Can't Restore Paralles from Time Machine backup.

S

SirAngler

Bit poster
Mac OS 10.7.5
Parallels Desktop 7 for Mac. Build 7.0.15094. Maybe it's not the latest version, but it worked just fine last week.
Windows XP Pro wanted to update and so I let it. One of my Windows Apps quit working.

(First method to attempt to restore). I tried to use Time Machine to restore my VM back to a previous .pvm. I get the message that "The operation can't be completed because I don't have permission to access BaseDrive.pvm." I run Disk Utility Permissions Repair and try the First method to restore again. Same results.

(Second method to restore): I use Disk Utility to create a new disk image and copy my backup BaseDrive.pvm onto the new disk image. Finally, I am free of permission problems. I then copy BaseDrive.pvm from my newly created disk image to my Parallels folder. Again, no permission problems. I start Parallels again. The VM tries resume but returns to the "click to resume" message. Endless clicking only results in a short spinning symbol before the VM returns to the "click to resume" message.

(Third method to restore): So then I tried manually copying the Package Contents of BaseDrive.pvm from my Time Machine backup to the empty BaseDrive.pvm package (folder) left after trying my First Method to restore again. I get the message, "The items can't be moved because BaseDrive.pvm can't be modified." No problem, it gives me button choices to "Authenticate" or "Cancel." I Authenticate and it lets me copy everything into my BaseDrive.pvm package (folder). Parallels starts up. The VM tries resume but returns to the "click to resume" message. Endless clicking only results again in a short spinning symbol before the VM returns to the "click to resume" message.

(Fourth method to restore): I open Parallels and select "New" from the 'File' pull down menu. I select, Install Windows or another OS from DVD or image file before clicking 'Continue.' Then I pull down, "Continue without disk" and choose Windows XP. Tell it ti "act like a PC." Check the "Customize settings before installation" box, and name it, "Windows XP test." Under "Hardware" Configuration I choose one of the several .hdd images that I have used in the past. I also try, Choose and image file." It doesn't seem to matter which I choose, the results are the same; I get the message, "Unable to connect to Hard Disk 1," and then the VM enters into the DOS screen, I presume looking for an operating system. Eventually it returns the message, "There is no operating system installed on this virtual machine. Please insert an operating system CD into the optical drive of your Mac and restart the virtual machine. I tell it Okay, but give up at this point because I think this might be leading me away from restoring my VM to pre-Windows update mistake.

I'm at my wits end now. I've tried so many things that I can't remember them all. At one point I was getting messages that there wasn't enough memory available on my Mac, so I tossed Mac files. That wasn't the problem. I had nearly 200 GB of free HD space all along. I've done numerous permission repairs and restarts on my Mac. Nothing seems to work. I know that in the past I was able to restore my VM by just replacing the hard drive image with a backup one.

Ideas?
 
It sounds like you have problem with Time Machine than Parallels. I assume you are mounting your mac's sparsebundle directly?

Did you change your username / permissions anytime with your backups? if all things fail try using sudo cp via Terminal. However remember to set the correction permissions afterwards.
 
GC_YVR, Thanks for contributing.

Uh Oh, words I don't understand. That's always bad news. Um... what's a sparsebundle? My Time Machine just mounts automatically every time my Mac starts up. I can access the TM files either by entering TM or by double clicking the My Book hard drive on my desk top and navigating to the backup files and date I want.

I haven't changed my Username or permissions on my Mac and haven't messed with my backup drive, except that I replaced it a few years ago. Perhaps since the last time I tried restoring my Parallels VM. The new drive is a Western Digital My Book Essential. It has WD's Smartware on it but I have not set it up or used any of its features.

Terminal . . . another scarey thought. I've used it before but only with a professional driver behind the wheel.

"Remember to set the correction permissions afterwards." Set permissions where?

As I said, I was able to get my back up basedrive.pvm file to copy to my Parallels folder, so I think I got around the permissions problem. But Parallels still would not work.
 
You should use the TM interface to navigate TM and restore files, specially, never ever, delete or otherwise edit files directly on the TM Volume in Finder.

http://www.macworld.com/article/1165784/how_to_restore_data_from_time_machine.html

(the article says Mountain Lion but it's the same for Lion and Mavericks)


I didn't read all your post but the processes for copying I read made me cringe a little. This is not how things should be done and there are a lot of issues that might arise from these procedures.

One important aspect, is this Windows installation Bootcamp based or not? If it's Bootcamp TM cannot backup the actual contents of the Windows installation, so you can't restore a previous version of it, it only backup the settings of the VM.
 
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Specimen:

Thanks for contributing.

The process for trying to copy and restore my PVM made me frustrated. Fortunately, even though I have copied TM files, I have never edited or deleted TM files on the TM backup drive. (I thought about it once, but decided it might not be a good idea.) I would just like to get TM to let me restore my PVM to what it was when TM backed it up.

I've heard of Bootcamp, but never really knew what that meant, so I Googled it: "Boot Camp is a multi boot utility included with Apple Inc.'s OS X that assists users in installing Microsoft Windows operating systems on Intel-based Macintosh." If that's the case, my installation was NOT bootcamp. I installed Parallels Desktop for Mac and then installed Windows XP Pro (though it has been so long ago that I can't really remember the process.) I remember that I had been using Virtual PC for Mac on a different machine and when I upgraded to a newer Mac OS I had a very hard time figuring out how to access and install the Windows XP Pro that came with Virtual PC for Mac on my new Parallels Desktop for Mac. Eventually I figured it out, but that truly was a long time ago. Since then I am certain that I have restored my PVM to a previous state a few times by entering TM to restore a TM archived .pvm (or maybe .hhd) file. It seems like something may have happened to not let me do it the normal way, but I have no idea what or how to resolve that problem.
 
