Cannot uninstall parallels properly

Hi...

after uninstalling Parallels 5582 using the provided Uninstaller in dmg there still seem to be traces left of it in the System (Leopard 10.5.2), even after reboot. Not only does the "Open With" menu show several Windows Apps (small Parallels icon in lower left corner), but also any *.exe file in the Mac File System shows up with such an icon. What can I do to clean up the system?

Best Regards

...Jochen

 

Hello Jochen,

Please do the following:

a. Go to Finder - Applications - Utilities - Terminal.

b. Type and run the following commands:

• sudo rm /System/Library/Extensions/vmmain.kext
• sudo rm /System/Library/Extensions/hypervisor.kext
• sudo rm /System/Library/Extensions/Pvsvnic.kext
• sudo rm /System/Library/Extensions/ConnectUSB.kext
• sudo rm /System/Library/Extensions/Pvsnet.kext
• sudo rm -rf /Library/Parallels/
• sudo rm ~/Library/Preferences/com.parallels.*
Before you run these commands, please make sure that your VM hdd and pvs files are NOT stored in ~/Library/Parallels.

c. Reboot your Mac and reinstall Parallels.

Best regards,
Xenos

 

Hi Xenos...

Thank you for your reply! Unfortunately this did not help.

For the first (System/Library) commands, there were no files existing.

• sudo rm -rf /Library/Parallels/
• sudo rm ~/Library/Preferences/com.parallels.*

Were deleted. But after reboot, everything looks the same. Meybe it helps if I add to this that e.g. for text files, I have not only one Windows (Parallels) Editor in the "Open With" menu but 4 of them, labeled Editor 2.5, Editor 1.9, Editor 1.7 and Editor [1] 1.9.

Any ideas how to get rid of these?

Ciao

...Jochen

 

Jochen, it seems that your Virtual Machines (.hdd files) have not been removed for some reason. And it is most probable that you did not enable "Remove SmartSelect file associations" option when uninstalled using .dmg utility.

Please install Parallels Desktop again and then uninstall from .dmg file. Do not forget about SmartSelect file associations.

Best regards,
Xenos

 

hmm, do you say it is enough to have hdd files (no parallels installation) somewhere on the HD? There are some Backups in a folder. There is for sure no Parallels folder in Home/Library or Home/Documents. I for sure did disable SmartSelect, as I had disabled it for all my VMs for a long time and also did reinstall, check the SmartSelect state and uninstall again without success. Any idea?

 

Hello Jochen,

Can you find .hdd and .pvs files using Spotlight?
Can you find a Windows Applications folder on your Mac?

Best regards,
Xenos

 

sure, as I said they are in a backup folder some where deep in my backup path. Maybe if I zip them up it helps (quite big though)?

 

You should delete them if you want to remove Parallels completely. To get rid of the Windows applications in "Open with" menu you should delete Windows Applications folder as well.

Best regards,
Xenos

 

Hi Xenos...

yep, when I deleted all "Windows Applications" folders in the local HDs backup dirs and rebooted all the "Open With" associations were gone. Thank you for support!

BTW: The "Windows Applications" folders on external backup drives seem not to be a problem, even if connected at system startup.

Ciao

...Jochen

 

Congrats

Best regards,
Xenos