Windows Xp.pvs seems to be not a valid Parallels virtual machine

Hi! My machine crashed yesterday after - apparently running out of disk space. Which is odd, b/c there was still 5 gb of space free on my local drive.

After rebooting, I received this message: "File (path)/Microsoft Windows XP.pvs seems to be not a valid Parallels virtual machine configuration file!"

When I quit OK, parallels quits.

Can I fix/recreate the config file? Or...
I have a snapshot I created yesterday -- can I restore it?

finally, what do I need to do to expand the size of my VM hard disk so that this doesn't happen to me again?

Thanks!

 

I am curious, do you have Filevault on?

 

No I don't. I just checked to be sure!

 

Hello,

please try to create a new VM ('File' -> 'New') using your existing .hdd file.
If it will not help please provide me with .log files from /Library/Parallels/bugreports/ .

Best regards,
Stacey

 

Stacey --

Hi! Thanks for your help.
I can't use File-->New b/c that option is disabled.
What's your email address? I can pull those files and send them to you.

Thanks!

-dz

 

Please click 'Go Advanced' under the 'Quick Reply' box and use 'Manage Attachments' to attach your files to your post.

Best regards,
Stacey

 

Can I rebuild my config files?

Stacey:

It doesn't let me upload .log files, so I renamed the ext to .doc.
The only files there date back to 11/24/07. Not sure if these are from my current installation or a previous install which crashed for the same reason which I subsequently had to rebuild.

-dz

 

Please tell me what version of Mac OS are you using and what build of Parallels.

Best regards,
Stacey

 

Mac Vers, Parallels version

I'm running Leopard, 10.5.1. I can't tell you what build I am running b/c I can't start the app to look it up! But I can tell you that I downloaded the Version 3.0 on Dec 5th from your web site - so that should give you an approximate idea of which build I am running.

If there is another way of divining what the build number is without starting the app, let me know and Ill do it.

 

Please try to uninstall Parallels Desktop then use this link to download the latest build and install it. Then try to create a new VM. Will it help?

Best regards,
Stacey

 

does that mean I will lose my current Windows VM?
I am working remotely and don't have the Windows install disks with me.

Thanks

 

You can use your existing .hdd file to create a VM. So you will not lose your current VM.
But just in case you should copy your .pvs and .hdd file to another folder. These files contain all the information on your VM.

Best regards,
Stacey

 

OK, just before I pull the trigger...a reminder that I don't have a working .pvs file. Which is what got me into this mess to begin with! :>)

After reinstalling, will it recreate a .pvs file for me...and use the existing .hdd file? I think this is what you are telling me, but I just wanted to double check.

Thanks again

 

I have told you about .pvs just in case. You will need to select 'Custom' OS Installation in Parallels and choose 'Use an existing hard disk image' (i.e. your .hdd file).

Best regards,
Stacey

 

Stacey, I've downloaded, uninstalled and reinstalled. And I'm back in business. Thanks!

But I want to keep from falling in this hole again.
I think a big part of the culprit is that I keep running out of disk space on my virtual disk.

I tried turning on disk compressor, but it isn't taking. I get a message that I have snapshots or undo disks enabled...but that doesn't seem to be the case. The snapshot manager was empty; I subsequently went into the Snapshots folder and manually deleted everything. I checked my config and Undo is *not* enabled.

Any suggestions?

Last question: my reinstall created a Windows XP 1 folder in addition to the Windows XP folder that was already there. Is this going to cause problems for me?

Thanks for your help. It's good to be up and running again!

 

Parallels .pvs and .hdd files corrupted

All:

Looking for advice here. I tried to invoke my VM XP machine file the other day. It has been working flawlessly since I installed it. After trying to run a Windows Mobile upgrade file for my T-Mobile Dash phone, the kernal crashed. Now I get a message saying that .pvs file is corrupted (it is, is it zero kb) and that my VM cannot start.

I tried the reinstallation method using the custom setup so that I could select the existing winxp.hdd image. Didn't work ... got an error message that the .hdd file is corrupt too.

I'm going to download parallels for a clean install to see if this solves the problem.

Anyone have any suggestions? Thx, tom

 

I'm new to this -- but a corrupted .hdd file sounds ominous. Do you have a backup (yeah, I hate when people ask me that question too. It's too big to backup...and don't you think we already thoguht of that! :>)

I had a corrupted .pvs file, but was able to rebuild it after 1) uninstalling parallels, 2) reinstalling and 3) picking custom install (see post #15 -- "You will need to select 'Custom' OS Installation in Parallels and choose 'Use an existing hard disk image' (i.e. your .hdd file).")

Hope this helps!

 

dzornow,
in order to remove Snapshots and undo disks please use Parallels Image Tool.
Also please look at this article. It should help you.

ttalleur,
did you try to use this article?

Best regards,
Stacey

 

I just wanted to say I got this error today and it freaked me out. But, by following the steps of uninstalling, reinstalling and creating a new custom VM from my existing HD has fixed the problem. Thanks!

 

I did have one more question, though. the HDD I'm using for the newly created VM is still inside the old folder. Can I move that into the new folder? I also have snapshots connected to that HDD, should I do something with them? Can I take snapshots of this new thing or will that interfere with the old ones? I don't want to risk screwing it up since it's working again now...