I have a new 21" iMac I am replacing a 24" iMac with our in our shop. I am doing a clean install of everything, but what I don't want to do a clean install of is Windows 7 in Parallels. It was a headache with licensing and getting Corel to activate in the virtual environment and just don't want the fight. Whats the easiest way of transferring the virtual machine to the new computer? Currently its Parallels 6, but it will be upgraded to 7 to run in ML.

Migration Assistant. Not sure why you wanted to do a clean install of everything - that's normally more and unnecessary work, considering the operating system is fresh on the new iMac and not transferred from the previous iMac. Otherwise, you can copy over the folder where Parallels stores its virtual machines, which is in ~/Documents. Place the same folder on the new iMac in the same location, install Parallels and boot it up.

Migration Assistant. Not sure why you wanted to do a clean install of everything - that's normally more and unnecessary work, considering the operating system is fresh on the new iMac and not transferred from the previous iMac. Otherwise, you can copy over the folder where Parallels stores its virtual machines, which is in ~/Documents. Place the same folder on the new iMac in the same location, install Parallels and boot it up.

There is a lot of junk in the old machine that I just dont want there anymore. Its not hassle to install Adobe, Quark and transfer working files. No email setup, no iTunes, very small iPhoto library.

Thanks for the info on transferring parallels, sounds easy enough.

That's fair. Yeah, just moving over the folder within Documents for Parallels should do it. :)

Will this work if I have Parallels 7 on the new iMac and move the Parallels 6 file? I am assuming it will use it and update for 7?

Will this work if I have Parallels 7 on the new iMac and move the Parallels 6 file? I am assuming it will use it and update for 7?

It should, yes.

I upgraded from V6 to V7 when I moved to Lion - I used Time Machine to replace the parts (exactly like Lars mentions) and the trickiest was the 6 to 7 upgrade/ registration dance.