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Starting, Stopping, and Resetting a Virtual Machine

Starting a Virtual Machine

Once you've set up a virtual machine and installed a guest OS, Parallels Workstation is ready for work whenever you are.

Just click the Power On Power On Button button on the Parallels Workstation toolbar (or choose VM -> Power On). The virtual machine switches on, its control panel opens in the Parallels Workstation window, and the guest OS "boots up," looking just as it would on a real PC.

Note that the virtual machine can only be powered on if your copy of Parallels Workstation has been activated with a permanent or trial activation key. If your copy is not activated, the "This copy of Parallels Workstation is currently not active" warning will appear. If this is the case, you will need to go back and activate your copy (see the Activating Parallels Workstation chapter).

Stopping a Virtual Machine

You shut down your virtual machine just as you would on a real PC. For example, if you're running Windows, you click the Start button and click Shut Down. Only if you can't stop the guest OS this way, you may use the Parallels Workstation controls to do so, like this:

Resetting a Virtual Machine

You should always restart a guest OS using its built-in Restart command. For example, in Windows, click Start, then Shut Down, then Restart.

If that doesn't work, for some reason, only then should you use the Parallels Workstation controls, using one of the following options: