Using Parallels Mounter

Parallels Mounter allows you to browse the contents of your virtual machines and virtual hard disks directly in the Finder, without starting Parallels Explorer. But unlike Parallels Explorer, Parallels Mounter doesn't support VMware, Microsoft PC, and VirtualBox virtual machine files. Parallels Mounter is automatically installed along with Parallels Desktop for Mac.

Browsing the contents of a virtual machine or a virtual disk with Parallels Mounter

1. Locate the virtual machine's PVM file in the Finder.

   The default path for storing Parallels virtual machines is /Users/<UserName>/Documents/Parallels/.

2. To mount the hard disk of a particular virtual machine, right-click this virtual machine's PVM file and choose Open With > Parallels Mounter from the shortcut menu.

   Note: If you choose a PVM file of a virtual machine that has several virtual hard disks, all its volumes will appear as mounted in Finder.

   If you want to mount a single virtual hard disk, double-click its HDD file to mount it with Parallels Mounter.

   

3. The icons for the selected hard disk or virtual machine volumes appear in the sidebar of the Finder window, together with other Mac OS X icons.
4. To browse the contents of a volume, click its icon in the sidebar of the Finder window.

   You can manage the virtual machine files just as you manage your Mac OS X files in Finder windows.

   Note: If you are browsing the contents of a suspended virtual machine in the Finder, you cannot delete, move, or otherwise modify its files.

   

5. To unmount the volume, use the Eject button next to the disk icon.

   Note: If a hard disk that has several volumes was mounted, and you want to open it or the virtual machine using it in Parallels Desktop, you should disconnect its volumes one by one by clicking the Eject button.

Starting Parallels Mounter in a terminal

You can start Parallels Mounter in a terminal by issuing the following commands:

open -a "/Library/Parallels/Parallels Mounter.app" "<Virtual_Machine_Path>"

or

"/Library/Parallels/Parallels Mounter.app/Contents/MacOS/Parallels Mounter" "<Virtual_Machine_Path>"

<Virtual_Machine_Path> designates the path to the folder where the virtual machine's PVS or HDD files are stored.

Enabling Mac OS X Spotlight for the mounted disk in a terminal

If you want to enable Mac OS X Spotlight for the mounted disk, you should run the following command:

"/Library/Parallels/Parallels Mounter.app/Contents/MacOS/Parallels Mounter" -ospotlt "<Virtual_Machine_Path>"

For more information about using Spotlight for searching Parallels virtual hard disks, refer to Parallels Desktop User's Guide.

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