New Virtual Machine Wizard

There is a special New Virtual Machine Wizard in Parallels Workstation that provides a means for creating new Virtual Machines for both new and experienced users.

The wizard offers three methods of creating a Virtual Machine: Typical, Custom, and Blank. They differ in time for specifying settings and requirements for user experience with Parallels Workstation. Regardless of what method is selected, you will be able to configure ready Virtual Machine using Configuration Editor.

Typical Virtual Machine

Typical method is designed for new users and for fast Virtual Machine creation. When choosing this method you only need to specify:

• type and version of the guest operating system that will be installed;
• name of the Virtual Machine;
• directory for storing the Virtual Machine configuration file and a name of the configuration file.

A Virtual Machine is created with the most common parameters for the selected guest operating system. A new hard disk image is created with predefined size and format, standard amount of memory is allocated, and so on. User can later change the settings and add new devices using Configuration Editor.

Custom Virtual Machine

When creating custom Virtual Machine configuration the wizard allows you to set Virtual Machine parameters directly in the process of creation. This is intended for experienced users. When creating custom Virtual Machine configuration the user is asked to define:

• type and version of the guest operating system that will be installed;
• amount of RAM that Virtual Machine will use;
• whether you want to create a new virtual hard disk, attach an existing one, or not to add disk at all. In the first case you should specify parameters of the new disk, it size and type, and where to store disk file. When attaching an existing disk you have to locate disk image file. If you select not to add hard disk at all you are able to do it later in Configuration Editor;
• type of networking in the Virtual Machine. If you select Bridged Ethernet, the Wizard will ask to choose network adapter that should be connected to the virtual device;
• name of the Virtual Machine;
• directory for storing the Virtual Machine configuration file and a name of the configuration file.

CD/DVD-ROM drive, floppy drive, and sound device (if it is supposed for the selected guest OS) are added automatically, serial port is included in some guest OS. Other additional devices can be added in Configuration Editor.

Sound device and serial port are included for the same guest operating systems as for typical Virtual Machine configurations and are listed in the Creating Typical Virtual Machine topic.

Blank Virtual Machine

Blank Virtual Machine has only memory in its configuration after creation. When you select this method wizard's Next button changes to Finish, and after you click it wizard creates the machine immediately. Nothing else need to bedefined. Devices can be added to blank configuration manually in the Configuration Editor.