Convert a Parallels Windows 7 image to VirtualBox?

M

MacInWin

Guest
Here is what I need to do: I need to run Photoshop to print labels for my wife's business. The challenge is that the printer is old, and the drivers for it died with the upgrade to Yosemite. So, I moved the PS license to Windows, obtained a full license copy of Win7 and installed it in Parallels. Win7 is also the last version of Windows for which the Windows driver works.

I don't mind booting Parallels just to open PS, do minor editing of the label and to print, but I was wondering if it wouldn't be simpler to somehow get a Virtualbox implementation that had PS and the printer driver and run that instead of Parallels. I did some research into how to convert a Parallels .hdd so that VB could open it, but none of what I tried worked. I got the .hdd extracted, but VB insists it cannot read the file. Here is what it puts out:

Failed to open the disk image file /Volumes/Internal HD/Windows 7-0.hdd.

The medium '/Volumes/Internal HD/Windows 7-0.hdd' can't be used as the requested device type.

Result Code: NS_ERROR_FAILURE (0x80004005)
Component: MediumWrap
Interface: IMedium {4afe423b-43e0-e9d0-82e8-ceb307940dda}
Callee: IVirtualBox {0169423f-46b4-cde9-91af-1e9d5b6cd945}
Callee RC: VBOX_E_OBJECT_NOT_FOUND (0x80BB0001)
So, can someone tell me a) is is possible/practical to use VB to run PS and print to this aging printer b) assuming it is possible/practical, is there a way to do that from the Parallels VM I already have?

Frankly, if the solution is to reinstall WIn7 and PS under VB, I probably won't bother with all that, but if it's possible to do and if it's possible to convert what I've already installed, I might give it a go.

TIA,
 

Raz0rEdge

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I have, at varying times, used a combination of VMWare Fusion and VirtualBox for the various VMs that I need to run and sometimes have tried to convert one VM to another with no success. I even tried with one my attempts to use a VMDK type which apparently is conducive to be moved around between the different software with no success. In the end, the only effective way I had of switching from one software to the other was to reinstall.

My general advise when it comes to the VM software is that if you haven't already purchased VMWare Fusion or Parallels, then start with VB and perhaps stick with it if it works for you, but if you have a copy of the other two software, go with them since they are better in a few ways. One key way, for me at least, that VMWare Fusion is MUCH better than VB is the use of USB devices. My work requires me to connect multiple devices for development and when I plug them in, VMWare nicely asks me what I want to do with the newly inserted device and if its a device I will always use with a particular VM, I can make that connection permanent without any more questions. With VB, the device always goes to the host first and then gets transferred to the VM which sometimes fails.

So, overall, peripheral support is significantly better in Parallels/VMWare Fusion than VB..
 
OP
M

MacInWin

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Thanks, Ashwin. I do, in fact, have Parallels and have Win7 installed so I guess I'll just stick with it. Transferring print through the host will kill the print solution because there are no drivers for the printer in ElCap, which is what triggered the whole problem in the first place. So, I'll stick with what works.
 

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