Upgrading from Parallels 7

Hello, I have an old virtual machine that I am running via Parallels 7 on my Mac (OS X, v10.7.5). The VM is running Windows XP, and I would very much like to keep that VM exactly as is with all files intact, but I would like to upgrade to the latest version of Parallels so that I can upgrade my Mac. Ideally, I would like to be able to upgrade from 7 to 12, but the only options for purchasing upgrades seem to be for v9 and v10, and I am concerned that if I purchase the latest version of Parallels, it will only be a brand new install and I will lose my VM as it currently exists. It's not a question of the expense, I'll gladly pay the full amount for the new license at this point, but I just don't want to overwrite my files. It is more a question of keeping my existing Parallels VM as is, just running the latest version of Parallels.

I have been avoiding upgrading my Mac from 10.7 specifically because I have heard that my old Parallels 7 will not run on the latest Mac OS, but now I don't know how I can upgrade either one without losing all my old info. Please advise.

 

Any help out there?

 

Hi TreyP,
If you purchase a full version of Parallels Desktop, you will still be able to use your existing virtual machines. Installation of Parallels Desktop will not remove the pvm file from your Mac.If you wish you can backup the VM before upgrading but Parallels Desktop 12 can be installed on OS X 10.10.5 or above.

 

Thanks for responding, I'll back everything up and give that a try.

 

Did you try it? Is everything OK?