Starting a Virtual Machine and Shutting it Down

Starting a Virtual Machine

To start a virtual machine, do one of the following:

• Click the Start button near the virtual machine name in the Parallels Virtual Machines list .
• Click the virtual machine state menu in the status bar and choose Start .
• Click the virtual machine in the Parallels Virtual Machines list and choose Start from the Virtual Machine menu.

You can start virtual machines only if your copy of Parallels Desktop is activated. See the Activating Parallels Desktop section for details.

Tip: To access the virtual machine's files without starting it, use Parallels Mounter.

Shutting Down a Virtual Machine

To power off the virtual machine, use the standard shutdown procedure of the guest operating system installed in it, or click the virtual machine state menu in the status bar and choose Shut Down .

If the guest operating system cannot be shut down for some reason, you can forcibly stop the virtual machine by doing one of the following:

• Click the virtual machine state menu in the status bar and choose Stop ; or
• Choose Stop from the Virtual Machine menu.

Warning: If you forcibly stop a virtual machine, all unsaved data will be lost.