foldersparallels-desktoputi
I have installed Windows Vista on a Parallels Desktop virtual machine on my MacBook Air.
But it seem that my Windows Vista home directory is stored in my Mac OS X home directory.
E.g. at my Mac OS X home directory /Users/jonas/ I also have my Vista folders:
Documents/
Applications/
Desktop/
Downloads/
I don't want to mix the environments like this. I want my Windows Vista files isolated to the virtual machine.
How can I keep my Windows Vista files to only exist within the virtual machine?
The best advice. Trail both and then decide. I was a long time fan of VMWare, however recently moved to Parallels. Side by side, Parallels gave me a 5.1 experience index for Windows 7, and VMWare Fusion gave me a 4.9. Performance wise both are solid on my hardware, however I prefer the interface and coherence features of Parallels over Unity. This is however a personal preference. Full disclosure: I run a MacBook Pro i7, 8GB's of RAM and a 500GB 7200RPM HDD.
Both product does the job, and both work well. They are also in the same price bracket. You also can't compare features since both have the same functionality, just the method of implementation differs. The choice between the two is really up to you and how you use Windows virtualised. I game in Windows, and Parallels provided me a better experience. I also had issues running Expression Web, Silverlight and WPF in VMWare due to the graphics card, but this has apparently been resolved in the latest update.
My wife however prefers VMWare and finds it easier to use then Parallels. Moving machines between the two are fairly easy. Use one for the full trail, and then transfer your machine to the other and trial it. Do a comparison on which one works for you.
As far as OS X is concerned, this is acceptable IF you have selected a non-case sensitive filesystem.
The non-case sensitive filesystem is the default, so unless you selected case sensitivity during installation of your operating system (or in Lion's most likely case, your previous operating system), you should be fine.
When selecting file system case sensitivity (or not), it should also be known that while the operating system itself will be okay with this, certain applications may not. There are problems using nearly all of Adobe's applications on a case sensitive file system. At the time of this answer, the Adobe Knowledge Base article regarding this issue was last updated roughly 9 months ago (2010-11-03) and this is still the case. Adobe's only answer to the problem was, and remains, to not use case sensitivity.
It is possible that other software also suffers from this issue, or may suffer from similar issues if a case sensitive filesystem is used.
Best Answer
I am assuming you did an Express installation. There is a few places in Parallels where the settings can or need to be changed.
The first place is under
Configure->Options->Sharing.This controls where and how Parallels can see the folders, and where and if they get mounted.
Shared Profileis most likely enabled which is why you are getting the current result.Another place to check sharing options would be under
Configure->Options->Applications.This controls which applications are shared between the Mac and Windows Virtual Machine and how they interact with each.
Lastly to completely disable sharing between the VM and Mac look under
Configure->Options->SecurityThis will completely isolate the Mac from the VM, and nothing can be shared between the two.