can I image my existing xp setup?

llebydna · Jun 12, 2006

Hi,
just preordered Parallels for Mac - I plan to run XP and a flavour of Linux.

Is there any way to image the C: drive on my PC laptop so that I can migrate my entire setup to my Mac? Or will there be driver/registry issues?
Obviously it would be a huge timesaver over a clean install and rebuild of a virtual machine

Anyone got any ideas?

thanks.

beattyMBP · Jun 12, 2006

the Paralles FAQ says

Is it possible to convert a third-party virtual machine to a Parallels virtual machine?
You can use disk image save/restore software like Acronis TrueImage or Norton Ghost to export the operating system from third-party VM and import it to Parallels. An “out of the box” conversion utility is in scope for future versions of Parallels Workstation

So I bet these solutions might work for "real" images too? Just guessing, I'm a newbie here.

John

llebydna · Jun 13, 2006

I thought "third-party VM" would mean something like a Virual PC image or other emulator.
Does that mean an image of a physical drive counts as a virtual machine and could be imported into Parallels?

beattyMBP · Jun 13, 2006

Ghost a "real" PC to Parallels ? ? ?

I thought "third-party VM" would mean something like a Virual PC image or other emulator.

Yes that is what a third party VM means. But if you can use Norton Ghost , etc., to "export" a Virtual PC image, then I'm guessing that you could use Norton Ghost, etc. to export the image of a "real" hard drive from your current XP setup too. Ghost doesn't know whether or not it is on a real PC or on some or virtual machine!

How exactly? Not 100% sure, but if you save the real PC using ghost, you still have to find a way to boot up and run Ghost to use "restore." Not ever having done this myself, I'm headed down a slipperry slope to give any more advice......just thought it is a possible solution....

John B

llebydna · Jun 14, 2006

I was hoping something like this may be possible and, as you say, ghost or similar will image a machine whether it's real or virtual.
I'll have to experiment with ghost a bit.
What tools are currently in Parallels to import images (I haven't got my intel machine yet so I haven't been able to run it)

VTMac · Jun 14, 2006

Ghost and the like aren't going to work by themselves. When you restore your ghosted images you will be restored video and mouse drivers that will likely make parallels (and OSX) very unhappy. Good luck, but I suspect it won't work.

beattyMBP · Jun 14, 2006

Ghost and the like aren't going to work by themselves. When you restore your ghosted images you will be restored video and mouse drivers that will likely make parallels (and OSX) very unhappy. Good luck, but I suspect it won't work.

Wouldn't this be true for other VMs etc, from VPC too? Is the parallels FAQ just giving us flase hope?

But I do agree, this wouldn't be the whole answer. I bet you'd have to boot in safe mode and then reinstall drivers, parallels tools, etc. And without a real install disk (since I didn't get one with VPC) you're right this might be a tall order.

James Bond 007 · Jun 14, 2006

beattyMBP said:
Wouldn't this be true for other VMs etc, from VPC too? Is the parallels FAQ just giving us false hope?

But I do agree, this wouldn't be the whole answer. I bet you'd have to boot in safe mode and then reinstall drivers, parallels tools, etc. And without a real install disk (since I didn't get one with VPC) you're right this might be a tall order.

Yes, I also do not believe the procedure in that FAQ would work, at least not every time. The hardware emulated in the VMware and VPC images are very different from those in Parallels, and such a big hardware change will normally cause Windows not to boot or behave erratically (probably with a Blue Screen). For the case of Windows XP, even if you are able to get it to boot, you will have to deal with the problem of reactivation.