Adding an Existing Virtual Machine

If you already have a virtual machine stored on your Mac, but it is missing from Virtual Machines Directory, you can easily add it by opening its PVM file in Parallels Desktop.

Parallels Desktop 4 enables you to work with your virtual machines created in Parallels Desktop 3.0 and in other virtualization products, including VMware Fusion, Virtual PC, and VirtualBox. All you need is to convert them to Parallels Desktop 4 format. The converting is performed when you add these virtual machines to Parallels Desktop.

To add a virtual machine that already exists on your Mac:

1. When you opened Parallels Desktop for the first time, you can add an existing Parallels, VMware, Virtual PC, or VirtualBox virtual machine from the welcome window by clicking the Import Virtual Machines button. Afterwards, you will be able to add existing virtual machines from the menu by choosing File > Open or from Virtual Machines Directory by clicking the Open button .
2. In the Finder window, locate the virtual machine's file or folder and double-click it to open.
3. Select the virtual machine configuration file and click Open.
   • Parallels configuration files have a .pvs extension.
   • VMware configuration files have a .vmx extension.
   • Virtual PC configuration files have a .vmc extension.
   • VirtualBox configuration files have an .xml extension.

     Note: Parallels Desktop and VMware Fusion virtual machines may be stored in Mac OS X as bundles of files. The configuration file is stored inside the virtual machine bundle.

4. If you selected a Parallels virtual machine, its window will open. The virtual machine will be added to Virtual Machines Directory. If you selected a third-party virtual machine, Parallels Transporter will launch to guide you through the steps of converting this virtual machine to Parallels Desktop 4 format.

If your copy of Parallels Desktop is not activated, you will be prompted to activate it when the virtual machine is added to Parallels Desktop 4. For more information about the activation, see Activating Parallels Desktop.

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