With Parallels Desktop for Mac, how can I import a preconfigured Windows installation saved as an iso image into Parallels? This isn't an image of the installation disk, it is an image of an actual Windows installation. It seems that hdd, Virtual PC and VMWare images can be imported but not isos. What am I missing?
Try renaming the ISO file with a hdd extension, then you should be able to add it directly to a virtual machine as a hard disk.
I'm not sure if simply renaming the ISO to HDD will work as the file format really differs here. But if you are advanced user, I guess the possible solution is to have 2 CD/DVD-ROM devices in the VM, with first one connected to some Linux LiveCD and the second one - with your Windows ISO. Boot from the Live CD and use "dd" command to copy the Windows installation to the VM hard drive. It's just an idea, haven't tried it myself, so can't give much details here unfortunately. If I think of something better - will surely post here But keep in mind that even if you successfully deploy the pre-configured Windows installation into the Virtual Machine - some hardware or software conflicts still may happen, so installing Windows from scratch is still more user-friendly option in my opinion.
Is that the case with plain disks in the older Parallels disk format though? I've actually tried creating an ISO of a Windows hard disk and renaming it to have an hdd extension and it causes Parallels to see it as an old format plain disk. Then Parallels successfully converts it to the Parallels 3.0 disk format and it seems to work in the VM without problems.
Is it really that simple? I am in the process of taking an ISO image I created with the utility 'dd' and renaming the file extension. I want to migrate a WinXP hard drive that I extracted out of a laptop and put into an external case. I was surprised that the Transporter didn't support this type of configuration. I would assume that it would be almost ideal for that utility to work in such a scenario. I'll post my results.
Puppy Linux I'm trying to use parallels to configure puppy linux, and I can't get it to wait long enough to boot from the live CD. with over 20 boots I've only successfully gotten it to the correct linux splash once. macbook pro c2d 2.4ghz parallels 3 allocating 1Gb Ram and set the boot order for CD first. ususally I can the message that no boot device can be found, but about 1/3 time it starts the isolinux then states the boot failed. any info would be great
