Parallels constantly expanding taking up disk space

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DannyD2

Bit poster
Hi There,
I am an Electrical contractor and I use parallels just to run a windows estimating software package on my Mac.
I have to keep making the partiion larger as windows is constantly expanding, if I dont I get loads of error messages due to lack of disk space.
I only want to use the estimatimg software and no other windows programmes, how can I delete unwanted files or prevent disk space from being taken up by windows constantly expanding/slowing down parallels ?
How can i check which files are taking up all my windows partiton? Or is a virtual machine a mirror image of my mac files just in a windows version?
I dont want to use boot camp!

Thanks in advance !
 
Hi Arun,
Thanks for your reply.

I checked the snapshots and there wasnt any.

Any other ideas ? I only want to use the estimating software ?

My free ani virus software did a scan and says that theres 92gig of junk files ?
 
Hi DannyD2. Please refer this article and make sure that Smartguard feature is unchecked and refer this article to check the actual size of the virtual machine. Also, to increase the performance of the virtual machine, please contact your antivirus support and add an exception for Parallels Desktop and the Windows virtual machine.
 
I too have the same problem. I have a MB Air with 256GB capacity.
Smart guard is off, I've checked both Mac OS and Windows and have no excessive size programs, videos, photos or documents. Whenever I download a program to install, I delete the installer and empty the trash, so, I have no idea why I keep getting these running out of space messages.
 
I also have a similar problem on a MB Air 128GB storage.
currently cannot access Parallels because it starts, goes immediately to 'configuring windows updates,' then fails & says 'Reverting changes' then freezes with the 'running out of space' error message. I keep deleting / cleaning - the last time I moved a big 4.2GB backup file onto a remote drive, I had 6.2 GB free space before attempting to start Parallels, now (after the routine outlined above) it's telling me I have 290MB free HD space. The Windows version I'm running is Win. 7 Home Premium. Gone around this loop several times now, the last time Parallels was reporting 46GB before I attempted to run it, now its 52GB after it failed to open again. I'm thinking I may have to reinstall Windows (Perhaps Parallels?) from scratch?
Rob
 
Last edited:
After calm reflection overnight I came to the conclusion it has to be a virus causing the ever-expanding space in Parallels. Today I deleted everything (had to use 'daisy disk' to locate & destroy the 52GB file as a simple 'Uninstall' left it there - more computer-literate users probably can find the offending files the hard way). Re-loaded Parallels (easier than expected), re-loaded windows then re-loaded all the programs I needed. Now have 41GB free space on a HD that was 'full' yesterday (also have a shiny new anti-virus loaded) - we'll see how we go!
Rob
 
Well the jury's still out on whether the original issue was a virus. Now I've got a new install & have been running a few weeks I can say that a similar problem has crept back again. However it can be solved by periodically going into Windows (this is Win. 7 64bit in my case), opening 'Accessories > Tools > Disk cleanup' which then runs its course & Reports how much space it can release by deleting stuff. Crucial point! - ignore this & hit the button "Clean up system files" This runs another diagnostic & reports again - probably this time with GB values not MB values! So far, each time I've done this I've got rid of 3GB - 6GB of druk {takes some time to complete mind}.
Windows eh! - don't you just love it
 
RobinJ2 said:
Well the jury's still out on whether the original issue was a virus. Now I've got a new install & have been running a few weeks I can say that a similar problem has crept back again. However it can be solved by periodically going into Windows (this is Win. 7 64bit in my case), opening 'Accessories > Tools > Disk cleanup' which then runs its course & Reports how much space it can release by deleting stuff. Crucial point! - ignore this & hit the button "Clean up system files" This runs another diagnostic & reports again - probably this time with GB values not MB values! So far, each time I've done this I've got rid of 3GB - 6GB of druk {takes some time to complete mind}.
Windows eh! - don't you just love it
Click to expand...
We are glad that you are able to clean up Windows regularly and also you can check if "Automatic System Restore Point" is enabled or not. If enabled then you have to delete those restore points using Advanced Options in Disk Cleanup.
 
Ajith@Parallels said:
We are glad that you are able to clean up Windows regularly and also you can check if "Automatic System Restore Point" is enabled or not. If enabled then you have to delete those restore points using Advanced Options in Disk Cleanup.
Click to expand...

