I read a suggestion posted on Macintouch today that if you change the filename extension on your FAT32 Parallels hard drive from '.hdd' to '.dmg' you'd be able to move files back and forth between Mac OS and Windows. Of course, like an idiot, I tried it - without first making a backup. Well, it didn't work. So I changed the extension back to '.hdd' (exactly as it was before, and in the same place), but now Parallels doesn't recognize it ("Unable to find the image file /Users/blshaw/Library/Parallels/winxp/winxp.hdd of the virtual /Users/blshaw/Library/Parallels/winxp/winxp.hdd. Please verify the path is valid and required disk image file exists."). I have no idea how changing the name and then changing it back would cause Parallels to no longer recognize it, but that's where I am. Since I've got about 5 hours into the creation of that disk (installing XP from original CD, then applying 100 patches and SP2; loading a dozen applications, etc.), I'm hoping there's a way to get it back. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to recover the file (and explanation as to why it is no longer recognized)?
Try to go to Edit->VM configuration, click on "Hard Disk 1" device and browse for correct image file on the left (click "..." button). Than click OK and try start VM again. Does it helped? PS: Don't worry - renaming and moving HDD file should lead to loss of your work. Just don't delete it please.
No joy Thanks for the suggestion, Andrew. But I already tried that. When I navigate to the 'winxp' folder, the 'winxp.hdd' file (as well as the 'winxp.pvs' file, of course) is dimmed (non-selectable). I did notice that after i changed the extension to '.dmg' and back again to '.hdd', the Finder showed that the file should be opened with 'DiskImageMounter'. I tried changing it to <none> like the winxp.pvs file, but I ccould't find a way to do it. So I changed it to "Parallels" but, of course, that made no difference. I'm going to try to copy the file, change the copy's file extension to '.dmg' and see if there's I can 'see' inside it. If I can, then maybe I an create another virtual drive and copy everything over somehow. Any other ideas?
Andrew: When I look at the "drive" in Disk Utility, it's name is 'winxp.hdd.dmg'. So that's the problem: an invisible file extension. Now if I can just figure out how to get rid of that.... Brian
A way to move files back and forth See my post on setting up a mapped drive in windows to your Mac hard disk. http://forum.parallels.com/showthread.php?p=3548#post3548 Marky Mark
