Deleting a Virtual Machine

You can delete a virtual machine using the Delete Virtual Machine assistant or by deleting its file manually.

The Delete Virtual Machine assistant removes the following virtual machine files by default:

• configuration file
• virtual hard disk file(s)
• snapshots
• floppy disk image file(s), if any
• output files of serial and parallel ports, if any
• folder where this virtual machine files are stored

The Delete Virtual Machine assistant can delete an open virtual machine that meets the following requirements:

• The virtual machine is not running. If it is running, the Remove command in the File menu will be disabled.
• The virtual machine is not blank.

To delete a virtual machine:

1. Open the desired virtual machine.
2. Choose Remove from the File menu. The Delete Virtual Machine Assistant window appears. If you do not want this window to appear the next time you start this wizard, select Always skip introduction. Click Continue.
3. Select the Delete option and click Continue.

   

4. The assistant finds all files related to the virtual machine and displays the list of them in the Files Selection dialog. The configuration file, virtual hard disk, output files of serial and parallel ports, and the home folder are pre-selected for deleting. However, the .iso image is not selected by default, because it can be used by other virtual machines. If you want to delete it too, select it in the list.

   

   Note: Make sure you are not going to delete the virtual hard disk that is also used by other virtual machines.

   If you want to select all items in the list of files related to the virtual machine at a time, click the Select All button displayed below the list.

   If you want to clear all items in the list of files related to the virtual machine at a time, click the Clear All button displayed below the list.

   Review the selection and click Delete.

5. The assistant removes the selected files from the hard disk of your Mac. If the operation was successful, the Deletion Succeeded window appears.

   The virtual machine is considered as successfully deleted if all selected components or all selected components except the home folder (if it was chosen for deleting) have been removed. If the home folder contains any other files, the folder will not be deleted.

   Click Done to close the assistant.

Deleting virtual machines manually

Though it is strongly recommended to use Delete Virtual Machine Assistant for deleting your virtual machines, you may also delete virtual machines manually.

If you have virtual machines that are not registered in Parallels Desktop but their files are stored on your Mac, you can permanently delete the unnecessary virtual machines by deleting their files. The virtual machine files (PVM files) are stored in the following folder by default: /<Username>/Documents/Parallels/. Each virtual machine is represented by a single PVM file.

Warning! Before deleting the virtual machine manually, make sure that this virtual machine is not registered in Parallels Desktop and none of its files (like virtual hard disk) are used by other virtual machines.

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