The unattended answer file contains an invalid product key.

[John E]

I'm trying to create my first Windows 7 VM with Parallels desktop 5.0. I get to the familiar Setup is starting... page quite quickly but then everything grinds to a halt and I see this message box displayed:-

The unattended answer file contains an invalid product key. Either remove the invalid key or provide a valid product key in the unattended answer file to proceed with Windows installation.

I'm taking this to mean that I must have mis-typed my Windows Product Key when I first started creating the VM. Where do I find this Unattended Answer File to check/correct it?

 

[John E]

It's okay. I found the answer here:-

http://kb.parallels.com/en/6955

BTW, is it possible to select a pre-existing Windows partition to be the image for the virtual machine? I don't necessarily mean a Boot Camp partition because my particular Mac is running several copies of Windows independently of Boot Camp (in fact, Boot Camp isn't even involved. I had to take it out of the equation because it only seemed to support one Windows volume).

I've figured out from the Setup process that I can either select a Boot Camp Windows volume OR I can do a fresh install. What if I want to use some other (already existing) Windows volume that's not under the control of Boot Camp?