Uninstall virtual machine OR parallels desktop app OR both?

[Jana1]

I am a bit confused which to uninstall - I have decided to stop using parallels altogether as I am lately only using the windows office anyways.
If I need to remove both, what's the order?
I am guessing files are saved in virtual machine, not really in parallels desktop?

 

[Ram@Parallels]

Hello Jana1,
You can uninstall Parallels Desktop for Mac by following the steps suggested at http://kb.parallels.com/122653 and if you want to uninstall/delete a virtual machine in Parallels Desktop for Mac follow the steps suggested at http://kb.parallels.com/5029

 

[Jana1]

Thanks, Ram. I found those articles, but apparently I don't really understand how Parallels work. I want a complete uninstall, but don't want to erase microsoft office word files from my computer. So, in what order do I proceed and how to keep office files?

 

[RamyaS]

Hi Jana1,
If you need Windows Microsoft word file on your Mac , please have the files of your Windows Virtual machine mounted on Mac Finder as given below :
To restore some of your Windows files:
1. From within the Finder (and not within Time Machine), locate the backup copy of your virtual machine's file (PVM) on your backup disk.
2. Right-click the file, and choose Show Package Contents.
3. In the virtual machine contents window, right-click the virtual hard disk file (HDD) that is usually named <VirtualMachine'sName>.hdd. and choose Open With > Parallels Mounter.
4. Using Parallels Mounter, browse the contents of your virtual machine's hard disk to find the files you need to restore.
Note : You can use Parallels Mounter when Parallels Desktop is installed on your Mac.
Then you can copy the Windows files on to another location of Mac hard disk or any other external drive and remove Parallels Desktop from your Mac.