General Settings

You can view and change the virtual machine name, processors number, amount of memory, and other general parameters.

Note: Some of these settings can be changed only when the virtual machine is not running.

General Preferences include the following parameters:

• The virtual machine name. The Name field displays the name assigned to the virtual machine. The length of the name is limited to 50 characters. The name of the virtual machine is displayed on its guest OS window .
• The guest OS type and version. This field displays the type of the operating system installed in the virtual machine or declared to be installed in future. The OS type and version fields should reflect the real operating system type and version installed in the virtual machine.
• The number of processors. The Processors field allows you to change the number of virtual CPUs that will be used to handle the processes running in the virtual machine. The maximum allowable number of virtual CPUs is automatically calculated by Parallels Desktop. The calculation is based on the number of physical CPUs available to your Mac OS X computer.

  Note: It is reasonable to use more than one CPU in your guest OS if you are going to use applications that perform better under multi-core processors.

• The main memory amount. In the Main Memory field, you can set the amount of RAM that will be available to the virtual machine. To configure the main memory limit, drag the slider or type the value directly into the Main Memory field.

  Note: If your Mac has 1 GB of RAM, it is strongly recommended to assign not more than 512 MB to a single virtual machine.

• The virtual machine description. The Notes field displays additional information related to the virtual machine.

Backing up with Time Machine

If you are using Time Machine for backing up your Mac, you may exclude the virtual machine from the Time Machine backups by selecting the Do not back up with Time Machine option. Time Machine backups may decrease the performance of your virtual machine when it is running in parallel with the Time Machine backup. When your virtual machine is not running (when it is stopped or suspended), the Time Machine backups do not affect it in any way.

For more information about backing up your virtual machines, refer to Backing Up a Virtual Machine .

If you want to prevent Virtual Machine Configuration from further unauthorized changes, click the Lock icon at the bottom of the window. The next time someone wants to change the settings on any pane of Virtual Machine Configuration, an administrator's password will be required.