Installing on an external drive

P

pwrmacbob

Bit poster
I am new to this product. I would like to install the Windows XP Guest on an external Firewire drive. Is this possible? If so, how? There doesn't seem to be a way to select it in the Windows install. One of the sysadmins where I work says he sees no reason why this should not be able to be done...it is just another file on the system.
PS. I would install the Parallels software on the boot volume. I just want the Windows software (guest) on an exteral drive.
 
pwrmacbob said:
I am new to this product. I would like to install the Windows XP Guest on an external Firewire drive. Is this possible? If so, how? There doesn't seem to be a way to select it in the Windows install. One of the sysadmins where I work says he sees no reason why this should not be able to be done...it is just another file on the system.
PS. I would install the Parallels software on the boot volume. I just want the Windows software (guest) on an exteral drive.
Click to expand...

I am presently running Boot Camp.
BUT, if I remember when I first installed 1970 when it first came out, I initially installed the virtual drive on the internal.
After everything was installed, I copied it over to my external.
I launched Parallels and entered Edit Virtual Machine and pointed to the location of the VM.hdd

ajm
 
But when you do the Windows install (which I haven't completed yet) are you installing on the internal drive and then moving the copy of Windows to the external? Is Windows just another file in the Parallels folder?
 
pwrmacbob said:
But when you do the Windows install (which I haven't completed yet) are you installing on the internal drive and then moving the copy of Windows to the external? Is Windows just another file in the Parallels folder?
Click to expand...

If you are creating a VM image and not a Boot Camp install the VM HD is just another file on your machine and may be copied anywhere you desired; even a USB drive.

ajm
 
So...first I install Parallels software on my boot volume. Then I start up Parallels and install Windows, which is put in a folder in my home directory (~/parallels or whatever)? Then I can quit out of Parallels and move that folder to a firewire external drive? Or do I move that folder before installing Windows? Sorry for the ignorance!
 
What I did was install Parallels software on boot drive, then copied ~/Library/parallels folder to an external Firewire drive. Deleted the originals, clicked on winxp.pvs from the firewire drive and installed Windows XP. Thanks for all the help! Works great so far...even with my companies VPN. Now I can get rid of the 1990's HP Vectra XL with a pentium 2 processor that my company gave me for on call work. Yikes!
 
You need to use the Parallels custom install option. On the page where you name the VM there is a More Options link. In that page you can select where you want the VM installed. It should be possible to install it on a thumb drive if you have one with enough capacity.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top