Starting Parallels on Boot?

A

alexnegvesky

Bit poster
I would like to be able to start a parallels virtual machine when my machine boots or reboots, without a user having logged in. Essentially I'd like parallels to start up with the system services, so that my Linux VM is always available. I've tried using Lingon, but it only seems to work once a user is logged in. I suppose I could use auto-login if I had to, but I'd like to avoid that (security, etc.)

Has anybody figured out a way to do this with OS X and Parallels without a user being logged in?
 
alexnegvesky said:
I would like to be able to start a parallels virtual machine when my machine boots or reboots, without a user having logged in. Essentially I'd like parallels to start up with the system services, so that my Linux VM is always available. I've tried using Lingon, but it only seems to work once a user is logged in. I suppose I could use auto-login if I had to, but I'd like to avoid that (security, etc.)

Has anybody figured out a way to do this with OS X and Parallels without a user being logged in?
Click to expand...

Parallels is a GUI application and needs a display. That requires a local login or a remote login through something like VNC or Apple Remote. I can see where a command line interface for starting Linux or Solaris on an unattended system would be nice, though.
 
Looks like I'll just use auto-login and setup parallels as a login item, then automatically lock the screen. Not a terrible solution I suppose.
 
I dug into this a bit deeper and found this command line will in fact start Parallels and, if the VM is configured to autostart, then that will start too:

"/Applications/Parallels/Parallels Desktop.app/Contents/MacOS/Parallels" /Users/username/library/parallels/winxp/winxp.pvs

This is all one line and is wrapped here. The first part is wrapped in quotes because of the space character in the command line string. Replace username with the actual user account where the VM is installed or replace the entire path as needed.

If this command were installed in the OS X startup scripts I am certain it will work I've not tried it but what the hell, what can go wrong? I don't know what will pop up on the screen if anything, but it's worth a try.
 
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dkp said:
If this command were installed in the OS X startup scripts I am certain it will work I've not tried it but what the hell, what can go wrong? I don't know what will pop up on the screen if anything, but it's worth a try.
Click to expand...

It depends on how Parallels is implemented - you may find it requires a connection to the window server (or the console of a currently logged in user). Give it a whirl, see what happens. Generally speaking, my Parallels startup scripts haven't finished executing until well after my machine has loaded and I've logged in. My solution for production boxes at work is to create a limited "Parallels" account that auto-logs in and has the Parallels app in it's login items. The VM is then set to start automatically - works a treat :)
 
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