Windows 11 VM no longer starting - says no operating system installed

Discussion in 'Parallels Desktop on a Mac with Apple silicon' started by webdeck2, May 29, 2026.

  1. webdeck2

    webdeck2 Bit poster

    Messages:
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    I've had this VM working for a long time. I ran it just fine this morning and shut it down.
    When I tried to start it now, I get the error that there is no operating system installed and I get the Parallels VM BIOS screen.
    I tried deselecting and re-selecting the HDD.
    I checked the HDD with prl_disk_tool and it did not report any errors.
    I am running 26.3.3 (57507) on macOS 26.5 on a MacBook Pro M4 Max.
    I didn't change anything and now it isn't working.
    How do I fix this?
     
  2. webdeck2

    webdeck2 Bit poster

    Messages:
    8
    So here's a fun update. I restored a backup of my VM from yesterday. Launched it just fine. Then I got a popup telling me to restart to update Parallels Tools. It did the update and now it's back in the same unable to boot situation. What is going on???
     

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