config.pvs is the configuration of a Parallels machine: an XML file in UTF-8 with a three-space indent,
about 28 to 31 KB. config.pvs.backup beside it is a copy of the same size. There is no public schema.
This page is what three real files show (an Ubuntu 24.04 ARM64, a Fedora 42 ARM64 and a macOS machine, all written by the same
Parallels Desktop; their top-level layout is identical). A meaning is given only where a value can be checked against another file of the bundle,
and each such statement says so; everything else is marked undocumented. The explorer lists every element of a file with its value and
these notes.
XML conventions (observed)
| Convention | What was seen |
|---|---|
| Root | <ParallelsVirtualMachine schemaVersion="1.0" dyn_lists="VirtualAppliance 0">. schemaVersion was 1.0 in every file. |
dyn_lists | On many elements: a list of names and numbers, such as Hardware dyn_lists="Fdd 0 CdRom 1 Hdd 1 Serial 0 Parallel 0 Printer 0 NetworkAdapter 1 Sound 1 USB 1 GenericScsiDevice 0 GenericNvmeDevice 0". The pairs match the repeated child elements actually present (one Hdd, one CdRom) in that example, but BootingOrder dyn_lists="BootDevice 4" holds three BootDevice elements, so it is not a reliable count. |
id | Repeated elements (Hdd, CdRom, NetworkAdapter, Sound, USB, BootDevice) carry id="0", id="1" … in order. |
*_patch | Attributes such as Hdd_patch="1", Custom_patch="1", EfiEnabled_patch="", named after a child or a sibling. Their meaning is undocumented. |
| Values | Flags are 0 or 1. Identifiers are GUIDs in curly brackets, written in lower case. MAC addresses are 12 hexadecimal digits without separators. Dates are YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS. The date 1752-01-01 stands for “not set”. UsbConnectHistory/USBPort/Timestamp values such as 1781128531498 read as milliseconds since 1970 (10 June 2026). |
| Empty elements | Unset text values are written as an empty element, <Owner></Owner>, not left out. |
The sections
| Element | What it holds |
|---|---|
AppVersion | A version string, 1.26.2-23919 in all three files; the same string appears in Settings/Tools/ToolsVersion and the disk descriptor’s GuestToolsVersion, so it is probably the Parallels Tools version (undocumented). |
ValidRc | A number, 0 in all three (undocumented). |
Identification | Who the machine is: below. |
Security | AccessControlList, LockedOperationsList, PasswordProtectedOperations, LockDownHash, Owner, IsOwner, AccessForOthers, LockedSign. All empty or 0 in the files read (undocumented). |
Settings | How the machine behaves: below. |
Hardware | The virtual hardware: below. |
InstalledSoftware | A number, 0 in all three (undocumented). |
Identification
| Element | Seen | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
VmUuid | a GUID | The machine’s UUID. Checked: parallels.log shows the same GUID as the --uuid argument of the machine process. |
VmName | “Fedora 42 ARM64” | The machine’s name. Checked: the --vm-name argument in parallels.log. |
VmType | 0, 0 and 2 | A code. Seen: 0 for the two Linux machines, 2 for the macOS machine. The list is undocumented. |
SourceVmUuid | a GUID | Named after the machine this one was made from (a copy or clone); the Fedora machine’s differs from its own VmUuid. Meaning not documented. |
LinkedVmUuid, LinkedSnapshotUuid, LastServerUuid, ServerHost | empty | Undocumented. |
ServerUuid, ServerUuidAs | GUIDs | Undocumented; probably identify the host or Parallels service that registered the machine. |
VmFilesLocation, VmLocationName | 1, “Macintosh HD” | Undocumented; the second is the name of the volume the bundle sits on. |
VmCreationDate | “2025-07-10 06:49:15” | The creation time (local), by its name. |
VmUptimeStartDateTime, VmUptimeInSeconds | a date, a number | By their names: when the machine last started, and how long it had run. Undocumented. |
Settings
The children, with the elements seen under each. All meanings below are undocumented unless a sentence says otherwise.
