Perhaps it may be less hassle to build a clean, new XP image rather than import the Sony?
Have you tried using VMWare vCenter Converter? It's a free utility.
Check your Windows XP license string. If it's a OEM license string, don't attempt the following conversion.
From memory, these are the steps in using Converter:
Power on the Sony and connect to your network. Install Converter package on another Windows PC with the disk
capacity to hold your Sony disk image, launch Converter, allow it to install the Converter agent/service
software on the Sony. Begin conversion, you're storing the converted Sony disk image on the Converter
workstation.
From your Mac, map a drive to your Converter workstation, import the stored Sony disk image to either the Parallels or VMWare Mac client software.
When you start the disk image the first time on your Mac, you'll be required to supply the license string.
These aren't finely detailed steps, but you get the idea.
OK, having had a good play the following options are possible with Parallels:
- From the Recovery Partition on your machine, however this only works from the current one, not any other attached ones, so if you are booted into ML, you can only use the ML recovery partition - so no go for Lion
- From original Media, in this case an official USB stick as it was not available on DVD, I didn't have one, so no good for me (note that hand made ones will not work, neither will if you created a bootable partition
- From a Disk Image file. As with option 2. above, creating a bootable DVD/USB Stick/partition on an drive etc will not work if you have extracted the image file to create one. You need the actual DMG file. If you have the original App Store download, the easiest way to get this is is to rick click and
Show Package Contents, then find the InstallESD.dmg file and make a copy of it.
Using the file from method 3. will allow you to use the new VM Wizard to create the Lion VM
Best Answer
I don't have experience with Parallels, but if you own an external hard disk, you could clone your Mac Server to this hard disk (e.g. with Carbon Copy Cloner or also OS X Disk Utility).
Then boot from the external disk and try whatever you want to try/install - it will not affect your Mac's internal disk. So once you disconnect the external disk and boot from your internal disk again, everything will be as it was before.