Migrating a Parallels install to another machine...

S

sambront

Bit poster
I am using Parallels on an XP machine to run Xubuntu, and I have a question about transfering this install to another machine.

See, I've spent alot of time getting the install just the way I like it on a Thinkpad T41. My question is, can I just zip up the .hdd file, bring it home, and run it on my Dell laptop? Or the desktop I built myself? Or a Mac?

The way I understand it, Parallels "fakes" the computer parts like a videocard, or network adapter, or whatever. So theoritically I should be able to just bring my install home and run it on a computer that is totally different than my Thinkpad.

Is this possible? Does anybody do it? And I know I could test it out myself, and plan to, but figured I might as well check to see if there is any hidden issues that I would not pick up on right away.

Thanks.
 
If you are just moving the .hdd file and recreate the virtual machine exactly alike on your other computers, you should have no trouble transporting your install wherever you want.
It is like having two exact same computers and switching the hdd. ;)
 
Thanks...

I would be moving both the ".hdd" and ".pvs" from (let's say) a Thinkpad to a MacBook.

lyb said:
If you are just moving the .hdd file and recreate the virtual machine exactly alike on your other computers, you should have no trouble transporting your install wherever you want.
It is like having two exact same computers and switching the hdd. ;)
Click to expand...
 
The only issue you are likely to have to deal with is that the paths on the two machines may be different. If that's the case, you will have to edit the VM configuration so it points to the .hdd file(s). This applies to moving from your Thinkpad to another Windows hosted machine.

If you are moving to a Mac, you may (I haven't tried this) have to reinstall Parallels tools. It might be safer to uninstall the tools from a copy before you move. It's possible this isn't necessary, but I haven't used both platforms. PC to PC or Mac to Mac is simple.

If you have the hardware, why don't you just try it? Then you'll be the expert, and can tell the rest of us. I would guess that if it starts and makes a network connection, you can be pretty sure it's working properly. But of course only doing the experiment will tell us for sure.
 
*.PVS file could be a little different under different platforms. I suggest to move HDD and create new *.PVS on destination platform. It should work fine.
 
Thanks...

@joem: Currently I am doing this, transfering from one Thinkpad to another, and everything seems to be fine. I was asking just to make sure that even though everything *looked* fine, it wasn't messing something up. So I can confim that it works over two simular platforms. I actually don't have a mac to test this out with.

@Andrew: Thanks, that's cool. Makes my life easier!
 
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