When it comes to installing the guest OS, you will have a few options. You can install directly from a CD/DVD or floppy disk, or install the OS from an image of any of these disks. All kind of disk images can be made using the Parallels Image Tool included in the Parallels Workstation distribution. See the Using the Parallels Image Tool chapter in Parallels Workstation 2.2 User Guide, which is accessible through the Help->Contents menu in the menu bar.
Note: To install a guest OS from any physical disk when running Linux primary OS, you should have system privileges to access the corresponding device of your host computer. Otherwise you will not be able to connect CD/DVD-ROM or floppy drive of your virtual machine to proper physical device.
Here are the General Steps:
To open the virtual machine you've just created, click File menu and select the name of the configuration file in the end of the list.
To install from a physical CD/DVD or CD/DVD .iso image:
Important: Make sure that the Enabled and the Connect at startup options are selected.
If you want to install from a real CD/DVD:
In the CD/DVD-ROM Options screen, click the Use real CD/DVD-ROM option and specify which real drive to connect to the virtual device in the CD/DVD-ROM Drives list.
Now simply insert the CD/DVD disk with the operating system distribution into the appropriate drive of your computer.
If you're installing from an .iso
image file:
In the CD/DVD-ROM Options screen, click the Use image file option and specify the path to the .iso
distribution file in the Image File field.
Click OK on the Configuration Editor screen, then click the button in the Parallels Workstation window or select Save in the File menu.
If you receive a PAE warning on virtual machine startup, see the Troubleshooting subtopic below for instructions on correcting the problem.
To install from a physical floppy disk or a floppy image:
Important: Make sure that the Enabled and the Connect at startup options are selected.
If you want to install from a real floppy disk:
In the Floppy Options screen, select the Use real floppy option and specify which real drive to connect to the virtual device in the Floppy Drives list.
Insert the floppy disk with the operating system distribution into the appropriate drive of your computer.
If you're installing from an .fdd
image file:
In the Floppy Options screen, check the Use image file option and specify the path to the .fdd
distribution file in the Image File field.
Click OK on the Configuration Editor screen, then click the button in the Parallels Workstation window or select Save in the File menu.
If you receive PAE warning on virtual machine startup, see troubleshooting sections below for instructions on correcting the problem.
Troubleshooting
In Windows Primary OS
If when starting a virtual machine in Windows primary OS you receive the warning "Parallels Workstation has detected that your primary operating system is running in PAE mode.
..
", this means that your host computer configuration does not conform to Parallels Workstation requirements. Current version of the Parallels Workstation supports up to 4 GB PAE. To bypass this problem:
for Parallels Workstation
" on the Please select the operating system to start screen.In the future boot into the Windows configuration with 4 GB PAE to work with Parallels Workstation.
In Linux Primary OS
If when starting a virtual machine in Linux primary OS you receive the warning "Parallels Workstation can not be started due to VM memory mapping fail...
" or when running a guest OS you receive the warning "Parallels Workstation experience problem when trying to allocate physical memory in PAE mode...
", it could mean that the currently running kernel supports PAE greater than 4 GB physical memory while the current version of Parallels Workstation supports up to 4 GB PAE only. To fix the problem you have to change the auto detected PAE value to 4096 MB. Do the following:
mem=4096M
" (refer to your boot loader documentation for details).