Upgrade path for Parallels Desktop 5 to 10 on Mountain Lion?

[MartinC8]

I have a customer who has been using Parallels Desktop for Mac 5 in order to run a Windows XP version of a piece of software. Up until recently, the Mac has been running an older version of OSX, but they have now had to upgrade to Mountain Lion (with assistance from Apple Support).

Since the upgrade, Parallels Desktop 5 will no longer start and I can see from the Mac OS Host Compatibility article (http://kb.parallels.com/uk/114381) that this is because the minimum version supported on Mountain Lion is Parallels Desktop 8 and the most recent being Parallels Desktop 10..

My experience of Parallels Desktop is based on 2.5/3, so I am a little out of touch with the product and naturally have some (possibly dumb) questions...

1. Can a Parallels Desktop 12 license be used to install v10?
2. If not, is it still possible to purchase Parallels Desktop 10 for Mac (online or boxed)?
3. From what I can see, there isn't an upgrade path from v5 to v10. I assume this means an uninstall of 5 and a clean install of 10. What's the best way to ensure the Windows XP virtual machine will still work after a reinstall?

Any advice or guidance would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Raj@Parallels]

• Can a Parallels Desktop 12 license be used to install v10?

Parallels Desktop 12 license key can be activated with v12 only.

• If not, is it still possible to purchase Parallels Desktop 10 for Mac (online or boxed)?

Parallels Online Store only offers the latest version of Parallels Desktop. If you would like to buy any of the previous versions, please check if it is offered by your local resellers or authorized online resellers like Apple, Amazon etc.

• From what I can see, there isn't an upgrade path from v5 to v10. I assume this means an uninstall of 5 and a clean install of 10. What's the best way to ensure the Windows XP virtual machine will still work after a reinstall?

Windows virtual machine installed in Mac will be stored as a .pvm file. Unless until file got removed or corrupted it will work in any compatible version of Parallels Desktop.