Fusion and Parallels on same Mac?

I have Windows 7 and Fusion3.1 installed on my MBP and iMac. Rather than upgrading to 4 I chose to purchase and install Parallels. But when I open it, I cant seem to get past the first step of how to put Windows 7 on. (which is already installed) Do I have to uninstall fusion before opening Parallels? Can I leave both on the Mac in case I wan to upgrade and use my Fusion?

Thanks Roxanne

You may have to create another Windows 7 virtual machine for Parallels although I understand there is a way for Parallels to import the VM from Fusion.

And yes, you can run both Parallels and Fusion on the same machine although I would not recommend doing so as it will use unnecessary drive space and memory.

I probably would have just upgraded Fusion to version 4 as that is cheaper and easier than purchasing Parallels and going through the install process with Windows 7 again.

I bought parallels 7 using my student discount because it was the fusion site was down and it was cheaper than $49.99 for a new fusion 4. I don't think I am elegible for an upgrade as I have had it for a couple of years. If I totally uninstall fusion and then open parallels will that work? But, I really don't want to have twice the memory usage when I only need 1 VM. If I buy the fusion 4, should I uninstall parallels first, since it isn't working anyway? Or if I keep my parallels, should I uninstall fusion 3 to lessen the memory usage?

You created the VM with Windows 7 in VMWare Fusion, Parallels doesn't know anything about it yet (it's a different software). However, you are in luck, you can open the VMWare Fusion VM in Parallels and it will convert it to a Parallels VM and should load it and run.

From a Forum post

1. Make sure that the VMWare image file is not split into 2 GB files (check setting under VMWare)
2. Select Open in Parallels (after step 1 is complete) and open the VMWare machine. A virtual machine conversion will start automatically.

Click to expand...

Check out: Converting VMWare Fusion Virtual Machine to Parallels - Parallels Forums