If you use virtual machines (VMs) on your Mac, Backblaze can back them up, but there's some things you should know. This information applies primarily to VMware Fusion and Parallels Desktop, but will also apply to VirtualBox and other virtualization software titles. On your Mac, open Parallels Desktop and choose File > New. Select “Migrate from a PC” and click Continue. Select “Network” and click Continue. Find the passcode displayed in Parallels Wizard on your Mac and enter it in Parallels Transporter Agent on your Windows PC.
- Finally, if you are running Parallels and you find that your USB devices are being captured by Mac OS X but not your virtual guest OS, you can also go to the Devices menu, find the peripheral in question, and choose it to have Parallels wrest control from Mac OS X and hand it to your guest operating system.
- Here’s how you can do to remove virtual machines: Right click on Parallels Desktop icon in Dock and choose Control Center. Right click on the virtual machine in the list and choose Remove option. Click Move to Trash to erase the data completely from this virtual machine. Delete Parallels Desktop Leftovers. Most Mac apps are bundle software that can be easily removed by aforementioned method.
- After loading the Parallels Desktop app, while in the Parallels Desktop Control Center, click the Configuration icon (it looks like a gear) for the virtual machine you want to automatically start when you run Parallels. Click the Options tab, then click Startup and Shutdown in the Options menu. Now, for the option marked Startup Automatically, select “When Parallels Desktop Starts” from the pull-down menu. Close the Configurations dialog box.
- The virtual machine (VM) files in Parallels Desktop® for Mac can be quite large—I have several that are over 100 GB. So if you’re not using a VM anymore (or just rarely use it), you can get back a lot of space on your Mac® by deleting.
If you’ve been using VirtualBox to run virtual machines and you want to switch to Parallels Desktop for Mac, you can convert your VirtualBox virtual machines to Parallels—whether you’re using VirtualBox in Windows, Linux, or macOS.
Parallels Desktop 13 for Mac is a fast and responsive virtualization application for macOS. It is designed for the average user, is priced competitively, comes with great support, and makes installing Windows a breeze.
VirtualBox provides a free, bare-bones way of using virtual machines on your Mac. However, Parallels is easier to use and more integrated with macOS than VirtualBox. It’s easier to transfer files between your VMs and the host macOS system, and Parallels even lets you run Windows programs directly from the macOS dock, if you choose to.
If you want to migrate your virtual machine, here’s what you need to do.
Step One: Create a Clone of the VirtualBox Virtual Machine
First, we’ll create a clone of the virtual machine you want to convert to Parallels. To do this, open VirtualBox (on Windows, Linux, or Mac) and select the virtual machine to be cloned. Right-click on the virtual machine and select “Clone” from the popup menu. You can also press Ctrl+O.
The Clone Virtual Machine dialog box displays. On the New Machine Name screen, VirtualBox automatically enters the name of the virtual machine in the box and adds “Clone” to the end. If you want to assign a different name to the cloned virtual machine, enter it in the box. We accepted the default name. Click “Next”.
On the Clone type screen, make sure “Full clone” is selected. This makes the cloned virtual machine independent of the original and allows you to move it to a different computer, if needed. Click “Next”.
Vmware
Make sure “Current machine state” is selected on the Snapshots screen. This is important because Parallels cannot open virtual machines from VirtualBox with snapshots. Click “Clone”.
A dialog box displays the progress of the cloning process. This may take a while, depending on how big your virtual machine’s hard drive is and how many snapshots you have that need to be merged.
Step Two: Uninstall the VirtualBox Guest Additions in the Cloned Virtual Machine
Once the cloning process is complete, we need to uninstall the VirtualBox Guest Additions in the cloned virtual machine. To do this, select the cloned virtual machine in the list on the main VirtualBox Manager window and click “Start” or press Enter.
Use the standard procedure in the guest operating system to uninstall the “Oracle VM VirtualBox Guest Additions” program. For example, in Windows 7, we open “Programs and Features” in the Control Panel, select “Oracle VM VirtualBox Guest Additions 5.1.12” and click “Uninstall/Change”.
Step Three: Shut Down and Transfer the Cloned Virtual Machine
Shut down (do not sleep or hibernate) the cloned virtual machine using the standard method for your guest operating system.
Virtualbox
If your cloned virtual machine is on a Windows PC or a different Mac, you’ll need to transfer the virtual machine. You’ll find the folder for the virtual machine in the default machine location. If you’re not sure where this is, you can find out by going to File > Preferences on the main VirtualBox Manager window.
You’ll find the path to the Default Machine Folder on the General screen. Make a note of the path and then click “OK” or “Cancel” to close the dialog box.
Head to that folder, select the folder for your cloned virtual machine, and copy that folder to your Mac (using a flash drive or some other means). It doesn’t matter where you paste the virtual machine folder. Parallels will handle creating the converted virtual machine in the correct place.
Step Four: Open and Convert the .vbox File in Parallels Desktop for Mac
On your Mac, open Parallels Desktop and go to File > Open.
Navigate to the folder into which you copied the cloned virtual machine folder, select the .vbox file and click “Open”.
On the Name and Location dialog box, the name of the is set, by default, to the name of the cloned virtual machine. If you want to change the name, edit the text in the “Name” box. We took “Clone” off of the name. The default virtual machines folder is selected as the “Location”. You can change that if you want, but we recommend allowing Parallels to create the virtual machine in the same location as other virtual machines. If you want an alias on the desktop for quickly accessing the virtual machine, check the “Create alias on the desktop” box. Click “Continue”.
Virtual Machine Windows 10
Parallels starts converting the virtual machine.
While the virtual machine is being upgraded, you’ll see that both the original cloned virtual machine a and the converted virtual machine are added to the Control Center.
You can remove the original cloned virtual machine by right-clicking on it and selecting Remove from the popup menu.
Then, the Parallels Tools are installed.
When all that is done, a message displays saying your virtual machine has been successfully configured. Click “OK”.
How To Remove A Virtual Machine From Parallels
The virtual machine automatically starts and you can log into your account in the guest operating system and begin working with your virtual machine.
If you converted a Windows virtual machine that was on a different computer, you will have to either call to activate the converted virtual machine or enter a new license key. This is because the Windows detects new hardware, so even though it’s the same virtual machine, Windows thinks it’s a new installation of the operating system. You can search for “windows activation” on the Start menu (Windows 7), Search box on the Taskbar (Windows 10), or on the Start screen (Windows 8) for more information about activating the Windows system in this virtual machine.
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I have two virtual machines running on Parallels desktop (v11 if that makes a difference). They are operating in Shared network mode.
When I have a wireless or Bluetooth network connection they can communicate between each other fine.
When I lose that connection (phone tether drops out, flying, etc) the virtual machines no longer are able to communicate with each other.
I have also tried the network in Host Only mode to no avail.
Is there some way I can have these virtual machines communicate with each other even when I do not have an external network connection?
1 Answer
From Parallels Knowledge Base the following indicates an internet connection is required for this to work. No idea why that would be a requirement.