I moved VM folder to 'Users\Shared' - HELP!

D

dhodges00

Bit poster
Bad move on my part. I inadvertently had followed a Parallels 2 or 3 post, wanting to share Parallels 6 (and Windows 7) with my wife's User account on our iMac.

I moved the VM folder from my Parallels (under my User account) to a 'Users \ Shared \ Parallels' folder.
Next thing I know, all Parallels folders (both mine and Shared) are empty.
Same thing in Time Machine - no files or sub-folders in Parallels folder.

I had little to no access to Parallels now, let alone Windows 7.

Re-installed both programs (setting up a new VM in Parallels).
Named new VM 'Windows 7 1' (old 'Windows 7' was still listed, but unavailable for use - "missing files or virtual machine missing or deleted")
Also, no ".pvm" or ".hdd" files could be found under Spotlight on the Mac or in Time Machine (?!!?). Thus, the reinstall.
Once I knew Windows 7 1 was seeming to boot up, I 'Removed' the original Windows 7 VM.

Now however, all of my Windows apps (Quicken 2011 and others) don't show up in the new VM. If I double click them by finding them in 'Finder', I get the error message that they belong to another Virtual Machine that is missing.

Tried to start Transporter Agent (Windows) along with Transporter app for Mac, but Agent wouldn't accept my user ID or password (or any combination I could think of).

Sorry for the long post, and I think I'm basically facing a matter of re-installing any of my Windows programs I want to use.

Maybe my basic question is - - how much disk space am I wasting with old VM data and files that don't work residing on my hard drive?
Or better yet, is there an 'easy' fix to this broken VM issue of mine?

I'm confused to say the least - - thanks for any responses
 
Bump & update ...

I was able to find my prior ".pvm" file in Time Machine - due to a new problem this issue has caused.
Time Machine has now deleted 10 months of backed up files of mine!
There is a "Windows 7" Parallels folder and .pvm file(s) in my Users\Shared directory (though they did not show up when I looked at that Parallels folder in the Finder.

As described in my OP, I now have a myriad of VM files due to my needing to re-install Parallels and Windows and creating a new VM (now titled "Windows 7 1")

HOW CAN I MERGE THESE TWO VMS SO AS TO GET RID OF THE EXCESSIVE FILES THAT ARE CAUSING MY BACKUPS TO GO AWAY.
* *(In the meantime I intend to turn off Time Machine's backup or at least the backup of the Shared folder until I get this sorted out)

Thank you for any replies.
 
FIrst of all move old pvm file to FInder from the Time Machine and better backup it in some safe location (e.g external harddrive).

Have no idea where did it go - maybe you have removed it by an accident.
Regarding the merge idea - you are not able to merge machines - just transfer files from the one you don't need to one your are going to use and delete the first one. To transfer files you can mount both pvm files to Finder (right-click and choose Open with -> Parallels Mounter).

And regarding Windows application icons - all links to windows applications are stored in /User/Applications(Parallels).
Make sure you see only relevant applications there (connected to the virtual machine you are going to use).

To make you understand what is the virtual machine in general:

PVM file has HDD file inide it - it is Virtual Hard Drive. THis hard drive contains all the data, applications and windows OS itself. If you loose pvm file or hdd file - you loose all information stored inside the virtual machine, so keep it safe.
 
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