Going round the bend!

I installed Parallels 2 weeks ago and paid for the licence key.

Then I 'lost' parallels completely. The shortcut no longer worked.

Avanquest (uk distributor) support got back to me.
Could not find parallels files in the 'usual' places

I did a spotlight search under .pvs and found parallels. Clicked on the spotlight results file, got an error message but it fired up.

Long debate with support about the fact I'd set up Parallels to launch when system restarted which he said could not be done.

I realised later that when it was docked I clicked the option to 'open at login'
I then unclicked this option.

Now I cannot find or locate my parallels at all. Not even with a spotlight search.
I know its there somewhere.
I'm not sure if this occured when got the parallels update or not.

As I now have a fresh version of parallels in my applications which keeps asking me for registration code and about setting upa new operating system.

All I want is to access my original ase,accounting system my sales database, accounts and documents on!!!

What do I do???

Any ideas? As I cant work without it

 

Should be a Parallels folder under apps and another under user/library.

Not there?

Phil

 

Hi Phil.

In applications I have a 'new' version of parallels. Which if I click on the parallels icon brings up the OS installation assistant.

In my users library there is nothing

In my Documents area I have parallels folder but nothing in it.

Ths was the situation I was in yesterday but I did a search under pvs in spotlight and got the parallels file. But not there now.

The one thing I did yesterday when in parallels was to uncheck the 'open at login' option in the dock.

Chris

 

Something may be messed up in Spotlight or for some reason it may not have indexed your entire drive. Go to versiontracker.com, download and EasyFind, then search for Parallels.

David

 

Thanks David

Tried this. Still no results. Except it brought up a bug report "Problem report - Start" txt file which it tells me to send to Parallels Software Intl Inc which I now have.

Dont know if that will help

 

It will help fix the bug, if there is one, but it won't help solve your immediate problem.

Just to be clear: An EasyFind search for the word "Parallels" turned up nothing? Does a Spotlight search for files ending in .hdd turn up anything? Also, when you say you have looked in Users, have you also looked in ~/Library (where ~ stands for your home directory)?

It might help if you give the details of your setup.

David

 

You might look for and download Disk Inventory X.app, which shows the contents of your drive(s) graphically. You should have a big blob for the .hdd file show up somewhere. Grandperspective does something similar, but won't show unused areas (which is why I use Disk Inventory).

Jim

 

I don't know if this applies to your situation, but is it possible that you installed a new version of parallels at some point recently? It is possible that your dock icon was pointing to an older version of parallels. Once you upgrade, you might have to start parallels from its folder and then right click to keep the icon in the dock. You can erase the old dock icon with the question mark.

 

Thanks David and Jim

I have 4 parallels folders:
1. Parallels deskstop; quick guide; user guide; image tool; transporter and transporter user guide. If I click on desktop icon. It brings up Parallels Desktop Start screen with stopped in red. If I click start it brings up the os installer screen

 

2. The next parallels folder has: Parallels; PVSnatd; pvsnic.kext and startupparameters.plist: all of which looks very interesting. The parallels icon is just a square box and if I click it says there is no default application specified to open it.
Could this be the Holy Grail I'm looking for??
3. Bugreports; help; licences and tools
4. Transporter log

 

Folder 2 above I have found in my Hard Disk/Library/Startups/Parallels
I might have initially saved this in the wrong place, if it is what I'm looking for.
How do I get it to work/associate it to an application.

 

Reinstalling Parallels should be relatively easy. That isn't the major issue.

The key thing you need is your .hdd file, as that's where your precious data is. If you've managed to trash that, then there's not a lot you can do to recover it.

Silly question: Are you logged in as the same user that you were when you installed the VM?

 

Hi Alan

I have one .hdd file which when I click to open gives me the error message:

Unable to open VM configuration
file/Users/christopherthomas/Documents/Parallels/Microsoft Windows XP/winxp.hdd!

Now I'm not sure if this is my old file as today I partly reinstalled Parallels. ie I put in the registration code but did not go as far as putting in xp. In case I lost my original

As I'm new to Macs, but improving, I'm not sure I installed in Parallels in the correctly in the first place.

Howver yesterday I could find it by doing a search of .pvs files.

 

Guard that .hdd file with your life! It probably contains your data. Where is it in your file system?

My guess is there isn't a winxp.pvs file in the same folder as the winxp.hdd file? Parallels needs the .pvs file in order to know the VM configuration.

If not, then you need to create a new xp VM. That should create a folder called winxp in your ~/Documents/Parallels/ folder. In that folder will be a new winxp.hdd file and a fresh winxp.pvs file. Quit Parallels, and copy the old .hdd file you've found into the new VM folder, replacing the new one. The try double clicking the ~/Documents/Parallels/winxp.hdd file.

Note that ~/ means your Home folder - the one with our user name and a little house icon in the Finder.

 

Alan

I have done all that. If I double click .hddI get the following message:
There is no default application specified to open the document "winxp.hdd"

Chris

 

Why is there an 'I' on the end of your .hdd? The file we're looking for is winxp.hdd. There should be no other characters on the end of the file name, otherwise that is exactly the error message you will receive.

 

'I' is a typo!

 

So - a quick recap:

1. You tried double clicking a .hdd file in post #13 and got:

"Unable to open VM configuration
file/Users/christopherthomas/Documents/Parallels/Microsoft Windows XP/winxp.hdd"

That error means that Parallels tried to open the file and failed.

2. You tried double clicking a copy of the same file in post #15 and you got:

"There is no default application specified to open the document "winxp.hdd"

That error means the .hdd file extension was not even recognised by OS X as being a Parallels file, so Parallels didn't even get to look at it.

I am at a loss. The above sequence does not compute. Either Parallels disappeared from your hard drive between posts 13 and 15, or the winxp.hdd file's filename extension has been corrupted.

 

Hi Alan

I am back with the message:

"Unable to open VM configuration
file/Users/christopherthomas/Documents/Parallels/Microsoft Windows XP/winxp.hdd!"

Sorry for any confusion

 

The reason I get two different messages depends on how I try and open the .hdd file. If I do a spotlight search and double the .hse .hdd file file Parallels tries to open. If I go through finder to the specific file and double click I get the default error message.

This happens with two hdd files I have I'm assuming one is the original and the other is from when I set up the virtual machine again.