Error message "Hdd file is missing, corrupted, or used by other application" appears upon virtual machine startup

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Symptoms

Error message "Hdd file is missing, corrupted, or used by other application" or "Unable to connect to Hard disk 1" appears upon virtual machine startup.

Cause

Virtual Hard Disk of a current virtual machine can be missing or corrupted.

Resolution

1.Missing Virtual Hard Disk.

Please check if the virtual Hard Disk is present in the .pvm bundle of the virtual machine. Open the following location in Finder:

/User/Documents/Parallels/Windows XP.pvm (virtual machine name can be different)

Or

/Users/Shared/Parallels/Windows XP.pvm

Right-click the .pvm file and choose "Show package content". In this bundle you should see the .hdd file, please refer to the screenshot below:

Please open virtual machine Configuration > Hardware > Hard Disk and check if the path to the virtual hard disk is correct.

2. Corrupted Virtual Hard Disk.

In order to recover corrupted Hard Disk please refer to the corresponding KB article below:

Repair the installation of Windows VM in Virtual Machine both ordinary and Boot Camp based: 5138.

How to repair Windows Vista/7 installation in a VM in both normal and Boot Camp Windows VMs: 5223.

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