I adore Parallels on the Mac. I forgot my password to Windows 7, so I hunted for advice on web & found that password is essential – so I 'removed' Windows. Tried to reinstall but told onscreen that something was missing. Uninstalled Parallels & reinstalled, then reinstalled Windows 7 successfully.
Where does the Windows software go when Windows is removed? Is it also removed? …or is it still there somewhere – if so where would it be?
Best Answer
Anything you install in Windows (on a Mac with an emulator) goes into a Virtual Hard Drive. That means a file (more exactly a disk image) containing your Windows installation AND programs.
When you erase a virtual machine, you should be prompted to choose whether to erase the virtual drive as well. But since you don't have the password, that hardly matters.
The answer to your question is: if you erased your Virtual Machine because you couldn't remember the password, your programs are gone. You might be able to recover a copy of your Virtual Machine (and the Virtual Drive) from a Time Machine backup, but again, it will be unusable without the correct password.