Where apps hide your files

Where Parallels keeps your .pvm files

Updated 2026-10-28 · 6 min read

Parallels Desktop saves each virtual machine as one .pvm bundle, by default in ~/Parallels. Older machines may sit in ~/Documents/Parallels, and the App Store edition uses a different folder again.

The location

~/Parallels

Parallels' user guide gives ~/Parallels, the Parallels folder in your home folder, as the default, and each machine is one bundle named <name>.pvm. Its "locate a virtual machine" article lists these places for the Standard, Pro and Business editions:

~/Parallels
/Users/Shared/Parallels

Older machines can also be in ~/Documents/Parallels. Parallels' iCloud article says that was the default folder, and that new users who installed Parallels Desktop 12 on macOS Sierra got ~/Parallels instead, so a Mac that has used Parallels for years may have machines in both. The same article explains why Documents is a poor home for them: with iCloud Desktop and Documents syncing on, macOS can upload or offload a machine's files and stop it starting.

To open a folder, choose Go > Go to Folder (⇧⌘G) in Finder and paste the path, or run open ~/Parallels in Terminal. Parallels is not installed on the Mac used for this guide, so these paths come from Parallels' documentation.

The quickest way to find yours

Open Control Center, from the Parallels Desktop icon in the menu bar or by right-clicking the Dock icon, then right-click the machine and choose Show in Finder. That answer is right whatever folder you used. If the machine is not listed, Parallels suggests searching in Finder for .pvm or the machine's name, and setting the search's Kind to Parallels virtual machine to filter out other files.

The App Store edition

The App Store edition is sandboxed and, Parallels says, has no access to your folders except Downloads if you allow it. Machines it installs automatically go to a Group Containers folder:

~/Library/Group Containers/<team id>.com.parallels.desktop.appstore/Shared/Parallels

Parallels' article spells the team identifier two different ways, so check yours instead of copying it:

ls ~/Library/Group\ Containers | grep -i parallels

That lists names only. Machines from the Free Systems category are saved to Downloads, per the same article.

What a .pvm is

A .pvm is a macOS package: Finder shows one item, and Show Package Contents (right-click it) opens the folder inside. Parallels documentation and support answers describe these parts:

Item	What it is
config.pvs	The machine's settings, an XML file. Change settings in the app (Configure), not by hand
*.hdd	The virtual disk, itself a folder bundle
*.hds inside the .hdd	The disk's data. Never delete or move it by hand
logs and other files	Written as the machine runs

Parallels' documentation does not say which of the other files inside hold snapshots or a suspended machine's state, so do not delete anything you do not recognise to save space. Delete snapshots from inside Parallels instead.

Change where new machines go

The Parallels Desktop 26 guide: click the Parallels Desktop icon in the menu bar (or right-click its Dock icon), choose Preferences, click General, and pick a location from the Virtual Machines Folder menu. New machines are stored there; existing machines stay where they are.

Move a machine to another folder or drive

Parallels' iCloud article gives the steps for moving a machine out of Documents, and they work for any destination:

1. Shut the guest down from inside it (not suspend), then quit Parallels Desktop.
2. Drag the .pvm to the new folder in Finder. To keep a fallback, hold ⌥ while dragging so Finder copies it instead.
3. Double-click the bundle in its new place to register it with Parallels Desktop. If you copied it, Parallels may ask whether you moved or copied it; answer to match what you did.
4. Start it once, and only then remove the original.

For an external drive, a Parallels staff answer on its forum says the drive should be formatted APFS and warns of known problems with exFAT; an SSD is recommended for speed. Shut the guest down before you eject the drive, and keep the Parallels app itself on the internal disk.

Disk space and backups

A virtual disk is often tens of gigabytes. To see sizes without touching anything:

du -sh ~/Parallels/*

Back up a machine by copying its .pvm while it is shut down; a copy taken while it runs may not boot. To delete a machine for good, shut it down, right-click it in Control Center and choose Remove, then Move to Trash. Keep Files only takes it off the list. Parallels' guide warns to check first that no other machine uses its virtual disks.

Moving to a new Mac

Install Parallels Desktop on the new Mac, copy the shut-down .pvm into ~/Parallels (or any folder you like), and double-click it. A machine built for one processor may not run on the other kind of Mac, so check Parallels' notes on Intel and Apple silicon before you move one across.

Why a normal search misses them

Finder treats a .pvm as a single file, which hides everything inside it. The App Store edition keeps machines in ~/Library/Group Containers, which Finder and Spotlight searches leave out, and the bundle carries whatever name you gave the machine, not a word you would think to search for.

Finding them again

Typing .pvm into Everywhere lists every machine bundle on the Mac, in ~/Parallels, /Users/Shared/Parallels, an old ~/Documents/Parallels folder or the App Store edition's Group Containers folder, and typing .hds finds the disk data inside them. Documents, Group Containers and external drives are covered once Everywhere has Full Disk Access. It matches names only.

Common questions

Where does Parallels Desktop store virtual machines on a Mac?

By default in ~/Parallels, as one .pvm bundle per machine. Parallels also lists /Users/Shared/Parallels, older installs used ~/Documents/Parallels, and the App Store edition uses a Group Containers folder.

How do I find my Parallels VM in Finder?

Open Control Center, right-click the machine and choose Show in Finder. You can also search Finder for .pvm and set Kind to Parallels virtual machine.

How do I change where Parallels saves new VMs?

Choose Preferences from the Parallels Desktop menu bar icon, click General, and pick a folder from the Virtual Machines Folder menu. Existing machines stay where they are.

Can I move a Parallels VM to an external drive?

Yes. Shut the guest down, quit Parallels, copy the .pvm to an APFS-formatted drive, double-click it to register it, and test it before deleting the original.