Hi I am migrating my Parallels install and VMs to a new machine. Is there an easy way to do this without having to reinstall all my software on my VM?
Migrating Parallels to a new Machine
parallels-desktop
Related Solutions
Parallels have instructions here for making their software (version 6 or later) work better with Time Machine. You can either optimise your VMs for Time Machine backup, or disable backup for them.
Parallels Desktop for Mac includes improved integration with Time Machine. When backing up the virtual machine, it will only backup the recent changes (the latest snapshot), but not the whole virtual hard drive. Thus, the backup process will take less time and use less space on your Time Machine storage device.
To enable improved integration with Time Machine, please go to Virtual Machine Configuration, choose Options and hit Backup.
Select "Optimize for Time Machine" in SmartGuard menu.
If you do not want your virtual machine to be backed up by Time Machine, you need go to Virtual Machine Configuration --> Options --> Backup and put a checkmark on “Do not back up with Time Machine”.
In Parallels 7 the control panel looks like this:
Note that when you enable this feature, it will take up more space on the disk. Also, Auto Compress will be disabled.
Parallels has a specific setting to optimize its VMs for backup by Time Machine and prevent backing up unchanged data.
To enable improved integration with Time Machine, please go to Virtual Machine Configuration, choose Options and hit Backup.
Select "Optimize for Time Machine" in SmartGuard menu.
Similarly, VMWare Fusion has some support for Time Machine, which appears to involve turning on snapshots.
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Best Answer
Yes there is! The Unofficial Apple Weblog has dedicated a whole topic about moving your copies of Parallels.
Basically it's just a matter of copying your Parallels folder to the new Mac. The only thing you need to do, besides moving the folder, is reinstalling the Parallels Tools.