Allowing Parallels on more than one account

Hi, I have successfully installed Parallels 4 (not upgraded) and XP on my iMac. I ticked the box at the start to allow it to be shared on other accounts. I have pointed it to go to users/shared/parallels in both accounts. I still cannot get Parallels to use the current VM on the other account on our Mac. It wants me to install XP on that account as well but then I'd have two XP installs (and two VM's) on my computer using a lot of extra Hard drive space.

Does anyone have an answer please?

 

1. Every user should register shared virtual machine, simply navigating to /Users/Shared/Parallels and double clicking corresponding Virtual Machine.pvm file

2. If Virtual Machine is moved from another place, it is necessary to set correct permissions for Virtual Machine, adding all users, who shares Virtual Machine with read and write permissions, and applying permissions to all enclosed items. It should be done the following way:


a) At first please decide how you want to share VM: for all users accounts at your Mac or just for concrete users

b) Open Terminal application (it situates at /Applications/Utilities system folder)

c) Go to public VMs folder - to do this please perform at Terminal command:

cd /Users/Shared/Parallels

d) If you want to share VM for all users then perform follow command:

sudo chmod -R og+rwx vm_folder_name

(instead vm_folder_name use correspond name of VM bundle. Folder name with spaces should be wrapped into quotes)


NOTE: console tools do not show password typing symbols. On password prompt just enter complete password of your user account and press Enter.


e) If you want for example to share VM between your user account and some another one then perform from Terminal follow commands (Each command below starts with sudo and finishes with VM. Each of them should be copied and pasted to the Terminal window in one line. ):

The first comand is:

sudo chmod -R +a "user1 allow file_inherit,directory_inherit,list,add_file,search,delete,add_subdirectory,delete_child,
readattr,writeattr,readextattr,writeextattr,readsecurity" path_to_VM


The second comand is:

sudo chmod -R +a "user2 allow file_inherit,directory_inherit,list,add_file,search,delete,add_subdirectory,delete_child,
readattr,writeattr,readextattr,writeextattr,readsecurity" path_to_VM

(please use correspond accounts logins instead of user1 and user2 and correct paths instead of path_to_VM).


If you receive during commands execution messages like "Operation not supported" then please turn on ACL support with command:


sudo fsaclctl -e -p /Users/Shared/Parallels

 

Thanks for that. I finally resolved it by reinstalling both Parallels and XP and somehow getting it to work. I have a further couple of questions though that I hope you may be able to answer:

1. When I reinstalled XP, I hope I deleted the old installation by deleting the .pvm file. Was this enough or is there a risk that Windows has left some odd files on my Mac even though I have done a reinstall?

2. I can't seem to find any files with the suffix .hdd or .pvs anywhere on my Mac. I have seen these referred to by people when I have searched forums for answers. Should I have these files or should I be concerned if I don't have them?

Thank you.

 

1. When I reinstalled XP, I hope I deleted the old installation by deleting the .pvm file. Was this enough or is there a risk that Windows has left some odd files on my Mac even though I have done a reinstall?
It is enough

2. I can't seem to find any files with the suffix .hdd or .pvs anywhere on my Mac. I have seen these referred to by people when I have searched forums for answers. Should I have these files or should I be concerned if I don't have them?

They are inside pvm bundle- right click -Show Package Contents

 

Fantastic! Thanks for putting my mind at rest!