Parallels For Mac Expanding Disk

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Parallels lets you run many different types of operating systems on your Mac. Because the developers knew that most Mac users will want to install at least a Windows OS, Parallels includes a Windows Express installation option that eliminates the need to babysit a Windows XP or Vista installation.

This guide will take you through the Windows Express installation, which creates a virtual machine on your Mac. We'll stop short of actually installing Windows, because the specific steps depend on whether you're installing Windows XP, Vista, Win 7, or Win 8.

Parallels Desktop Lite allows you to easily run Windows, Linux, and their applications on your Mac. You don't have to reboot your Mac to switch between operating systems or when switching between Mac, Windows, or Linux applications. Expanding disk not expanding. Discussion in 'General Questions' started by dholaday, Feb 19, 2008. Find your hard disk image file on the host machine (in this case Mac OS). Run the Parallels Image Tool.app on it and expand it to the desired size. The Parallels Desktop 12 for Mac License is an electronic software download only; no physical product is being shipped. This NFR license of Parallels Desktop 12 for Mac cannot be resold on any online platform. We will start the Windows installation process by configuring Parallels Desktop for Mac, so that it knows what type of OS we plan to install, and how it should configure certain virtualization options, including memory, networking, and disk space.

I am running out of free space on my virtual machine, and I want to increase the size of the virtual hard disk. Even if you have an expanding virtual hard disk, it won’t expand above the limit set in virtual hard disk configuration. Apple BootCamp is a free utility that is pre-installed on all Macs running Mac OS X. This means the only cost associated with using this option is the cost of the operating system license you plan on installing. The current Parallels software, Parallels Desktop 6 for Mac, is priced at $79.99 or $49. I am running out of free space on my virtual machine, and I want to increase the size of the virtual hard disk. Even if you have an expanding virtual hard disk, it won’t expand above the limit set in virtual hard disk configuration.

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What You Will Need

  • Parallels Desktop for Mac v3.0 or later.
  • The installation CDs for Windows XP or Vista.
  • 20 GB free disk space. You can get by with less (I've performed an installation with as little as 8 GB of available disk space), but you'll appreciate the extra room if you later want to install more Windows applications or store larger Windows files than you originally intended.
  • About an hour of free time, for the Windows Express setup and to actually install Windows.
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Expanding Disk Space

The Parallels OS Installation Assistant

By default, Parallels uses the Windows Express installation option. This option creates a virtual machine with settings that will work just fine for most individuals. You can always customize the virtual machine parameters later if you need to.

The real advantage of Windows Express is that it's fast and easy; it does most of the work for you. It will collect most of the information that Windows needs by asking you some questions. Once you supply the answers, you can leave and then return to a fully installed version of Windows. This is a much more pleasant Windows installation than the standard. The downside is that the Windows Express method doesn't let you directly configure many settings, including type of network, memory, disk space, and other parameters, although you can always tweak these and other settings later.

Using the OS Installation Assistant

  1. Launch Parallels, usually located at /Applications/Parallels.
  2. Click the ‘New’ button in the Select a Virtual Machine window.
  3. Select the installation mode that you want Parallels to use.
    • Windows Express (recommended)
    • Typical
    • Custom
  4. For this installation, select the Windows Express option and click the ‘Next’ button.
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Configuring a Virtual Machine for Windows

Parallels needs to know which operating system you plan to install, so it can set the virtual machine parameters and collect the information necessary to automate the installation process.

Configure the Virtual Machine for Windows

  1. Select the OS type by clicking the dropdown menu and choosing Windows from the list.
  2. Select the OS version by clicking the dropdown menu and choosing Windows XP or Vista from the list.
  3. Click the ‘Next’ button.
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Entering Your Windows Product Key and Other Configuration Information

The Parallels Windows Express installation option is ready to collect some of the information it needs to automate the installation process.

Product Key, Name, and Organization

  1. Enter your Windows product key, which is usually located on the back of the Windows CD case or inside the Windows envelope. The dashes in the product key are entered automatically, so just enter the alphanumeric characters. Be careful not to lose the product key, because you may need it in the future if you need to reinstall Windows.
  2. Enter your name by using the alphanumeric keys and the space key. Do not use any special characters, including apostrophes.
  3. Enter your organization's name, if appropriate. This field is optional.
  4. Click the ‘Next’ button.
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Name That Virtual Machine

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It's time to specify a name for the virtual machine that Parallels is about to create. You can choose any name you like, but a descriptive name is usually best, particularly if you have multiple hard drives or partitions.

In addition to naming the virtual machine, you will also choose whether your Mac and the new Windows virtual machine should be able to share files.

