Windows applications and file storage location on MAC

[wingworm]

Hello,

Where does VMware store windows files and applications on the MAC? I know I can right click the image icon and select "Show Package Content" but this is just a shortcut to open windows apps. My fear is if Outlook or vmware crashes how can I at least get my .PST files to reinstal onto another image. Is there another location on the MAC for installed applications? If it is a flat file then how will I extract data from it?

Thanks

[admin]

Where does VMware store windows files and applications on the MAC?

With the exception of Boot Camp VMs (which store data on the Boot Camp partition), data is kept in large opaque .vmdk files.

I know I can right click the image icon and select "Show Package Content" but this is just a shortcut to open windows apps.

I'm not sure what you mean, Show Package Contents is unrelated to "open windows apps" (this is also ambiguous)

My fear is if Outlook or vmware crashes how can I at least get my .PST files to reinstal onto another image. Is there another location on the MAC for installed applications? If it is a flat file then how will I extract data from it?

You could connect the .vmdk as a secondary disk to another VM. Other VMware products have the ability to mount a .vmdk, but Fusion does not currently have this capability.

[rcardona2k]

Some of these questions are answered in

Depending on the virtual disk file format you chose, your Windows files are in a flat virtual .VMDK or split out over several .VMDKs. There is no way on a Mac to currently mount these VMDKs. You can mount an offline VMDK in another virtual machine using VMware's Disk Mount utility but that's usually beyond most user's knowledge.

If you're concerned about backing up your PC files, either make entire backups of the virtual machine (the bundle) or backup files through networking or VMware Shared Folders. You can schedule regular backups of your files to OS X, including your Outlook .pst, in case there is any problem. Setting up sharing is in Fusion's Help menu item (version 1.1) or described in the beginner's guide.

[Mac_hatter]

When I tried to backup a BootCamp (Vista) installation with Acronis TI11, "no mac support" but they thought it would work with a Fusion VM. Norton Ghost also - if you want a "native" Windows backup/image yes? rather than OS X copy. Not sure why I'd want to use TI or Ghost under Fusion (then why did Parallels bundle Acronis with their package?).