Does Parallels v7 'upgrade' older VM files?

W

who_me

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Hi, I'm (nervously) migrating from Snow Leopard to Lion, and so from Parallels 5 to 7. I've Lion just installed on an external for now, with Parallels 7 installed; but can I open my existing Windows VM, does Parallels 7 alter it in any way?

If I use the VM with v7, can I go back later (booting in Snow Leopard) and open it with v5? Obviously I'll back up the VM before using it in v7, but I don't want to find issues two or three weeks down the line and have to roll back to an old VM backup. :)

Thanks for any advice!
 
AFAIK the format of the VM has been unchanged since v4, the real hiccup is with Parallels Tools, when you boot a VM that has PDM7 Tools installed it will start the process of downgrading the tools, and when you go back to 7 it will upgrade the tools, this might be a nuisance as it will take some minutes plus restart of the VM.
 
Thanks for your reply!

That sounds good. I tend not to shut down the VM too often, just suspending when I quit. I guess that's not a good idea if I suspend a VM in Parallels 5, then resume it in Parallels 7, particularly if the Tools need reinstalling. (I try to avoid shutting down, as there's a ~5 minute black screen between login and the Windows desktop appearing).
 
Before changing versions it's advised you shut down the VM, don't suspend it.
 
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