Archive and Unarchive Virtual Machines

If you have two or more virtual machines, you may notice that there's not enough space on your Mac. If you seldom use a virtual machine or don't use it at all, archive it to make the virtual machine occupy significantly less disk space on the Mac's hard disk.

Archive a Virtual Machine

To archive a virtual machine, do the following:

  1. Right-click the Parallels Desktop icon in the Dock and choose Control Center.
  2. Right-click a virtual machine and select Archive.

Unarchive a Virtual Machine

Archived virtual machines cannot be started. To start an archived virtual machine, first you should unarchive it. Do the following:

  1. Right-click the Parallels Desktop icon in the Dock and choose Control Center.
  2. Right-click an archived virtual machine and select Start.
  3. In the dialog prompting to unarchive the virtual machine, click Unarchive.