Move Parallels to external drive.

L

LewisP

Bit poster
I am running OSX 10.8.2 and Parallels 7.0.15107.

I need to wipe my internal iMac hard drive clean and do a new install of OSX.

My question is, how can I move my present Parallels VM over to an external hard drive, along with all of the Windows software I have installed.

Is everything contained in the .pvm file, including all of the Windows software? If so, can I move the .pvm file over to an external hard drive and use Parallels from there after i re-install OSX? If not, what is the best way to accomplish my goal?

Thanks,

Lewis
 
Hi Lewis,

Before you wipe your mac drive:

Copy your pvm file (virtual machine) to your external drive make sure your have all access for this drive, and that there is enough room on the external drive to run the vm from that location if you wish. All your windows software will be inside of the vm. You may need to reactivate some of the windows software if you intend to run it from the external drive.
Also if you do not have a DVD of Parallels make sure you have a copy of the .dmg file downloaded from Parallels.
Have your Parallels activation key ready for reactivation of product, once you reinstall Parallels on your hard drive.
 
HI Lewis,

Additional steps to get your vm up and running:
External harddrive should up and running.
Once Parallels is installed on your hard drive using the Parallels Wizard>select Add Existing Virtual Machine>Continue>
Navigate to .pvm (vm) on your external drive
You will be asked "Have you copied or moved "Your vm"?
there is a link http://kb.parallels.com/en/9021 which I have provided you.
Select the answer "Moved" or "Copied" which best fits your installation type.
Follow the rest of the prompts> start your vm.
 
This procedure only works if the Virtual Machine IS NOT Bootcamp based.
 
kat, this is a partial solution, it converts the Bootcamp partition into a virtual disk, it should be said that there are, however, other options, if the user wants to wipe their drive a put Bootcamp back on it again they should use a disk cloning tool that understands GPT, I recommend Winclone ( http://twocanoes.com/winclone/ ).
 
Specimen,

No mention of a Bootcamp partion in post.

LewisP said:
I am running OSX 10.8.2 and Parallels 7.0.15107.

I need to wipe my internal iMac hard drive clean and do a new install of OSX.

My question is, how can I move my present Parallels VM over to an external hard drive, along with all of the Windows software I have installed.

Is everything contained in the .pvm file, including all of the Windows software? If so, can I move the .pvm file over to an external hard drive and use Parallels from there after i re-install OSX? If not, what is the best way to accomplish my goal?

Thanks,

Lewis
Click to expand...
 
kat,

No mention doesn't mean it's not the case and one should consider caveats, specially considering the cost of failure* not to do so. Non-technical users are not aware of all the necessary information that should be given. Besides, you already showed an article for migrating a bootcamp install to a virtual machine, I was just calling out the fact that if the user is indeed running a bootcamp install they might want to keep running the same sort of setup.

I'm sorry if it seems like I'm stepping on a fellow Product Expert's toes, but, the user is first.

* The cost here is the possibility of the user losing all their data because they just copied the .pvm, wiped out the whole disk, and they were actually running bootcamp, leading to complete loss of data on the Windows side.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Hi Lewis,

If your question was in reference to a bootcamp partition, please disregard my answers.
But if you were referring to a .pvm/Virtual Machine file the response is correct.
 
Last edited:
Hi guys.
I have a similar problem as Lewis.
And thank you for the information provided above.
However, I would love to keep them both (Parallel and Windows) on my external hard drive.
With that being said,

1. is it possible to install Parallel Desktop 9 on the external hard drive (WD My Passport for Mac) and run them both from there?

2. if so,
a. what is the best way to do it? Because just like Lewis I have them both already operational on my MacBook.
b. will it have any consequences when trying to run it in coherence mode? (which I'm obviously always doing.)



Norman

kat said:
HI Lewis,

Additional steps to get your vm up and running:
External harddrive should up and running.
Once Parallels is installed on your hard drive using the Parallels Wizard>select Add Existing Virtual Machine>Continue>
Navigate to .pvm (vm) on your external drive
You will be asked "Have you copied or moved "Your vm"?
there is a link http://kb.parallels.com/en/9021 which I have provided you.
Select the answer "Moved" or "Copied" which best fits your installation type.
Follow the rest of the prompts> start your vm.
Click to expand...
 
Using an external disk

NormanV said:
...1. is it possible to install Parallel Desktop 9 on the external hard drive (WD My Passport for Mac) and run them both from there?
2. if so,
a. what is the best way to do it? Because just like Lewis I have them both already operational on my MacBook.
b. will it have any consequences when trying to run it in coherence mode? (which I'm obviously always doing.)
Norman
Click to expand...
Best way: Do a normal install of Parallels Desktop for Mac to the boot drive and put the Virtual Machine (.pvm) package(s) on whatever local drive is convenient. Here's why:

Parallels Desktop for Mac is an application best installed on the system disk as normally done by the supplied installer. As with any other OS X application, use of the standard installation avoids problems from nonstandard install locations.

Virtual Machine (.pvm) packages may reside essentially anywhere. Network-attached storage is not recommended because of potential corruption problems from network glitches. But any locally-attached storage is fair game. If you copy or move a VM package to a new location, as in your migration scenario, simply open or double-click the package and PDM will register it in the Virtual Machine list.

Coherence mode is a PDM application setting not directly related to VM package location.
 
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Thanks for the heads up!
VMs are starting up slower, but other than that it's working smoothly. Maybe I have some settings to change as well. I'll look into that later on.



Norman

xz4gb8 said:
Best way: Do a normal install of Parallels Desktop for Mac to the boot drive and put the Virtual Machine (.pvm) package(s) on whatever local drive is convenient. Here's why:

Parallels Desktop for Mac is an application best installed on the system disk as normally done by the supplied installer. As with any other OS X application, use of the standard installation avoids problems from nonstandard install locations.

Virtual Machine (.pvm) packages may reside essentially anywhere. Network-attached storage is not recommended because of potential corruption problems from network glitches. But any locally-attached storage is fair game. If you copy or move a VM package to a new location, as in your migration scenario, simply open or double-click the package and PDM will register it in the Virtual Machine list.

Coherence mode is a PDM application setting not directly related to VM package location.
Click to expand...
 
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