Error Message: "Unable to edit the hard disk properties because it has one or more snapshots."

I had posted on this a few days ago on an old thread, but thought I might start a new one in case no one is paying attention to the other one.
I need to resize my hard disk, but when I attempted to edit the disk in Parallels desktop, I got the error message:
"Unable to edit the hard disk properties because it has one or more snapshots."
When this first happened, I followed the instructions in this forum to delete the snapshot, then went to "Manage Snapshots" and confirmed that in fact I have no snapshots, but after having restarted my Mac, I still get the same error message. How do I deal with this?
I'm running Windows 10 on Parallels Desktop 12, which i just recently installed. Other than this, everything seems to work fine.

 

Hello RonaldB4,
Please follow the instructions outlined at and check how it goes!

 

Thanks for the prompt reply. Unfortunately the recommendation seems to be a bit over my head. Do I execute the command in Terminal? Does the command include the characters "~#"? Do I only enter the first line, and then observe the result? The solution states, "The number of actually existing snapshots of the disk with 'expanded' type should be equal to the number of *.hds files minus 1," but I don't see any *.hds files shown in the example, so how would I know how many *.hds files there are?

 

Hi RonaldB4,
Yes, the ~# symbols should be included in the terminal command & the result should be observed after executing the first line in Terminal Window.
As a work around, you can check this link to merge & delete your snapshot files which might help you resolve the issue easily. Let us know how it goes.
Thanks.

 

I thought that I had merged the snapshot files before (using the same procedure that is in the link that you had sent me), but apparently I didn't do it right. This time it worked, and I was able to resize the hard drive. Thanks!

 

Hi RonaldB4,
Sounds great! Feel free to reach out anytime.

 

Can someone at Parallels update this? I'm getting the same error in v14 for Mac. The help link provided in your initial post is no longer valid. Thank you!

 

You can take backup of the PVM file and refer to the article then merge snapshots.

 

Hi, somehow none of these links seem to be valid anymore. I'm facing the same trouble as the initial post. Could you please give an update?
Thank you!

 

Hello, can this link please be updated? I have having the same issue and my parallels is chewing up more and more disk space by minute. Thanks!

 

Hi Peter, is parallels taking up disk space as soon as you free more up? I can't figure out how to stop it.

 

I receive access denied on the kb article

 

Hello guys,
please check and try the following steps:

1. Locate your Virtual machine in Finder
   
   
2. Right click on the *.pvm file of your virtual machine -> choose Show Package Contents
   
   
3. In Mac OS X, go to Applications > Utilities and launch Terminal. Type the following but do not execute:
   
   prl_disk_tool merge --hdd
   
   
4. Drag the *.hdd file into Terminal and drop it right next to "prl_disk_tool merge --hdd ". In Terminal you will see something like this:
   
   prl_disk_tool merge --hdd /Users/Username/Documents/Parallels/Windows\ 7.pvm/Windows\ 7-0.hdd
   
   Note: There should be a space between '--hdd' and 'Users/Username...'
   
   
5. Press Enter/Return key to run the command and merge the snapshots.
   
   
6. In the same directory (inside Virtual Machine's bundle) delete Snapshots.xml file

 

I recommeded you change to one Linux distribution, it's more secure and stable as a operating system.

 

i tried with the terminal stuff. but i still got the error : command not found. am i missing anything here ?

 

Hi, could you please share a screenshot of the issue?
Also what is your Parallels Desktop version?

 

I followed the 6 steps instructions from Maria four posts above. At the end I get "Operation progress 100%" in Terminal. I deleted Snapshots.xml. When I try to access Properties under Advanced Settings in Hard Disk configuration, I still get the error that I can't access it because there are snapshots. I have deleted all visible snapshots. How to solve this because I need to increase size of my hard drive. I'm running Parallels 15.15.

 

Hello, do you have the SmartGuard option enabled?

 

No, I do not.

 

For what should SmartGuard be set if I want to be able to delete all Snapshots?