Happy new Fusion user wants to import Parallels VM

[tirmidi]

I have a fully configured Windows XP SP2 Parallels VM with all my legacy apps. Can anyone suggest how best to bring this over for use by VMWare, assuming this is possible?

(BTW, I am sure I'll need to do a repair install to get the drivers properly sorted)

I'm reasonably competant, so don't need all the i's dotted and the t's crossed.

As an alternative, is is possible to configure more than one virtual hard drive visible within a given instance of VMWare? I successfully set up Vista RC1 64 bit edition.

Thanks very much in advance folks.

Message was edited by:

tirmidi

[admin]

I know this is a long road but here is a possible work around to this

1. Back up the VM

2. Download and install vmware converter inside of the VM while it is running

http://www.vmware.com/products/beta/converter/

3. Uninstall the Parallels tools in the VM

4. reboot the vm

5. run the Physical to Virtual option in the vmware converter and set the destination of the VM to your local machine

6. Try powering on the VM in Fusion.

[tirmidi]

Followup: given that I'll likely have to fiddle around with drivers, should I boot from the CD when launching Fusion, and go through the repair install process? Or will the drivers that work inside Parallels also work in Fusion?

Message was edited by:

tirmidi

Message was edited by:

tirmidi

[bgertzfield]

It's likely that you'll have to do some fiddling to disable Parallels' drivers, so booting from CD initially sounds like a good plan. Please let us know if you have success!

[tirmidi]

1. Back up the VM

2. Download and install vmware converter inside of

the VM while it is running

http://www.vmware.com/products/beta/converter/

3. Uninstall the Parallels tools in the VM

4. reboot the vm

5. run the Physical to Virtual option in the vmware

converter and set the destination of the VM to your

local machine

6. Try powering on the VM in Fusion.

I followed steps 1-4, and launched the converter. It ran fine (although complained about a background service not running). However, after reading all the help files, it appears that one cannot clone/convert the virtual machine on which the converter is running; you must do a "cold clone" by running the converter from a bootable CD while the virtual/physical machine isn't running. However, the converter is only available as a beta download, and I can find no link for a converter iso.

It does appear that if I had a Ghost or Symantec Backup Exec image of my Parallels VM installation, I could run the converter within Fusion, and import the image. However, I don't have either program.

The most elegant solution would be to add the capability to the converter to recognize and convert Parallels VM's,just as it does VirtualPC files.

May I put in my vote for such a feature, especially as it does appear that VMWare is taking specific aim at the Mac Desktop market?

Message was edited by:

tirmidi

[sbjoe]

I'm looking to do the same thing. I'm out of town for the holidays, but just found this shareware called MakeVM? It sounds like it might work for transferring parallels to vmware and vice versa.

http://www.sysdevsoftware.com/soft/makevm.php

[rcardona2k]

This look intruiguing. Maybe you can try it and give us a report on how it worked for you.

[tirmidi]

...just found this shareware called

MakeVM? It sounds like it might work for transferring

parallels to vmware and vice versa.

http://www.sysdevsoftware.com/soft/makevm.php

Got it. What a great find! I have a conversion currently underway (it takes a loooong time as I have a rather large VM). Initial observations:

1) It appears that MakeVM ideally wants to convert an expanding hdd, as it did not immediately recognize my non-expanding one. However, using the "custom clone" feature, you can apparently treat a non-expanding hdd as "flat" (whatever that means). I'm in the process of doing just that. Meanwhile, I am also converting the non-expanding to expanding using Parallels image tool, in case the first doesn't work. That too takes a long time.

2) Obviously, since MakeVM runs under Windows, it's necessary to make a copy of your VM under MacOS, and then put it in a shared drive or folder where Windows can access it.

3) I think the suggestion to remove Parallels Tools before converting is very sensible, and I did it.

4) MakeVM warns that you may need to do a repair install of XP when trying to run the converted VM in Fusion--just as had been suspected.

5) The shared folders feature in Fusion seems only partially implemented, and I can find no way to access my actual hard drives or folders thereon. However, the USB2 implementation works perfectly, so I will transfer my newly converted VMs using an external drive.

I will let you know the results after several hours