How to delete one VM, and archive the other, if Parallels subscription is expired?

Discussion in 'General Questions' started by Byte99, Jun 13, 2021.

  1. Byte99

    Byte99 Bit poster

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    I use Parallels intermittently, so I only purchase a subscription as needed (specifically, when a project requries I use a program only available in Windows) . I'm running MacOS 10.13.6, and have an expired copy of Parallels 15.1.4 with two VM's, both of which have Windows 10.
    I'd like to delete one VM, and maximally compact the other (so that, when I need it again, I won't have to reinstall Windows). Each is currently ~35 GB.
    My Parallels subscription is expired, so I can't do either of these within Parallels.
    I tried delting the one I wanted to delete, and it no longer shows up in Parallels, but it's still in ~/Parallels, and taking up ~35 GB of space. Can I simply move that .pvm file to the trash?
    And is it possible to compact the other one to minimium size without using Parallels?
     
  2. Byte99

    Byte99 Bit poster

    Messages:
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    More specifically, for the one I want to keep, I can Reclaim 6.43 GB of space. However, I've read there's an Archive option (though I haven't found it) that allows one to reduce the space the VM takes up even more, so that's what I'd ideally like to do.
    upload_2021-6-13_23-1-0.png

    From: https://kb.parallels.com/123553
    "If you seldom use a virtual machine or don't use it at all, Archive it using the virtual machine context menu in Parallels Desktop Control Center to make the virtual machine occupy significantly less disk space on Mac's hard disk."
    Finally, there's an option in Finder to Compress the .pvm file, but I don't know the effects of doing that vs. using the Archive function.
     
  3. Byte99

    Byte99 Bit poster

    Messages:
    4
    Please ignore my first two posts (unfortunately, this forum doesn't give me the ability to edit them). In playing with Parallels, it suddenly gave me the opportunity to update, after which it offered me a two-week free trial; this option was not available earlier). So I was able to remove one of the VM's.

    Thus my question is about the 2nd VM, which I want to keep: Upon further reading, I realized that the Archive function is only available on the Pro/business versions, which I don't have. Thus, my only option within Parallels is to reclaim the disk space, which I have done. But I could make the VM file smaller still by compressing the .pvm, in Finder, into a zip file. Question: Is it safe to do this? I.e., if I uncompress the .pvm, will it work?
     

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