Mounting .hdd files in Mac OS X

I have an .hdd image containing WinXP created by Prallels 3.0. I need to mount it read-only under the MAC OS X.

I tried hdiutil with several different options but nothing worked.

Any ideas?

 

Did you try Parallels Explorer in the Parallels Application folder? That should be what you are looking for.

 

Thanks for the quick reply.

Yeah - I played with it, but it does not do it for my purpose.

I need to be able to execute a bash script to look for ceratin files within the WinXp filesystem and need to make sure the .hdd is mounted read-only.

Ideally I need the .hdd to be mounted and apprear in a directory somewhere in the MAC OS filesystem, which the Paralles Explorer does not do (as far as I can see). The mounting should be done through the command line also, as this is going to be a part of much larger script.

 

Well the .hdd file is a proprietary format so you're not going to be able to mount it.

Easiest suggestion I can think of for your need is to install XP on a Boot Camp partition. When in OS X the Windows partition is auto mounted in read only mode.

 

this used to work in 2.5 but i dout it does in 3.0
http://forum.parallels.com/post58089-4.html

 

I think the change from 2.5 to 3.0 changed the format from a renamed iso file to a non compatible system. This would also explain why 2.5 cannot recognize a 3.0 hdd. Renaming the hdd file to iso still does not allow it to be opened by Toast, Disk Mounter, Disk Utility or any other ISO utility. You used to be able to do this, that much is true.

 

I had seen this post:
http://forum.parallels.com/post58089-4.html

and it did not work for the 3.0 .hdd file.

Is there any chance that 3.0 .hdd file can be converted to 2.5 .hdd file easily?

Thanks for all your fast responces.

 

The upgraded format cannot be rolled back. If you want to use 3.0 and all it's new features a Boot Camp partition really is the best option. Especially since the drive is always visible to OS X and it is read only. It sounds like what you are looking for. It also pulls Parallels out of the equation of the file process since it is a native NTFS partition (although you can do FAT32) on your hard drive.

 

Parallels Explorer does mount virutal disks, but you cannot specify that they be mounted read-only. If you want to see where the disk is mounted, first open the disk in Parallels Explorer, then go into the Terminal and type "df" and hit return. A list of all your mounted disks will be displayed and the paths of the disks that Parallels Explorer has mounted will be on the lines that start with "PEFSUtil".

 

I feel SO much better now. I really did think Explorer mounted the disk, I just wasn't at a computer which had PD installed so I could not verify it until now.

Mounting my XP hdd file in Parallels and then looking in the Volumes folder you see the following:

xxxx: wingdo /Volumes $ l
total 8
drwxrwxrwt 4 root admin 136B Jul 28 16:50 .
drwxr-xr-x 35 root wheel 1K Jul 27 20:42 ..
drwxr-xr-x 3 wingdo admin 102B Jul 28 16:50 .PEVolumes
lrwxr-xr-x 1 root admin 1B Jul 27 20:42 Macintosh HD -> /
xxxxx: wingdo /Volumes $

The .PEVolumes will have every volume mounted with Parallels Express. As you can see, it is fully mounted.

xxxxx: wingdo /Volumes/.PEVolumes/.PEVolume{35102ce5-252e-44cb-adc9-73f1ef92a18
9} $ l
total 4806636
drwxr-xr-x 1 wingdo wingdo 0B Mar 15 20:27 $Recycle.Bin
-rwxr-xr-x 1 wingdo wingdo 8K Mar 15 23:16 BOOTSECT.BAK
drwxr-xr-x 1 wingdo wingdo 0B Mar 15 23:16 Boot
drwxr-xr-x 1 wingdo wingdo 0B Nov 2 2006 Documents and Settings
drwxr-xr-x 1 wingdo wingdo 0B Jun 11 23:14 Program Files
drwxr-xr-x 1 wingdo wingdo 0B Nov 2 2006 ProgramData
drwxr-xr-x 1 wingdo wingdo 0B Jul 18 11:43 System Volume Information
drwxr-xr-x 1 wingdo wingdo 0B Mar 15 20:27 Users
drwxr-xr-x 1 wingdo wingdo 0B Jul 18 11:19 Windows
-rwxr-xr-x 1 wingdo wingdo 24B Sep 18 2006 autoexec.bat
-rwxr-xr-x 1 wingdo wingdo 428K Nov 2 2006 bootmgr
-rwxr-xr-x 2 wingdo wingdo 10B Sep 18 2006 config.sys
-rwxr-xr-x 1 wingdo wingdo 1023M Jul 18 11:04 hiberfil.sys
-rwxr-xr-x 1 wingdo wingdo 1G Jul 18 11:04 pagefile.sys

 

Wow - thanks!
The Parallels Explorer mounting the disk - I can work with this!

You have been a great help.