Our company's IT department has a standardized installation for Windows 7 which is in a 17GB ".WIM" image file. How can I use that, on a USB stick, to install Windows 7 in Parallels Desktop for Mac v.7? Nothing in the docs or the forums shows how to install from a wim image. Do I have to convert it to a VHD or ISO format? Can I do that with my existing Windows XP virtual machine? Our IT guys said they might be able to convert it, but what should they convert it to? Thanks Darryl
It only took 2 months to finally produce the .iso files! However, they seem to be split up into 4GB chucks so there's four of the .iso files on the USB stick. Parallels 9 can't find an operating system in the ISO files. Eh? "No boot device is available, press enter to continue." Rinse, repeat, stuck. I was able to mount the ISO image in Mac Finder, but I don't know where to go from here. This seems ot be some kind of Windows 7 migration image, not a real Windows 7 bootable image. Any clues how I can actually use this? Thanks Darryl Z
http://pcsupport.about.com/od/termsi/g/isofile.htm Easiest solution: Go to CD/DVD in the VM configuration, select image file instead of real DVD, and point to the .ISO you want.
Did that, but Parallels 9 can't find an operating system in the ISO files. I'm not sure if I have to somehow mung the 4 ISO files into one large one, or if these ISO images just aren't suitable for Windows 7 installation.
*shrug* I can't help you any more than this. Each 4GB ISO should be the image of a DVD, bootable or not your IT dept. should be able to clarify the matter. Maybe only one of the images is actually bootable. For reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Imaging_Format
An alternative I just used to get around a problematic Oracle client install. I have a Hyper-V Windows 7 VM created from our standard WIM image. I created the new machine, I installed the Parallels Transporter Agent for Windows utility on it and copied the image over the network. The Mac got it fine, the image booted up fine, and as a benefit I had I standard core image up & running, everything already configured the way we want and ready to go.
