Backup and Restore from Parallels Windows install?

[orthrus]

hi all,

i have a Parallels installation of Windows 7 on both my Mac Pro and my MacBook Pro. i have finally gotten the installation on my Mac Pro to the point where i want it but i am moving to VB (yay!). I also have a BOOT CAMP installation of windows 7 on my mac pro.

can i run a BACKUP of window 7 on my mac pro from the Parallels installation (or from the BOOT CAMP installation for that matter!!) and RESTORE this installation /into/ or /onto/ the FRESH installation of Windows 7 that i now have in Virtual Box on my Mac Pro?

if so, can i do this same thing on my Mac Book Pro?

if i can take the best and most current installation of windows 7 from one of these installs and put it into the two VB installations this would save me a great deal of time...

TIA

(also apologies if this is not posted in the wrong forum)

[mpack]

Easier to run Disk2VHD inside the guest, writing the VHD to a host-accessible location, later on building a VBox VM around the VHD (1). Be sure to remove Parallel's guest integration tools first, and also run MergeIDE as described here (only the "Hard Disk Support" section is relevant to your case).

(1) Actually I would convert the VHD to VDI before using it in a VM. Conversion would be done using "VBoxManage clonehd <vhdname> <vdiname> --format VDI" (*). VBoxManage is a command line driven maintenance utility bundled with VirtualBox. See the user manual for usage details.

[orthrus]

OK. thanks /very/ much for the reply.

since i don't have a lot installed and since this is a lot more technical than i understand i think i will just install windows 7 and then re-install my software.

very much hoping VB solves my VM needs.

thank you again.

jon