Moving my MacMini Mojave Disc to my new MacBook Pro as a VM under Parallels Desktop 15

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DirkJ3

Bit poster
Hi there,
I have ordered the new 2019 MacBook Pro which only supports macOS 10.15 Catalina.
Up to now I have used a Mac Mini 2012 which is currently running under macOS 10.14.6 Mojave.
Looking at the installed software on my Mac Mini there are quite a few 32-bit programs (incl. Apple Apertune) I would miss a lot on my new machine !
To avoid loosing them , I have now purchased Parallels Desktop 15 for my new computer.
What would be the preferred procedure to move my current Mac Mini Mojave installation to the new MacBook Pro as a VM (avoiding to reinstall 120 GB of programs, data and setup) ?
Sorry if my question has already been answered somewhere else on this forum - I am new to Parallels Desktop.

Thanks,
Dirk
 
Hi, it is not possible to migrate the real Mac OS into Parallels virtual machine. Please install Mac OS virtual machine separately and try to move all important files and folders to the virtual machine.
 
Hi, have already solved this specific software migration issue myself.
Sorry to correct, but it is possible to clone a real Mac OS setup into Parallels VM - all needed besides a Parallels license is an external media (e.g. USB Stick/Drive) to hold your data and a macOS cloning tool like Carbon Copy Cloner (how about addding a clone tool to the Parallels Toolbox collection :-).
Should somebody be interessed in the migration procedure I may list the required steps in a new post reply.
 
In my case - I have recovered a CCC USB clone of macOS 10.14.6 Mojave to a Parallels Destop 15 VM.

Let me try to recall the step sequence:
1. Install a new macOS 10.14 Parallels VM - size the HDD to hold all of your clone data (you may also resize later)
2. Start your new Mojave VM and verify it - for now lets call this VM 'macOS _Recover'
3. Now stop the VM and duplicate it - I did the duplicate by simply duplicating the Mojave .PVM image in the Finder (Host OS Catalina)
4. Give the duplicated .PVM a name of your choice (e.g. macOS Mojave Target)
5. Register it to Parallels (drag it to Parallels Control Center and give it a distinct name) - for now let's call this clone 'macOS_Target'
6. Start 'macOS_Target' VM and verify - !!! Rename the Boot Volume to a new name (e.g. Target) !!! - we will need a different volume name when running the clone process under VM
7. Stop the VM
8. Now we need to reconfigure 'macOS_Recover' - add a second HDD drive and point it to the 'macOS_Target' HDD within the 'macOS_Target' .PVM
9. Start 'macOS_Recover' - it should start now with two HDDs attached (Boot + Target)
10. Install the latest version of your cloning software on 'macOS_Recover' (in my case CCC) - you may also add Parallels Toolbox and restart.
11. Almost there - connect your USB Drive holding the cloned OS image to 'macOS_Recover'
12. You should now be able to clone from USB to 'macOS_Target' - in my case CCC ended with a message the clone would not be bootable (ignore !)
13. Stop 'macOS_Recover' --- now -- make Parallels boot into 'macOS_Target'
14. You should be up and running with your clone in a Parallels VM - give 'macOS_Target' a new 'Computer Name' in settings and you will also need to re-register your licensed programs loaded from the Mac App Store
15. Add Parallels Toolbox to 'macOS_Target' and reboot - done !

Hope that helps - good luck.
Cheers Dirk
 
Unfortunately, I am trying to load an El Capitan OS, 10.11 and though I am able to install it from a USB, it won't run under parallels. It gets about 2/3 of the way started, then quits. So I fail at step 1.

Thank you for the info,
brian
 
Hi Dirk,

sounds great, I am in the same boat!
How big is your CCC clone?
I tried to go another route - setting up a Mojave VM and use the migration assistent. The problem seems to be: the VM HD is about 64GB, and even since I managed to make it 256GB non expandable, in the VM disk utility the HD shows up with only 68GB. Frustrating...
 
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