Can You Run a VM from an External Drive?

At a recent conference for Mac® IT admins, I was asked, “Can you run a VM from an external drive?”

Short answer: “Yes, absolutely. I do this all the time.”

Longer answer: You have always been able to run a Parallels Desktop® for Mac virtual machine from an external drive. In Parallels Desktop 13, this performance has been significantly improved, if your external drive is an SSD drive connected to your Mac by Thunderbolt.

So that you can see what it’s like to run a VM from an external drive, I made a short video. (See video 1). I have deliberately not changed the video playback speed, or deleted any portion of it, in order for you to get an accurate “feel” of the VM’s performance.

Video 1: Running a Windows 10 VM from an external drive

While this is subjective, I think you’ll agree that this VM’s performance looks the same as a VM on the Mac internal storage. For the definitive word on virtual machine performance on a Mac, see this comprehensive MacTech report.

As you can see in the video (at 00:22), Parallels Desktop does alert you when you boot up a VM stored on an external drive. This is so you do not inadvertently disconnect the external drive while the VM is running. (See figure 1.)

Figure 1

Here are the details about the setup for this video:

Parallels Desktop 13.2.0

Touch Bar™ MacBook Pro® with 16 GB RAM running High Sierra 10.13.1 (with all patches)

External Drive: SSD2go PKT (1 TB, with USB-C connection)

Windows 10 Fall Creators Update (version 1709) with all patches

Microsoft Office 2016 Version 1710 (Build 8625.2127) with all patches

Microsoft Edge 41.16299.15.0

The easiest way to build a VM that can be used on an external drive is to create that VM in your shared VM folder. Then just move the VM’s pvm file to the external drive, as detailed in this Knowledge Base (KB) article, How to run a virtual machine from network or external mass storage. (If you want to move a VM from your personal VM folder to an external drive, you may need to adjust the VM’s permissions as detailed in the KB article, How to share virtual machine with several user accounts on a Mac.)

I hope this helps you manage the limited storage on your Mac, since you can move an infrequently used VM to an external drive and still use it without a noticeable performance penalty.

Let us know in the comments if you store some VMs on an external drive and what your experiences have been.

If you want to try running a VM from an external drive with Parallels Desktop 13, feel free to get started with our free, full-featured 14-day trial.

15 comments on “Can You Run a VM from an External Drive?”

Shawn
October 29, 2018 at 9:59 am

Hello. If I have Parallels installed on my iMac and my MacBook Pro, would I be able to run the same virtual machine installed on an SSD? I would like my Windows VM to be portable so I can use it at home and on the go. Is that possible?
Beatrice Vogel
October 30, 2018 at 2:32 am

Hey Shawn, Thanks for reaching out. Yes, this is possible. The only thing you need to do is install Parallels Desktop on each device and then you can instantly connect your VMs that are only installed on your SSD. It works perfectly – I personally do this all the time. Let me know if you have further questions. Thanks
Juan
October 2, 2019 at 11:04 am

Can i move my parallels to an external drive once I have already installed it to my computer ?
Beatrice Vogel
October 7, 2019 at 1:34 am

Hey Juan, Thanks for reaching out. Yes you can definitely move your VMs on an external drive and run them from there. Just make sure you have Parallels Desktop installed on your Mac. Let us know if you have any further questions 🙂
Joabe
November 19, 2019 at 6:55 am

I have a USB 3.0 external drive and my mac has a ssd. Would the performance of the VM be affected?
Beatrice Vogel
December 3, 2019 at 6:40 am

Hey Joabe, Thanks for reaching out. Please refer to this article for further information: https://kb.parallels.com/en/122874. Thanks and have a nice day.
ikomrac
March 21, 2020 at 8:07 pm

How do you move them? I have 3 VM’s ( pvm files ) in my Mac’s /User/username/Parallels . Can I move them within the Parallels app ( ie right click Virtual Machine->change location , then Parallels moves the necessary files )? Or is the process more complicated?
Peter Ayad
March 22, 2020 at 11:32 am

Hi
can I delete the VM after I moved it to my external hard drive? would it delete any info I have in it? Also, I have a 1TB external harddrive but some how it’s telling me that I don’t have space in the VM.
Thank you
Kayla Myrhow
March 30, 2020 at 10:36 am

Thanks for your message back to Beatrice! Our support team is happy to help you with this since you have 3 PVM’s you’d like to move. Please reach out to them on Facebook https://www.messenger.com/t/ParallelsInc, Twitter https://twitter.com/ParallelsCares or any other of our support channels: http://www.parallels.com/support/. Any further questions let us know, we’re here to help. Kayla, Audience Marketing Manager at Parallels
Kayla Myrhow
March 30, 2020 at 10:38 am

Thanks for your message, Peter! If you’ve moved your .PVM to an external drive and use that to boot your VM, you can absolutely delete it from your Mac’s HD. Just understand that you will need that external drive to launch your VM moving forward. If you have any additional questions or concerns, our support team is happy to help you with this. Please reach out to them on Facebook https://www.messenger.com/t/ParallelsInc, Twitter https://twitter.com/ParallelsCares or any other of our support channels: http://www.parallels.com/support/. Any further questions let us know, we’re here to help. Kayla, Audience Marketing Manager at Parallels
Paolo
May 9, 2020 at 10:18 pm

I have been playing games on Parallels on my MacMini (with an eGPU). Could I do the same on my MacBook Pro if I connect an external SSD? would it use the graphic card capabilities of the MacBook Pro just like it does on my MacMini?
Kayla Myrhow
May 11, 2020 at 2:00 pm

Hey Paolo! Yes, the external SSD would utilize whichever eGPU you dedicate to it. If you run into any issues, please reach out to our support team on Facebook https://www.messenger.com/t/ParallelsInc, Twitter https://twitter.com/ParallelsCares or any other of our support channels: http://www.parallels.com/support/ Any further questions let us know. We’re here to help, 24/7. Thanks! Kayla, Audience Marketing Manager at Parallels
Steve
September 23, 2020 at 11:29 am

I assume the Windows applications all get installed on the external drive as well. Is that correct?
Beatrice Vogel
September 29, 2020 at 6:29 am

Hey Steve, Yes exactly, your Windows VM with all its applications can run on an external drive. Let us know if you have further questions. Thanks
Steven Townshend
September 29, 2020 at 7:00 am

Thank you!