How do I remove old VM installations? Parallels tools install warn with Boot Camp

M

mattr2

Junior Member
I am running Parallels Build 5584 on Mac OSX 10.5.1. (Leopard). I had some troubles with Paralles when I ugraded to Leopard so I decided to try running Parallels from a Boot camp partition due to some networking and printer sharing challenges I experienced when connected to a windows network. I am using a new 2.8 GHz Dual Core iMac, loaded with 4 GB ram, 500 GB HDD.

Once I installed win xp pro through Boot Camp and assigned Parallels to the Boot Camp VM install all my woes went away. This system is a dream come true and parallels is operating beautifully. I have the awesomeness of Mac OS, with the necessity of Windows in a business user setting. Network connections are stable, file sharing works, printers are working (they are all IP network printers though.) Who could ask for anything more?

Now that the new VM is working, I still have the old VMs installed on my HDD. I do not need the first VM and get prompted which to boot to every time I reboot the system. So, how do I remove the VM file that is no longer needed?

Also, one oddity is the software warns me that Parallels tools is being installed each time I start windows. It has been telling me that the last 10 or so restarts. I would think that should be a 1 time warning/process.


Q1) How do I remove old/unneeded VM installations?

Q2) Should I continue to get warned about Parallels tools install each time I restart by Boot Camp partition/vm installation in Parallels?

Any help is greatly appreciated.
 
Hello,

1. Please open the VM you want to remove, then click 'File' -> 'Delete' in menubar. It will remove all the information on your VM.
2. When you shut down your bootcamped VM, Parallels Desktop uninstalls Parallels Tools from your VM. Parallels Tools are like a set of drivers needed to run Windows in virtualization mode. You cannot use these drivers in Boot Camp, because Boot Camp needs its own drivers. That is why it is necessary to uninstall Parallels Tools before shut down of the VM. And that is why Parallels Tools are being installed every time you start the VM.

Best regards,
Stacey
 
Thanks Stacey,

I was able to delete the old VM partition.

Your explanation tells me why it takes so long to shut down the VM every thime. I never run the XP installation from Boot Camp, but thought it wouod just be better this way for flexibility in the future.

Is there any way to allow parallels to load the boot camp partition to load automatically and NOT to be prompted for my admin password?

I apprecaite your help.
 
You can use 'suspend' button. It is like a sleep button. When you resume your VM after suspend, there will be no need for installing the Parallels Tools.

Regarding password issue: what password do you mean? The one in Windows, or the one in Mac OS?

Best regards,
Stacey
 
Whenever I start the VM, I get prompted by the MAC OS for my password much like getting prompted when installing new software.
 
mattr2 said:
Whenever I start the VM, I get prompted by the MAC OS for my password much like getting prompted when installing new software.
Click to expand...

As it should be (for a BootCamp-based VM).

To use BootCamp, Parallels needs direct access to your hard drive - so it needs the password to verify that you are an admin-enabled user. Otherwise someone could (e.g.) circulate a "trojan horse" VM which erased your hard drive, or a non-privileged user could craft a VM config file that let them read/write any file on the hard drive.

If you use a non-BootCamp VM, in which the "disc" is a regular OSX file, you won't get this prompt.
 
mattr2,
Parallels Desktop asks for admin password to gain root privileges. It is needed to be able to mount Boot Camp partition and to access it.

Best regards,
Stacey
 
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