I installed VMware and Windows XP on my Macbook and Parallels with Windows 7 on my Mac Mini (for reasons I needn't list.) VMware has worked much better and Windows 7 won't run my scanner. So I have installed VMware & XP on my Mini too. But I haven't dumped Parallels and W7 because I got omens that I might lose some programs and contents in the process. Several problems are troubling me now.
1. I cannot install Omnipage from my CD on my Mini. It tells me that Explorer will not open because it is in an unavailable virtual machine - presumably the Windows 7 that I haven't removed.
2. Actually, I seem to have five or six copies of Windows 7 in my virtual machine library. Under "Other Virtual Machines" it lists Windows 7 pvm twice, then Windows7pvm with a ! and "error". Then My Boot Camp and My Boot Camp 1 - both as pvm's with Windows 7. Boot Camp is listed as powered off and XP as powered on. I'm not sure how that happened, though I did know that after I tried uninsatlling W7, the library said it was still residing in Boot Camp.
3. I gather that I could drag all 5 of those "other virtual machines" to the trash and be rid of them. But I hesitate to do so because I have a number of programs that are ensconced in Windows 7 for which I have no disks. I queried Parallels help - and they said theres no way to move program files from Parallels to VMware -but suggested I appeal for help from VMware, which I'm now doing. Is there a way to move either program or data files from the Parallels Windows 7 vm to the Windows XP vm in VMware?
4. I had uninstalled Parallels - but then paniced and reinstalle it when I found that files and programs I'd installed in Windows 7 were only available through Parallels. But I would now like to complete the transition to VMware and XP. What do I need to do to accomplish that without losing programs and/or data?
5. I have two external hard drives available - on LaCie that will allow me to partition to save Mac and Windows stuff separately - and the hard drive from my old PC Desk Top, which is linked to the Mini through a usb port - just to make sure I can retrieve anything I neglected to move over when I made the shift to Macs.
I'll be VERY grateful for any and all suggestions.
jmwoo