"Import Boot Camp" is gray out...

M

Master Bee

Bit poster
Hi everybody, my first post!!

OK. I have Windows installed on a BootCamp partition that works well when I boot my Mac.

I want to use that VM in Parallels (ver. 7.0.14922) to work in same time then OS X (Lion) without rebooting.

When I click on "File", there's option "Import Boot Camp" but I can't click on it, it's gray out, not active...
Same thing when I click on "File" > "New", there's no Boot Camp option anywhere.
But I can boot my iMac with Windows?!?

Can somebody help me with that?
 
Did you set up BootCamp using BootCamp Assistant, or did you make it in some other way? If it was made in some other way it's possible Parallels does not recognize it.

Are you using an after market NTFS driver to allow you to read/write to your Windows partition from your Mac? If so try uninstalling it or disabling it to see if that helps. There are reports of Lion destroying Windows partitions because of certain versions of the Paragon NTFS driver (reportedly the latest driver has been fixed).
 
Instead of using Import Boot Camp, did you try creating a new VM and setting the BC partition as the source?

Steve
 
Good point. When I click to create a virtual machine on my setup it says "Use Windows from Boot Camp". I know there is a way to make a virtual machine hardfile from the Boot Camp partition, but perhaps it needs to be set up already in order to do so.

Master Bee do you have the option to use Windows from Boot Camp? That is what you need to chose if you want to boot using Windows from your Boot Camp partition. The import feature is to make the Windows installation into a Parallels hardfile (for those who decide they won't be using Boot Camp any more).
 
Setting up a VM in this way does not change your BC installation into a "hardfile", which I presume you mean a virtual hard disk. All this does is use the BC partition as your C drive in the virtual machine. It doesn't do anything else to it other than installing Parallels tools, which are disabled when you actually boot your Mac into BC.

Steve
 
Using the terminology from another emulator (not VM either). There is a way to import everything from a Partition into a virtual hard disk - it is an option in Parallels for people who are done dealing with Boot Camp completely. "Use Windows from a BootCamp" partition does not import it, but Master Bee wrote about the "Import Boot Camp" menu item. This is the way to actually import Windows from the BootCamp partition to a Virtual Hard Drive. After it's up and running you can then remove the BootCamp partition and reclaim the space for something else.

Parallels 5 used to be faster from a virtual hard drive than it was from a partition, but with each version the difference in speed seems to be less. I have not imported my Boot Camp partition into a virtual hard drive (that is too hard to type!) because I occasionally still boot into Windows directly for games, etc. that don't yet like Parallels.

Anyway, using Boot Camp as the source for Windows on Parallels does not import things, you are correct. It does set up a small virtual hard drive that points to the actual partition with Windows on it. I think this file is where it keeps track of things like the Windows activation code so that you don't have to reregister Windows each time you switch from BootCamp and Parallels for running Windows.
 
import bootcamp grayed out

Windows 7 was installed on bootcamp on my imac....so I started with the section of the manual:
"Use Boot Camp with Parallels Desktop"

During set-up of Parallels the option was "Use Windows from Boot Camp" which is what I selected.

According to the manual the next step is to import Windows from Bootcamp into Parallels Desktop, (the first step is what I already did which is set Parallels to run windows from bootcamp)

When I right click on the boot camp version of windows in the virtual machines list (instructions from the manual) there is no option for "import boot camp"......when I suspend and right click in the virtual machines list, I now have the option to import Boot Camp, but it is grayed out....when suspended I also can see import boot camp in the file->import boot camp (but it too is grayed out)

I still do not understand how then can I import boot camp into Parallels desktop...

another related comment....with setting parallels to run windows from bootcamp....it says you are not supposed to be able to save as a snapshot nor run in safe....while running in safe mode is grayed out....I am able to take a snapshot...

which makes me wonder....which way is windows actually running....and how do I determine
1. Parallels running windows from bootcamp
or
2. Windows is imported form bootcamp to Parallels

thanks for any additional explanation
Randy
 
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What happens if you click "Use Windows from Boot Camp", then just click continue at the bottom right?

I know there is a way to import the Windows into a Virtual Machine (then once working you can delete the Boot Camp Partition and reclaim the space). Since this does not seem to be what you are trying to do does anything happen if you just click "Continue" at the bottom right after selecting to use Windows from Boot Camp?

To be honest I never read any of the manuals from Parallels, I just clicked things and played with the menus. If the above works but the manual is wrong please send that as a trouble ticket so that they will update their manual so others don't have the same problem.
 
use windows from boot camp is only available at initial installation....

I don't have it as option on a second try...

I did submit a ticket as I followed the manual instructions

thanks
 
I upgraded Boot Camp from version 5, then version 6. I have the option to Use Windows from BootCamp and just made a new VM linking Parallels 7 to it. Then the option to use Windows from BC no longer showed up, but deleting My BootCamp (that is what the VM was named" gave me back the option to use Windows from BC. {Lucky for me my original VM called Windows 7 that uses BC only had to have Parallels Tools reinstalled to be fully functional again].

Do you have any Virtual Machines that were made that reference Boot Camp? If so try deleting those and you should get the option to use Windows from BootCamp again to set up a new VM using Boot Camp.

Failing that submit a request for support - there is Chat and Telephone support available for things like this that are really frustrating.
 
Randy,

in order to find out if you are using Windows installed in Boot Camp or Imported Windows you need to check size of pvm file (it can contain all your files - than the size can be around several GB, or it can be just a link file to the real boot camp with some configurations and settings stored - the size should be several kb). You can find this pvm file in your Documents/Parallels/ folder.

Option to import Boot Camp is unavailable while virtual machine is running or suspended - you need to stop the virtual machine.

You cannot make any snapshot of the machine which is using real Boot Camp as far as in fact when snashot is made it splits the virtual harddrive files into several separated - Boot Camp uses a real harddrive and not the virtual one so it cannot be splitted, an using this function can hard your environment so please follow notifications and don't use it while in boot camp.

If option 'Import Boot Camp' is still unavailable for you, you may try to unmount it from Finder and try to mount back. Go to Applications --> Utilities --> Disk Utility right click Boot Camp harddrive and unmount it. Mount it back in the same way and check the issue
 
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