP deskjet all-in-one, which I believe is an HP driver issue.) The outline below entails some time, but it was worth it.

I've successfully upgraded to Leopard, and Parallels is working as before. Here's what I did:

1. Cleanup my Tiger installation. (See ebook "Take Control of Upgrading to Leopard)
2. Make a bootable clone of the Tiger installation, including a working version of Parallels 3.0 build 5584
3. Test the bootable clone

At this point, if anything goes wrong I can restore my Tiger install in short order. This clone contains all my apps, all my home folder, including the parallels virtual machine found in ~/Documents/Parallels/etc.

4. Uninstall Parallels using the Parallels Uninstall utility.
5. Keep the external Tiger backup mounted and
6. Install Leopard (using the option "Erase and Install")
7. Use the "Setup Assistant" to transfer from Tiger backup to the new Leopard;

This step is part of the Leopard install. It brings most of your applications and preferences and all of your home folder from the Tiger backup drive to the Leopard install. It leaves out things that will likely conflict with Leopard. A thorough Step 1 (see above) is essential to making this step work properly. This step also gets your old Parallels Virtual Machine and puts it in the right place in your leopard system.

8. Upgrade your OSX (as needed), test the installation.
9. Keep the Tiger backup, but make a second bootable Leopard backup.

(I partitioned my firewire drive before-hand, so now one partition has working Tiger/Parallels and the other has a working Leopard-but-no-Parallels install. I can now attempt to install parallels, but if it gets messy, I can revert back to a clean pre-parallels Leopard machine.)

10. Install Parallels (I used build 5584), install the tools.