Parallels 4 to 7 and new Imac with Lion

J

JScottF

Bit poster
I have the original core duo imac with parallels 4, just bought a new imac with lion and now need to upgrade to parallels 7 (bummer full new product price). Big question what's the best way to migrate my vm,
It seems that I can't put 7 on my old imac because not core 2, so do I transfer my vm with time machine over to the new imac and then install 7?
 
Importing Parallels 4 to 7 on new machine

I have the same question. I'm about to install Parallels 7 on a new iMac and I want to import my version 4 virtual machine from my MacBook Pro.

JScottF, it's been a couple of days since you posted, have you tried to import yet? Did it work?
 
I think 4 used the .pvm format still used today. If so, just transfer the .pvm file over to your new machine and use it as the source for the VM.

If not, there should at least be a .hdd file either on its own or contained within a .pvm file (right-click -> Show package contents) that could be used as the virtual HD for a new VM created in 7.

Steve
 
strells, you are correct - PDfM 4 VM format is compatible with with PDfM7. So the VM transfer is simply moving the bundle from your old Mac's Documents or Documents->Parallels folder to your new Mac. On a new Mac you just open this VM in PDfM7 and follow a simple upgrade procedure.
 
Transfer virtual machine from old mac to new on Parallels 7

It worked great with the .PVM file, with 2 notes:

1) Transfering a 19GB file doesn't work if your external drive is Fat32 format. (limits filesizes to 4GB). I just hooked my up MacBook pro to my new iMac with an Ethernet cable, turned on file sharing on both machines, and then copied over the file via public folder.

2) When I tried to import an the old virtual machine, Parallels started asking me about moving versus copying the virtual machine as it relates to creating a MAC address. It wasn't evident at first but basically choose "move" unless you plan to run the same virtual machine on both devices. I chose move.

Everything is working great!!!!
 
I am also the one who is thinking about upgrade from Parallels 4 to Parallels 7. From the information in this thread, it seems like upgrading from 4 to 7 would be a simple procedure if it happens in the same Mac (with Core 2 Duo. Mine is Macbook Pro Core 2 Duo 2.4Ghz). I hesitated to upgrade until now, since I was afraid that there might be a compatibility issue or any problem while upgrading from 4 to 7. I have Windows Vista set up nicely on Parallels 4 and did not want to mess up my Vista VM configuration. Now, I got some courage to upgrade from 4 to 7 by running Parallels 7 installation on the machine with Paralles 4. Then, should I unistall Parallels 4 first? Or can I go on with Parallels 7 installation without doing anything?
 
Yongbin,

From what I have read Parallels deals with the old installation when version 7 is being installed. I couldn't say as I installed 7 on a new machine and then copied the .pvm file to my new computer. I can say that my Windows XP install came through perfectly and works great so I'm guessing if you follow the instructions you should be fine.
 
dfactor,

Thanks for your reply. I had a chat with a tech rep in Parallels and he recommended me to unistall Parallels 4 and install 7. He said that if I do not uninstall 4, I might not use some features of 7. He did not tell me what features I cannot use if I do not uninstall 4, though. I am still hesitating to uninstall 4, since fresh new installation of Parallels 7 might run into a problem like reauthenticating of the VM (I mean, Windows Vista product key issue) that I imported from the bootcamp partition. In this thread, it was confirmed that the VM used in 4 is compatible with 7, so I can try to install 7, however, I am still afraid of the possible problems. I do not want to reinstall Windows and to reconfigure everything. :)
 
Yongbin,

I understand the worry about uninstalling, and I can only speak to my experience, but my configuration was a fresh install of Parallels 7 on my iMac and then I imported my .pvm file from my old machine. This worked perfectly for me.

Theoretically if save your .pvm file, uninstall 4 and then install 7 you should be able to import the .pvm file as though it was a fresh install (just like I did). It seems like the most important thing in this process is how Parallels 7 deals with the MAC address of the virtual machine when it imports it. From my understanding you don't have to reauthenticate your version of windows of you choose the "move" option (instead of "copy"). Basically by choosing "move" you are telling parallels that you aren't using Windows on two machines anymore, vs "copy" if you are going to keep using the old virtual machine as well as the new install.

Hope that helps.
 
dfactor,

I do appreciate your detailed explanation. What I am really afraid is that if I install Parallels 7 after uninstalling 4, Windows Vista might see Parallels 7 as a new hardware and asks me to do the reactivation of Windows, since I am using a bootcamp partition (I did the reactivation process when I imported Windows Vista from the bootcamp partition). From what I understand from your post, I won't be asked to do the reactivation process and I do hope that would be the case for me. Anyways, I will give it a shot and let you know my results. :)
 
I uninstalled Parallels 4 and installed 7 successfully. Parallels 7 recongnizes Windows Vista VM (from bootcamp) and I was able to run Windows Vista without any problem on 7.

However, when I went to 'System' in Control Panel, I did not see Windows Genuine Product logo and it said something like 'no product key (info) available'. I also have not had any message like 'you need to activate your Windows in 3 days' yet. When I reboot my Macbook Pro with a bootcamp (I mean, no Parallels), I was able to see Windows Genuine Product logo in Contral Panel/System.

So, I am little nervous that I might need to reactivate my copy of Windows Vista on Parallels 7 again. We'll see.
 
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