SirAngler, I would suggest take the machine and drive to Genius Bar and let them figure it out. I think it will be money well spent.

There are 2 possibilities:
1. The pvm file was not copied over completely (which I think is most likely).
2. Or something is wrong with XP boot process.. I think in this case to diagnois this issue, the best way is to check the "Select boot device on startup" when you go under Configure .. Hardware .. Boot Order. That way you have more control when the VM boots, you can press F8 to go to Fail safe mode etc.
 
GC_YVR:

I wondered about whether or not my pvm files copied over completely too, but I have tried using two or three different pvm files (ones with different saved pvm states) and none of them work. Later today I'll try several more.

I tried your suggestion to, "Select boot device on startup" and also pulling down the menu item for "Safe Mode" start up but in all these cases I get the "Out of Disk Space" message. Again, I have 200GB of free Mac space. My hdd images are only 32GB as I keep very little on my PVM (only applications that are available in a PC version and no Mac version is available).

I have been considering the Genius Bar and have used them a few times before. Where I live they would prefer to wipe and item clean and restore it to new rather than try to restore it to what it was when it had all your data. This is especially true if they can determine that it might be a non-Apple software issue (like Parallels). So, the Genius Bar will be a little further down my list of options.

Thanks
 
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Specimen:

Yes, I should have addressed that directly. Under, "Restore a single file or folder" in the link it describes my usual process when I want to restore anything from TM. I usually refer to it as, "entering TM" as the pull down menu choice is "Enter Time Machine." It is the "First method to attempt to restore" that I described in my first post. That is when I get the message, "The operation can't be completed because I don't have permission to access BaseDrive.pvm." The other two items addressed in the link, "Restore an entire system" and "Transfer data between Macs" didn't seem to apply to my situation.

Thanks
 
Can you boot into Safe Mode Command Prompt? That can give you some hint on what the size of your virtual drive is. If you can get to this step, it is probably because of your unorthodox restore methods that you mentioned. (not a problem with Parallels).

If it is "Out of Disk Space":

Have you tried changing it by going to Configure -> Hardware -> Hard Disk 1 and Edit to change the disc size?

However XP was designed at a time when disc partitions were pretty rigid. If the step above shows you have plenty of space in your pvm, but still show not enough space when virtualized, you might want to download the GParted ISO Add it to the CD/DVD drive, boot from it and fix the disc size issue so XP VM itself realize it has more space.

The above steps are probably out of the scope of a "support" forum, so do it at your own risk.

I hope you are making copies of the pvm as you go through the diagnostic steps like above.

Good luck


SirAngler said:
GC_YVR:

I wondered about whether or not my pvm files copied over completely too, but I have tried using two or three different pvm files (ones with different saved pvm states) and none of them work. Later today I'll try several more.

I tried your suggestion to, "Select boot device on startup" and also pulling down the menu item for "Safe Mode" start up but in all these cases I get the "Out of Disk Space" message. Again, I have 200GB of free Mac space. My hdd images are only 32GB as I keep very little on my PVM (only applications that are available in a PC version and no Mac version is available).

I have been considering the Genius Bar and have used them a few times before. Where I live they would prefer to wipe and item clean and restore it to new rather than try to restore it to what it was when it had all your data. This is especially true if they can determine that it might be a non-Apple software issue (like Parallels). So, the Genius Bar will be a little further down my list of options.

Thanks
Click to expand...
 
GC_YVR:

I can't use the Safe Mode Command Prompt. I can only use the menu Safe Mode startup, which gives me the out of disk space on my Mac message. Pressing F8 only causes iTunes to open on my Mac. My pvm package is 45GB. My virtual drive is 32GB. I've gone to Configure -> Hardware -> Hard Disk 1 and tried several of the existing drives that I've used in the past. None of them will let me get past error messages. I haven't tried to change the disk size for fear that would just make things worse.

Having said all of that. After entering TM and going back almost a year I was able to get my .pvm backup to Restore without any permission problems. After it restored, I double-clicked on it, it opened, Parallels launched and everything seems to be working fine. Of course a years worth of 'stuff' is gone. I'm left wondering what would have changed that made all my pvm files from that time forward have permission problems. And, more importantly, will I have permission problems from here out? TM backs up every night so tomorrow I will have a new pvm backup to answer that question.

UPDATE:
TM backed up last night and so this morning I entered TM and told it to restore last night's back up. It's copied with no permission problems and is running fine. So what this means is that for some reason a years worth of my pvm backups have permission problems. I am at a loss as to what could have happened to cause this. Any thoughts?
 
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Same thing happened to me today. I was cleaning up old snapshots of a Windows 10 install when all of a sudden the virtual window closed (it was shut down) and the pvm file disappeared! Dumbstruck, I restored the file from Time Machine. But the virtual will not start with an Unable to connect Hard Disk 0 error (A file or device required for the operation of Hard Disk 0 does not exist or is used by another process, or you have no permission to access it. The virtual machine will continue running, but the device will be disconnected.). I checked the permissions on the file and the hard drive file and they match an over version of windows that runs fine. I'm restoring from TM again and if this doesn't work I'm in big trouble. All the snapshots are gone along with this image. It's on the large side 189GB so this all takes a while.
 
Bear in mind that the Parallels Desktop User's Guide contains this warning:
"Warning: Time Machine backups can guarantee safety only when your Parallels virtual machines were stopped or suspended during the backup."
Click to expand...

So, try restoring earlier versions of your TM backups until you, hopefully, find one that works.
 
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