run parallels vm in fusion?

[wngoju]

This would seem to be resonably straightforward? I'd like to try some parallels machines in fusion, rather than rebuild a bunch of stuff.

Thanks

b

[markats]

Why run one virtual machine inside another?

[bbezanson]

I don't believe you will see that feature (but I may be wrong). My reasoning would be that the majority of VM's are in either VMware or Microsoft format and Parallel's is still a very small segment.

That said, the latest beta of Parallels includes a tool to migrate/use VMware images -- so you can use VMware as the base for creating images/using images.

Brian

[markats]

silly me, i misunderstood the question. sorry.

[wngoju]

Thanks. Ya, but for the Mac, the Parallels segment is HUGE rt. now.

I have been a VMware guy for a long time. There are some issues with Parallels - they got some basic stuff working. There are some wierdnesses, such as their nat'ed network performance seems to be about an order of magnitude worse than bridged networking.

So I'd like the VMware thing to go. If Parallels can convert to P from VM, it must be straightforward to go the other way. The vm files are just text. So it's only the disk format...

Best

b

[RDPetruska]

>If Parallels can convert to P from VM, it must be straightforward to go the other way. The vm files are just text. So it's only the disk format...

Not necessarily. VMware opened up their vmdk format, so other people have been able to write tools to convert from them. If Parallels' virtual disk format is proprietary and undisclosed (I don't know if it is or not, I'm merely saying IF it is), then VMware wouldn't be able to do the same in reverse - without reverse engineering Parallels' product.

[jzuena]

b,

You could always try to use the P2V Assistant, Virtual Machine Importer or a third part app like PlateSpin to migrate the machine. P2V Assistant and PlateSpin will probably balk at using Workstation or Fusion as the destination host (I've only used them with ESX), but VMI might work.

John Z.

[bgertzfield]

The newest VMware Converter 3.0 should actually be able to convert any Windows machine (physical or virtual) into a VMware machine, and store the result on an SMB share.

If you enable Windows Sharing in System Preferences > Sharing, this might work. I don't think much testing has been done on converting Parallels VMs to VMware VMs this way, but give it a try!

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

[rcardona2k]

Your assumptions are correct Parallels does not document the format of their pre-allocated or dynamically expanding disk format. Instead of adopting a virtualization standard file format they have gone about it alone.

FWIW, any disk imaging utility such as Acronis TrueImage, Symantec Ghost, or even dd can be used to migrate an image from Parallels and/or a Boot Camp partition.

[wngoju]

The VMware Converter is just the ticket! Run it from within the Parallels VM and it creates a VMware VM. Thanks vmuch. Also, I should have thought of the Ghost-type ideas myself - they would have been fine too.

FYI, the VMware converter refuses to create a VM on a Mac share. Luckily I had several "real" windows shares around.

Again thanks to all

/b

[sbjoe]

I'm looking to do the same thing (run my current parallels vm to try out on vmware fusion). Is running vmware's converter under parallels (any tips) the best bet or running ghost/acronis? I'm out of town for the holidays, but also 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