Parallels Desktop VM- external SSD recognition as physical drive

[herbert7265]

My question: Is there a possibility to have an external SSD recognized in a Windows 11 virtual machine in Parallels Desktopp as a physical drive, not just a virtual drive? Or is that just not possible, considering that Windows is running in a virtual machine?

The reason I ask: I need to do a firmware update and some configuration on a SSD enclosure, but the application to do so is Windows only. The application works fine on a Windows computer, the external SSD is then correctly recognized by the application. But when running the application in in Windows in a virtual machine the external SSD is not recognized by the application.

Any hint and advice would be highly appreciated.

Herbert

 

[BigBlur]

Yes, you can connect the disk directly to the VM.

KB Parallels: How do I connect an external device directly to my virtual machine?

kb.parallels.com

However, remember that you would have to be using the ARM-based version of Windows 11 (assuming you're running on Apple Silicon). I'm guessing the app is compiled for x86/x64, so it'd need to go through Windows 11's x86/x64 emulation...which may or may not work. The drivers would also be different because of the different architecture. Perhaps that's why it's not getting recognized in your VM. Personally, I wouldn't chance it for something like this.

 

[herbert7265]

However, remember that you would have to be using the ARM-based version of Windows 11 (assuming you're running on Apple Silicon). I'm guessing the app is compiled for x86/x64, so it'd need to go through Windows 11's x86/x64 emulation...which may or may not work. The drivers would also be different because of the different architecture. Perhaps that's why it's not getting recognized in your VM. Personally, I wouldn't chance it for something like this.

Considering that
- I also found that article in the internet and it didn´t work that way
- that I am using the ARM-based version of Windows 11 on my MacBook Pro M2
I assume your explanation concerning the app (compiled for x86/x64, drivers, etc.) may be the key. And I also totally agree that it most likely is not worth the hassle to put in here a lot of work to get it potentially to work, way more easy will be going with a friends Windows computer.

Thank you very much for your feedback and explanation, highly appreciated.

Herbert