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Start Up and Shut Down a Virtual Machine

Starting a Virtual Machine

To start up a virtual machine:

  1. In Parallels Workstation, select the virtual machine you want to start.
  2. Choose Start from the Virtual Machine menu.

Shutting Down a Virtual Machine

You can shut down the guest operating system the way you would normally shut it down. For example, in Windows choose Shut Down from the Start menu.

You can also choose an option from the Virtual Machine State menu The Status Bar VM State button at the bottom of the Parallels Workstation window:

PW6 - State menu

  • Choose Suspend to freeze the guest operating system in its current state. You can safely quit Parallels Workstation, open it again later, and resume everything right from where you left off.
  • Choose Pause to stop using the guest operating system and allow its resources to be used by the host computer or other virtual machines.
  • Choose Shut Down to shut down the guest operating system the way it would normally shut down.
  • Choose Stop to stop the guest operating system without going through the normal shut down procedures. Stopping a virtual machine is like unplugging a computer while it is running. None of your data is saved.