Yes, I maybe spoke too soon - not happy at the moment. I discovered the other day that despite my regular cleanups from within windows (as described above) & attempting using the Mac 'manage storage' facility Parallels had grown to 80GB & seemingly couldn't be reduced. Worse than that when I last attempted to open Parallels I got the "An error occurred while accessing the hard disk 0 used by Windows 7" message. In response to this, following the recommendation elsewhere in this forum I modified the settings to include "4) Expand Advanced settings drop-down menu and paste the following system flag:- vm.bios.efi=1"
Now I get a 'DOS' screen with "shell" displayed & nothing happens - Parallels won't close to allow me to remove the system flag text.
Reading further about this type of issue Parallels states it's a hardware issue & nothing to do with them. I cannot get a 'Genius Bar' appointment at the moment (too busy with work commitments exacerbated by having to find a 'workaround' to the windows programme I need to be using), however every type of 'diagnostic' I can find to put the Mac through tells me its fine with solid state drive in 100% Health so what's going on here?
I do have a 'Time Machine' backup taken at a point when Parallels was still working - if I restore from that will it also reset Parallels?
Failing that because this will be the third clean install I've needed to do in just a few months - with all the attendant time wasting in installing SP1 & other bits that don't come on my ancient Windows CD I'm almost reluctantly coming to the conclusion I'm better off just buying a secondhand windows notebook & keeping it on the desk just to run the windows software & memory-sticking everything across to the Mac & abandon Parallels as an interesting but failed experiment.
 
I was having the problem of Parallels expanding and taking up more space too. This might help.
With the windows machine shut down, click the Parallels icon > Configure. Now choose the Hardware tab. Now on the list on the left select Hard disk. On the right, click Advanced Settings > Properties. There is a slider that lets you choose how much space Parallels can use. Change as required and uncheck the box next to Expanding Hard Disk. Click Apply. It can take a while for the change to process and it may seem like the computer has frozen. It would be best to do a back up before making any changes. This worked for me. I hope it helps.

Aaron
 
Hi Aaron12,
It seems you have misunderstood the expanding disk. If you select the expanding disk and select 128GB then the virtual disk will not occupy 128GB based on Windows usage it will grow till 128GB but if you uncheck expanding disk then it will become a plain disk even if Windows uses space or not it will occupy 128GB on your Mac.
 
RobinJ2 said:
Yes, I maybe spoke too soon - not happy at the moment. I discovered the other day that despite my regular cleanups from within windows (as described above) & attempting using the Mac 'manage storage' facility Parallels had grown to 80GB & seemingly couldn't be reduced. Worse than that when I last attempted to open Parallels I got the "An error occurred while accessing the hard disk 0 used by Windows 7" message. In response to this, following the recommendation elsewhere in this forum I modified the settings to include "4) Expand Advanced settings drop-down menu and paste the following system flag:- vm.bios.efi=1"
Now I get a 'DOS' screen with "shell" displayed & nothing happens - Parallels won't close to allow me to remove the system flag text.
Reading further about this type of issue Parallels states it's a hardware issue & nothing to do with them. I cannot get a 'Genius Bar' appointment at the moment (too busy with work commitments exacerbated by having to find a 'workaround' to the windows programme I need to be using), however every type of 'diagnostic' I can find to put the Mac through tells me its fine with solid state drive in 100% Health so what's going on here?
I do have a 'Time Machine' backup taken at a point when Parallels was still working - if I restore from that will it also reset Parallels?
Failing that because this will be the third clean install I've needed to do in just a few months - with all the attendant time wasting in installing SP1 & other bits that don't come on my ancient Windows CD I'm almost reluctantly coming to the conclusion I'm better off just buying a secondhand windows notebook & keeping it on the desk just to run the windows software & memory-sticking everything across to the Mac & abandon Parallels as an interesting but failed experiment.
Click to expand...
Hi Robin,
Did you ever manage t sort this out?
I have the same problem. I have trashed everything possible on The Mac and Windows and still I have no Free Space! (I have!)
 
Did anyone find the remedy for this?
Parallels took up 30 something gigs the other day, now it's over 60GB and I haven't installed or downloaded a single thing.
Now I can't even open the virtual machine because "There's not enough disk space".
This is ridiculous. :(
 
For me the problem was that no matter how big i made the virtual drive using the slider, I always had 58 gb of memory (not sure where that number came from). Apparently what happens is the slider will update the overall disk, but not always properly extend the main partition.
Try this: https://kb.parallels.com/123372
 
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