can't access or delete Parallels virtual hard drive

[Quasimime]

I've researched online and can't find a way to solve my problem, so thanks in advance for even reading.

Basically, I got tired of having two installations of WinXP Pro on my Core 2 Duo MacBook Pro - that is, I had both Parallels (for some work-related apps) and Bootcamp (to play games). Finally ran extremely low on HD space within my Parallels virtual WinXP Pro environment so I installed Parallels Build 3170 RC3 and directed it towards my existing Bootcamp installation. It worked beautifully!

But now, my MBP is down to 20% free space, which is affecting performance (unless it's my imagination). Even though the WinXP Pro volume that was used by my older installation of Parallels no longer appears on the Desktop or in the Finder Sidebar, I know it still exists and I'd like to recover the space by removing WinXP Pro and any remaining files so that I can merge that volume with my default Macintosh volume. Oh, and I could see the WinXP Pro volume in Disk Utility but it's greyed-out.

Any ideas on how to get rid of the WinXP Pro volume and merge it back to my Mac volume?

 

[Hugh]

Using Boot Camp

I've researched online and can't find a way to solve my problem, so thanks in advance for even reading.

Basically, I got tired of having two installations of WinXP Pro on my Core 2 Duo MacBook Pro - that is, I had both Parallels (for some work-related apps) and Bootcamp (to play games). Finally ran extremely low on HD space within my Parallels virtual WinXP Pro environment so I installed Parallels Build 3170 RC3 and directed it towards my existing Bootcamp installation. It worked beautifully!

But now, my MBP is down to 20% free space, which is affecting performance (unless it's my imagination). Even though the WinXP Pro volume that was used by my older installation of Parallels no longer appears on the Desktop or in the Finder Sidebar, I know it still exists and I'd like to recover the space by removing WinXP Pro and any remaining files so that I can merge that volume with my default Macintosh volume. Oh, and I could see the WinXP Pro volume in Disk Utility but it's greyed-out.

Any ideas on how to get rid of the WinXP Pro volume and merge it back to my Mac volume?

If I understand what you want to do is get rid of the Windows XP partion (Bootcamp). You will need to open BootCamp and tell it that you want to restore the drive the way it was.

NOTE: This will get rid of your of you XP partion entirely. So if there is any thing you might want to keep, I suggest that you back it up.

Hugh

 

[rogersmj]

The Parallels-only volume wouldn't appear in disk utility, because Parallels uses a virtual hard drive -- which OS X just sees as a file. If you deleted the old Windows XP virtual machine that you don't want anymore, that file that represented the virtual machine's hard drive *should* be gone. If you get rid of the other volume you're seeing in Disk Utility, that's going to eliminate your Boot Camp setup.

 

[Quasimime]

Thanks, Hugh and mrogers.

Still trying to get the right terms down, but think I caused some confusion. I don't want to get rid of the Bootcamp partition as Parallels is actually using it and I like it. And of course, I forgot that the WinXP volume I see in Disk Utility actually represents the Bootcamp partition.

So, to get rid of the Parallels-only volume and *not* affect the VM I have using Bootcamp, I would just have to get rid of user>Library>Parallels>OS>OS.hdd?

 

[rogersmj]

^ Yes, that's exactly what you have to trash! Actually, trash that whole OS folder, because it won't be any good without the .hdd.