Does anyone know if Parallels Desktop VM is ok after an Archive & Install? Would have thought it woulf be no different from any other software program but nice to know before i do it! It;s the only cure to the OS-X Software Update glitch.
Parallels uses several kernel extensions (hypervisor.kext, vmmain.kext, Pvsnet.kext and Pvsvnic.kext in /System/Library/Extensions) as well as a start-up script (/Library/StartupItems/Parallels). I don't think it self-heals (yet?), so it's probably easiest to reinstall it after you have done the Archive & Install.
You do have to reinstall the Parallels VM software (Parallels Desktop), however the guest OSs themselves are unaffected by an archive and install as long as the .hdd file is within your home directory. The default is ~/Library/Parallels/* (the "~" character means the path to wherever your home directory is) I have done this process on my Macbook, as I was one of the many people that had a problem with the 10.4.7 update.