Process for Upgrading Windows OS??????

J

judger48193

Member
I have done a bit more research on updating my Win 2000 Professional OS -> Win XP Professional. This IS the only upgrade path that I have to preserve my current apps and only upgrade the Windows OS to a more current version.

But first my environment. I currently have this Win 2000 guest OS on my iMac that is running OS 10.5.8 in a virtual machine called "Microsoft Windows 2000". I am running it under Parallels Desktop 3.0 for Mac. I have absolutely NO wish to upgrade the Parallels or iMac version until I successfully upgrade the Windows OS. Involves too many changes and too much risk.

Now I have questions purely related to how I do such an upgrade on Parallels.

My strategy is to:

- Backup the current Win 2000 guest OS called "Microsoft Windows 2000"
- Use the existing or old copy to create a new guest OS called, let's say, "Microsoft Windows XP Professional", using a Win XP Professional Upgrade CD"
- Test the new upgrade for all functionality before committing to the new Win XP guest OS

My Parallels specific questions are:

1) How do I backup the old guest OS? - Do I use the Parallels Menu tab File - > Clone and can I place the clone or backup on the iMac disk in the directory Users -> My user name -> Documents -> Parallels directory folder along side the old guest OS folder?

2) How do I rename the old guest OS to, let's say, "Microsoft Windows XP Professional" before testing?

3) Will I now see 2 guest OS disks on my iMac Desktop with the names "Microsoft Windows 2000" and "Microsoft Windows XP Professional"?

4) Any gotchas I should be aware of?

Your valuable input, comments and suggestions would be GREATLY appreciated. Thank you.
 
Moderator/Vendor Discussion Responsibilities?????

I am a bit new to this discussion board. On other discussion sites I am accustomed to having a reasonably knowledgeable moderator comment on sane questions within an acceptable time frame. In the case of a product-specific discussion board like this, I would expect some reasonable level of vendor involvement in answering product specific questions, especially since all posts seem to be reviewed by the vendor before allowing them to post. Previous experience on limited questions on this board has not answered what the etiquette is here.

It seems like my specific question about how to use Parallels tools and capabilities when upgrading a Windows guest OS (probably a vast majority of the virtual environments under Parallels) to a newer version should gain a fair number of helpful posts. What am I missing?
 
judger48193 said:
...

I figured out how to rename a virtual machine, so I have modified the questions. I also changed questions/comments to do the Win XP Pro upgrade to the new or cloned OS.
Click to expand...


Questions purely related to how I do such an upgrade to a Parallels guest OS.

My strategy is to:

- Backup the current Win 2000 Pro guest OS called "Microsoft Windows 2000"
- Use the new copy of the guest OS to create an upgraded guest OS called, let's say, "Microsoft Windows XP Professional", by applying the Microsoft Win XP Professional Upgrade CD
- Test the new upgrade for all functionality before committing to the new Win XP Pro guest OS

My Parallels specific questions are:

1) How do I backup the old guest OS? -
1a) Do I on the stopped old guest VM use the Parallels Menu tab File - > Clone?
1b) When cloning the old OS can I place the clone or backup on the iMac disk in the same iMac directory structure but different folder as the old guest VM located at Users -> My user name -> Documents -> Parallels directory folder?

2) After the cloning:
2a) Will I now see 2 Parallels Desktop icons on my iMac Desktop, one each for the "Microsoft Windows 2000" and the newly created "Clone of Microsoft Windows 2000" virtual machines?
2b) How can I tell them apart?

3) Can I then start the new "Clone of Microsoft Windows 2000" by clicking on the appropriate Parallels Desktop icon on my iMac Desktop, hold down the Cmd key to stop it as it boots and then rename the new guest OS using VM Configuration on the stopped machine to, say, "Microsoft Windows XP Professional"?

4) Then do my Microsoft Win XP Pro upgrade thing on the new "Microsoft Windows XP Professional" clone.

5) Any gotchas I should be aware of?



Your valuable input, comments and suggestions would be GREATLY appreciated. Thank you.
 
Hi judger48193,

to your questions:
1a. You can do it either by closing or by simply copying .hdd file with virtual machine to another locatin on the hard drive.
1b. When cloning VM, you will be able to select destination for VM being cloned. See page 237 of Parallels Desktop 3 for Mac user guide.
2a. No, unless you will start using newly cloned virtual machine.
2b. Guess, by name.
3. You will be able to start "Clone of Microsoft Windows 2000" VM by clicking the respective VM or its alias on the Desktop. Then you can hold down CMD key, stop VM and rename it.
4. Yes.
5. No.

Before upgrading from Windows 2000 to Windows XP, it makes sence to check if such upgrade is possible: link here . For example:
Windows 2000 Professional, SP1, SP2 and SP3 can be upgraded to Windows XP Professional only. The windows 2000 professional cd-rom is taken as valid install media to do a 'clean' install using an upgrade version of XP Home.
 
I-che, I really appreciate your reply. Other than creating the original Win 2000 Pro VM a couple years ago (worked really well), my expertise with Parallels is limited. I had originally hoped that Parallels would be a temporary transition to my iMac environment, however, due to limited app availability and new apps I want/need, this has proved incorrect. This makes my Windows environment ABSOLUTELY CRITICAL to my continued PC life.

If I may get a few clarifications to your answers. New questions are next to your responses in color.

I-che said:
Hi judger48193,

to your questions:
1a. You can do it either by closing or by simply copying .hdd file with virtual machine to another locatin on the hard drive. Any advantage or disadvantage to either approach? If I copy, there seem to be a number of other files/folders in the old directory (Win2000.mem,Win2000.pvs,Windows Applications,Windows Disks), these need to be copied as well?
1b. When cloning VM, you will be able to select destination for VM being cloned. See page 237 of Parallels Desktop 3 for Mac user guide.
2a. No, unless you will start using newly cloned virtual machine. Reading the User Manual on "Opening Virtual Machines", it looks like Parallels will ask me which VM I want to use, only if I cloned it, correct?
2b. Guess, by name. Reading "Using Aliases for Virtual Machines", it looks like I can create an VM alias by dragging the title of an open VM to the iMac Desktop so that I can just click on the one I want to run, correct?
3. You will be able to start "Clone of Microsoft Windows 2000" VM by clicking the respective VM or its alias on the Desktop. Then you can hold down CMD key, stop VM and rename it.
4. Yes.
5. No.

Before upgrading from Windows 2000 to Windows XP, it makes sence to check if such upgrade is possible: link here . For example:
Windows 2000 Professional, SP1, SP2 and SP3 can be upgraded to Windows XP Professional only. The windows 2000 professional cd-rom is taken as valid install media to do a 'clean' install using an upgrade version of XP Home. I am almost positive that the only upgrade path for Win 2000 Pro while preserving old apps/data is to go to Win XP Pro so I am waiting for a Win XP Pro Upgrade purchased on eBay (NOT easy to get). I need to upgrade versus creating a clean install since I do not have the Win 2000 Pro CD or some apps for the PC originally built for me by a consultant.
Click to expand...
 
Hi judger48193,

to 1a:
No noticeable advantages or disadvantages. .mem and .pvs files will be recreated when you create new VM from copied .hdd.

to 2a:
Frankly speaking, I don't remember exact behaviour of PD version 3 in such case. Not sure, sorry.

to 2b:
yes.
 
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