Pick a Name and Make a Decision About Sharing Files

  1. Enter a name for Parallels to use for this virtual machine.
  2. Enable file sharing, if desired, by placing a check mark next to the 'Enable file sharing' option. This will let you share files in your Mac's home folder with your Windows virtual machine.
  3. Enable user profile sharing, if desired, by placing a check mark next to the ‘Enable user profile sharing’ option. Enabling this option allows the Windows virtual machine to access the files on your Mac desktop and in your Mac user folder. It's best to leave this file unchecked and manually create shared folders later on. This provides more protection for your files​ and lets you make file sharing decisions on a folder-by-folder basis.​
  4. Click the ‘Next’ button.
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Performance: Should Windows or OS X Get Top Billing?

At this point in the configuration process, you can decide whether to optimize the virtual machine you're about to create for speed and performance or allow applications to have dibs on your Mac's processor.

Decide How to Optimize Performance

  1. Select an optimization method.
    • Virtual Machine. Choose this option for the best performance of the Windows virtual machine you're about to create.
    • Mac OS X applications. Choose this option if you prefer your Mac applications to take precedence over Windows.
  2. Make your selection. I prefer the first option, to give the virtual machine the best performance possible, but the choice is yours. You can change your mind later if you decide that you made the wrong choice.
  3. Click the ‘Next’ button.
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Start the Windows Installation

All of the options for the virtual machine have been configured, and you've supplied your Windows product key and your name, so you're ready to install Windows. I'll tell you how to start the Windows installation process below, and cover the rest of the process in another step-by-step guide.

Begin the Windows Installation

  1. Insert the Windows Install CD into your Mac's optical drive.
  2. Click the ‘Finish’ button.

Parallels will start the installation process by opening the new virtual machine you created, and booting it from the Windows Install CD. Follow the onscreen instructions to install Windows.

Guest blog by Paul Christopher Nathaniel, Parallels Support Team

Living in today’s world of “Big Data,” the size of the files we create, share, and store doesn’t matter so much anymore. Do you remember those times when we had to shrink the size of pictures just to save some hard disk space? These days, most PCs and Mac devices come with 500+ GB hard disks—not to mention, we’ve also entered the age of cloud storage.

However, it isn’t the same story for users with an older Mac or MacBook Air owners, who only have between 128 GB and 256 GB available. Native hard drives fill up pretty fast, so with the default size of Parallels Desktop virtual machines (64 GB for most OSes), you might have to shrink your VM during or after setup. On the flipside, users with the latest Mac devices may want to increase the size of their virtual machine(s) for a bigger value.

The good news is that both of these procedures (shrinking and expanding the VMs) are very similar. Bad news? No bad news, but I’ll also share some tips on how to prevent any issues and get them fixed if they arise.

I’m going to walk you through the process of resizing a Windows 10 VM running on Parallels Desktop 11 for Mac Pro Edition, but the steps are very similar (if not the same) for other operating systems and editions/versions of Parallels Desktop.

Let me point out that these instructions are not applicable to VMs based on a Boot Camp partition. Please contact Apple if you want to resize your Boot Camp partition. A Parallels Desktop VM based on Boot Camp will be the same size.

Also, if you’re reading this blog before you set up a virtual machine and you’re wondering how to customize the VM size during the setup process, I’ve created this short video for you:

OK, let’s get started! First, I strongly recommend that you check your VM’s hard disk for errors and back it up.

To resize the virtual hard disk size for an existing Windows virtual machine, follow these steps:

1. Start Parallels Desktop, but do not start your VM. Shut it down if it’s running.

2. Right-click on the Parallels Desktop icon in the Dock, then select Control Center (Virtual Machines list in older versions).

3. Right-click on your VM and choose Configure.

4. Go to the Hardware tab, open Hard Disk 1, and click Edit.

5. Choose the new size for the virtual hard disk, check Resize file system and click Apply.

6. To make sure the changes were applied successfully, confirm that the size of the virtual hard disk has changed:

Is Windows still showing the old disk size after following these steps?Here are a few troubleshooting steps for you:

  • Go to the Start menu, type cmd, right-click on cmd.exe in the search results, and choose Run as Administrator.
  • Execute the commands below one by one:

diskpart
list disk
select disk # (Where “#” is the disk you want to correct.)
list partition
select partition #(Where # is the partition you want to correct.)
extend filesystem

Unfortunately, as with any prerelease software, these previews are likely to be fraught with bugs and other details that must be tested and ironed out, so even if you have the option of installing these operating systems, you might not want to do so on your main working computer, as bugs can result in crashes and even data loss. Parallels for mac home.

You can also try this KB article if you’re unable to increase hard disk space in a Windows 10 virtual machine.

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That’s all for now! As always, questions and comments are welcome. Let me know how Windows 10 runs on your Mac with the new virtual drive size, and don’t forget to follow Parallels Support on Twitter. Need to run Windows on your Mac? Download our free 14-day trial.