Parallels Desktop wants me to re-install an OS

[amusselman]

I installed the "latest" 3.x build a few weeks ago. Went into Vista and updated the Parallels tools. Everything I tested worked as expected. Today, I invoked Parallels Desktop (for the first time since the update), and I got an OS Installation Assistant tool asking me to install an OS. It's acting like an OS was never installed. What happened to cause my Vista installation to become disconnected from the Parallels host?

I did a little poking around and found a "Microsoft Windows Vista.pvs" file with the Parallels icon. I double clicked it and got a message that: "...Microsoft Windows Vista.pvs seems to be not a valid Parallels virtual machine configuration file!" This seems like a clue. Is this file something that can or should be repaired to connect Vista back to Parallels Desktop?

I could just reinstall the OS, but I was hoping not to loose my existing environment (files, apps and respective software updates).

 

[estrelnikov]

It seems VM lost path to its hard disk image. If you had Parallels Desktop 2.0-2.5 before then it should be under /Users/Shared/Parallels, for version 3.0 the path is /Documents/Parallels/. Launch Parallels Desktop, go to File -> New, choose Custom installation method. When asked about virtual machine hard disk creation option, choose 'Use an existing hdd' and specify the path to it. On the last window click More options and uncheck Start Windows XP installation checkbox. Another option is to modify that .pvs file in text editor with the correct path to .hdd file

 

[amusselman]

Thanks for the help

I went ahead and re-installed my OS before receiving your response. Thanks for the info. It makes sense to do what you suggest, so I'll just hang on to the idea in case the problem re-occurs.