Move Parallels and Win8 VM to another Mac

[mwalsh8]

What is the best way to move my Parallels installation to another Mac? I bought the download versions of Parallels and Windows, so I am not sure of the license numbers of either. I sold my MBP, and want to restore the VM on a replacement in a few months when the new ones come out. It will be removed from this one and kept on TM and clone backups until then.

 

[CylonGlitch]

Just copy the files over, they come across as a single bundle, so just copy the whole bundle over.

 

[firedept]

Just copy the files over, they come across as a single bundle, so just copy the whole bundle over.

First I will state that I could be wrong about this. I moved Parallels and Windows 7 from one iMac I had to a new iMac. I uninstalled both programs before trying to install on new machine.

Parallels was no problem at all. Just had to install license, all was good.

The problem came with installing windows. Because it had been installed once before, it would not accept my license and requested I contact MS and get a new license issued. It was no problem as my Windows 7 Ultimate was legal copy and took me about 1/2 hour on the phone with MS and I was up and running.

Even though Windows 7 installed, had I not got a new license, every time I opened it, I was greeted with the message to pay for a license and how to go about it. Or contact MS with info supplied to get issued a new license.

 

[JuicyJones]

Easy...

Go into the Parallels file in you Documents folder. Choose the .PVM file that you want to transfer and move just that file to the other computer. Get another license for Parallels, install Parallels on the other computer and open he .PVM file. Not bad at all.

 

[CylonGlitch]

The problem came with installing windows. Because it had been installed once before, it would not accept my license and requested I contact MS and get a new license issued. It was no problem as my Windows 7 Ultimate was legal copy and took me about 1/2 hour on the phone with MS and I was up and running.

With Parallels or VMWare windows is installed in a virtual machine. You install Parallels or VMWare and then you can move the image around, to windows it is not being re-installed and it looks like the machine is identical. Windows has no idea it is running on a different machine.

I do a lot of contract work and we have moved to an all VMWare solution where we create a virtual machine for each and every project, install all the tools and do all our development there. Then when we are done and want to deliver, we just send the image file to the customer and they have our entire development environment for them. They don't need to setup / change anything. Either we charge them for the Windows license or they supply it to us; but that's the only additional cost to them and it saves a TON of time and effort. Nothing sucks more than to spend a year developing a project, having it work, delivering the files to the customer who is now using the new version of the tools that causes failures. Grrr... This eliminates any setup / configuration / version issues.

So, the answer is, yes, just copy over the image file and install Parallels and it will be right as rain.

 

[takeshi74]

First I will state that I could be wrong about this. I moved Parallels and Windows 7 from one iMac I had to a new iMac. I uninstalled both programs before trying to install on new machine.

Parallels was no problem at all. Just had to install license, all was good.

The problem came with installing windows.

You're talking about an entirely different matter. In your case you were installing Windows again. The OP can just move the VM from one place to another. No reinstall of Windows is required for this.

 

[firedept]

You're talking about an entirely different matter. In your case you were installing Windows again. The OP can just move the VM from one place to another. No reinstall of Windows is required for this.

With Parallels or VMWare windows is installed in a virtual machine. You install Parallels or VMWare and then you can move the image around, to windows it is not being re-installed and it looks like the machine is identical. Windows has no idea it is running on a different machine.

I do a lot of contract work and we have moved to an all VMWare solution where we create a virtual machine for each and every project, install all the tools and do all our development there. Then when we are done and want to deliver, we just send the image file to the customer and they have our entire development environment for them. They don't need to setup / change anything. Either we charge them for the Windows license or they supply it to us; but that's the only additional cost to them and it saves a TON of time and effort. Nothing sucks more than to spend a year developing a project, having it work, delivering the files to the customer who is now using the new version of the tools that causes failures. Grrr... This eliminates any setup / configuration / version issues.

So, the answer is, yes, just copy over the image file and install Parallels and it will be right as rain.

Thanks CylonGlitch & takeshi74, appreciate the lesson.

 

[onekerato]

In my experience, moving a windows VM from one folder location to another, or making a duplicate copy of the VM on the same machine doesn't require re-activation.

But, if you copy a VM from one Mac to another Mac, windows will automatically deactivate itself after a few days and ask you to provide a serial number. Activation is tied to the hardware on the Mac, even when run through VMWare Fusion or Parallels.

 

[CylonGlitch]

But, if you copy a VM from one Mac to another Mac, windows will automatically deactivate itself after a few days and ask you to provide a serial number. Activation is tied to the hardware on the Mac, even when run through VMWare Fusion or Parallels.

I've been doing this for years, never once ever had to re-activate windows when I wasn't reinstalling it.

 

[onekerato]

As I understand, a Windows enterprise licence doesn't need re-activation when the hardware changes, but a retail licence does.

My (unlucky) experience with copied/moved VMs is based on Windows 7 Pro retail licence(s) running under VMWare Fusion.

 

[CylonGlitch]

As I understand, a Windows enterprise licence doesn't need re-activation when the hardware changes, but a retail licence does.

My (unlucky) experience with copied/moved VMs is based on Windows 7 Pro retail licence(s) running under VMWare Fusion.

Considering I don't use corporate licenses since we give our VM's when done, to our customers we use retail licenses as well. The VM virtualizes the hardware 100%, to windows it looks exactly the same. Something else must have caused your reactivation (such as reconfiguring the VM or something of that nature). Windows has no way of knowing what machine it is running on. We switch VM's between windows and Macs all the time, pass it around the office so each person can do their thing (everyone has their own machine to run it on, every one completely different), and never once has it caused a reactivation.