Can I change bootcamp to parallels?

[Big D 51]

I'm not sure if my topic makes sense, but is there anyway to run parallels without having to reinstall everything again? I have bootcamp setup so is there anyway to run this partition hard drive in parallels?

Does this even make sense?

 

[gr8tfly]

Yes. Parallels allows you to use the Bootcamp partition as a virtual machine. Create a new VM, and you will see an option to use Bootcamp as the VM disk. I believe it's described fairly well in the Parallels documentation.

The only caveat is you can't suspend, as you would a standard VM (with disk virtualized too).

When you restart your Bootcamp install natively, it will configure itself to use native hardware. When started through Parallels, it will configure itself using virtualized h/w. Also, the first time you start Bootcamp Windows through Parallels, it will automatically install drivers that Parallels needs.

 

[Big D 51]

Yes. Parallels allows you to use the Bootcamp partition as a virtual machine. Create a new VM, and you will see an option to use Bootcamp as the VM disk. I believe it's described fairly well in the Parallels documentation.

Sweet. I will give it a try and post an update. Thank you for your time.

 

[Big D 51]

Worked perfectly. As you mention, parallels gave me the option to run a virtual machine. Once I clicked this, it suggested bootcamp. It installed everything automatically and works perfect.

It was getting old having to restart every time if I had to use something in Windows.


Thanks.

 

[Young Spade]

Glad to hear that; just to chime in, I love using Parallel over bootcamp because I can instantly switch to other windows whenever I feel like doing something else; I haven't used bootcamp yet and aside from the varying tax the program holds, Parallel is great.

 

[lankox]

How long does it take to fire up a windows session using Parallels and the boot camp vm? Thanks!