Is it possible to install Parallels so that different users on the same computer can all use it? Can the install be in a root level Library folder instead of a particular user's library folder?
Not really a reply, but a follow up question: could I create a symbolic link from one install to a different user's Library folder?
A VM can be shared across accounts. All you need to do is set the permissions of the directory and the files that make up the VM so that all desired users can access them read / write. The easiest way to do this is to place the VM in the /users/shared folder, and adjust permissions appropriately. If you move a VM to a shared directory, you will have to adjust the path(s) to the virtual disk(s) in the .pvs file as well. This can be done from the Parallels console. Since the VM must be read / write, placing it in the system library is a really bad idea since that is a place for protected system files, not user files.
This sounds promising but I can't get it to work. How does one set the path in the Parallels console when, as soon as you start Parallels (with the virtual disks moved to the correct location in the Shared folder), it doesn't recognize that it has a VM installed? It then asks to create a new one (no, I don't want to do that!), and if I cancel the entire application just quits. So I never have a chance to set the path. Nice little vicious circle.
Put the entire VM in the shared folder, and double click the .pvs file. If it won't let you edit, just edit the.pvs file in Text Edit. If all else fails, change the target VM location in Parallels preferences, create a new VM without installing an OS, and move a copy of your .hdd into it.
how to do this? I cannot find a .hdd file -- is there one, when I am running from a boot camp installation? I can set the permissions on the folder holding the .pvs file to r/w, and I can change the .pvs file itself to r/w, but should I apply r/w permissions to the folder's enclosed items? The only things I see in there are applications, and no .hdd? Thanks! Bob
Parallels is a single-user application in that one and only one user can use a particular VM at any one time. You can install multiple VM's on a particular machine, properly licensed, of course, and any single user can use any particular VM. You can install a centrally located VM hdd file and have multiple users access it, but again, one at a time. You can probably even hack the pvs files to create multiple installs owned by mulitple users, but this is going to be so corruptible so fast it's not worth doing. But ask yourself what you're trying to do. If you would like to have a Linux session running that multiple concurrent users can get to then yes, that is very possible with Parallels but thanks mostly to true multiuser Unix. To a lesser extent this is also true for Windows. This only requires a single installation of a Linux or Windows VM, and a single owner of the virtualization processes. Here's what sux about the whole process though... Parallels (and independently, VMWare) have decided that the Mac version of their products are end-user oriented, meaning they are not intended to satisfy your requirement. The Parallels processes and the Fusion processes run as an end-user owned environment, and that end user owns everything to do with the virtual machine. That end user also has to be logged in to start them. Accounts within any virtual machine can be created and accessed by any authorized users, but don't think for a moment this is anything like a true data center virtual machine environment where you have a true management console for managing multiple VM's. Multiple users can use the VM's to the degree that that VM's support multiple concurrent users (cya, Windows), but Parallels/Fusion are tied to a single user. What would be cool is for Parallels/Fusion to run on a true Intel Mac server, launch from startup scripts, run as an admin-level VM manager account, and have concurrent VM's running using all available cores and apportioned RAM, and have a central management console to be used to control each VM. But that's not going to happen.
what Im sorry but I don't even understand your answer. Did you understand my question? All I want to know is -- why do I not have an .hdd file, is that because I'm using a Boot Camp/Parallels setup? I don't have any fancy requirements and I'm not asking for Parallels to do more than it is intended. I simply created the virtual machine setup within one user account, but now I want to use it from a new account. Not more than one at a time, in fact I only need it to be accessible from the new account. I don't need access from the old account anymore. My question was just about how to set the permissions on the folder containing the .pvs file and its contents, and whether or not it is a problem that I do not seem to have an .hdd file. Thanks to anyone with information on this. Bob
