Migrating a Linode VM to a Parallels VM

[section_title title=Convert the Disk Image and Create a New Config File]

Convert the Raw Disk Image (img) to VHD

This is the step that requires VirtualBox. Make sure that you have it installed before running the following command. I am sure there are other ways (qemu-img?), but this was quick enough so I went with it.

VBoxManage convertfromraw linode.img linode.vhd --format VHD

Create the VMC File for Import in Parallels

Once we have the converted disk image we have to create a virtual machine file for import in Parallels. Copy the following text, paste in a new file, update the disk references, and save as your-virtual-machine-name.vmc. Parallels will not ask for a virtual machine name when importing this and use whatever you name this file so name accordingly (you can always change the VM name in parallels after the import).

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<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<preferences>
  <version type="string">2.0</version>
  <hardware>
    <pci_bus>
      <ide_adapter>
        <ide_controller id="0">
          <location id="0">
            <drive_type type="integer">1</drive_type>
            <pathname>
              <absolute type="string">/Full/Path/To/Your/VHD/linode.vhd</absolute>
              <relative type="string">linode.vhd</relative>
            </pathname>
          </location>
        </ide_controller>
      </ide_adapter>
    </pci_bus>
  </hardware>
</preferences>