| Child | Elements seen |
|---|---|
General | OsType, OsNumber, SourceOsVersion, VmDescription, IsTemplate, CustomProperty, SwapDir, VmColor, Profile, CpuRamProfile (with CustomCpu/Number and CustomMemory/RamSize), AssetId, SerialNumber, SmbiosBiosVersion, SmbiosBoardId. OsType and OsNumber are numbers from Parallels’ own guest list (the SDK’s PVS_GUEST_TYPE_* and PVS_GUEST_VER_*; the numeric values are not given in the pages read): OsType 9 for the Ubuntu and Fedora machines and 7 for the macOS machine (VmInfo.pvi’s RealOsTypeId is also 7); OsNumber 2314 for Ubuntu, 2311 for Fedora and 1795 for macOS. |
Startup | AutoStart, AutoStartDelay, VmStartLoginMode, WindowMode, StartInDetachedWindow, BootingOrder (BootDevice with Index, Type, BootingNumber, InUse; Types 6, 5 and 15 seen), AllowSelectBootDevice, Bios (EfiEnabled, EfiSecureBoot), ExternalDeviceSystemName. |
Shutdown | AutoStop, OnVmWindowClose, WindowOnShutdown, ReclaimDiskSpace. |
SasProfile | Custom. |
Runtime | About 60 elements: ForegroundPriority, BackgroundPriority, DiskCachePolicy, CloseAppOnShutdown, ActionOnStop, DockIcon, FullScreen (corner actions, gamma, scaling), UndoDisks, SafeMode, SystemFlags, DisableAPIC, OptimizePowerConsumptionMode, ShowBatteryStatus, EnableAdaptiveHypervisor, UseSMBiosData, DisableSpeaker, CompactMode, StickyMouse, the CPU feature masks FEATURES_MASK, EXT_FEATURES_MASK, EXT_80000001_ECX_MASK and others, CpuFeaturesMaskValid, unattended-install settings, DebugServer, HypervisorType, RestoreImage, NetworkBusType. |
Schedule | SchedBasis, SchedGranularity, SchedDayOfWeek, SchedDayOfMonth, SchedDay, SchedWeek, SchedMonth, SchedStartDate, SchedStartTime, SchedStopDate, SchedStopTime. |
Tools | The Parallels Tools settings: ToolsVersion, MacVMStorage, BusType, Coherence, SharedFolders (HostSharing, GuestSharing), SharedProfile, SharedApplications, AutoUpdate, ClipboardSync, KeystrokeForwarding, DragAndDrop, KeyboardLayoutSync, MouseSync, SmartMouse, SmoothScrolling, TimeSync, Modality, SharedVolumes, Gestures, RemoteControl, LocationProvider, AutoSyncOSType, WinMaintenance, DevelopOptions, DiskSpaceOptimization, RosettaLinux. |
Autoprotect, AutoCompress | Automatic snapshots (Enabled, Period, TotalSnapshots, Schema, NotifyBeforeCreation) and automatic disk compression (Enabled, Period, FreeDiskSpaceRatio), by their names. |
GlobalNetwork | HostName, DefaultGateway, DefaultGatewayIPv6, AutoApplyIpOnly. |
VmEncryptionInfo, VmProtectionInfo | Encryption and protection state: Enabled, SecretKeySourceType, SecretKeyId, PluginId, Hash1, Hash2, Salt; the protection element adds Hash3 and ExpirationInfo (ExpirationDate, TrustedTimeServerUrl, Note, TimeCheckIntervalSeconds, OfflineTimeToLiveSeconds). All off in the files read. |
| Other | SharedCamera, SharedCCID, Keyboard, VirtualPrintersInfo, SharedBluetooth, SharedGamepad, LockDown, UsbController (UhcEnabled, EhcEnabled, XhcEnabled, ExternalDevices), OnlineCompact, TravelOptions, ArchivingOptions, PackingOptions. |
Hardware
| Child | Elements seen and what is checked |
|---|---|
Cpu | Number (virtual CPUs: 2, 2 and 4), Mode, Type, AutoCountEnabled, AccelerationLevel, EnableVTxSupport, EnableHotplug, VirtualizedHV, VirtualizePMU. The macOS machine’s VmInfo.pvi reports “4 cpu(s)” and its Number is 4. |
Chipset, Clock | Type, Version; TimeShift. |
Memory | RAM (4096, 4096 and 8192; the unit is megabytes by Parallels’ convention, not checked here), RamAutoSizeEnabled, EnableHotplug, HostMemQuotaMin, HostMemQuotaMax, HostMemQuotaPriority, AutoQuota, MaxBalloonSize, ExtendedMemoryLimits. |
Video | Enabled, Type, VirtIOBusType, VideoMemorySize, EnableDirectXShaders, ScreenResolutions, Enable3DAcceleration, EnableVSync, MaxDisplays, EnableHiResDrawing, UseHiResInGuest, HostScaleFactor, NativeScalingInGuest, ApertureOnlyCapable. |
HibernateState | ConfigDirty, SMapType, HardwareSignature, ShutdownReason, LongReset, ServerUuid and the CPU feature masks again. |
VirtIO, VirtIOSerial, VirtIOInput, VirtIOVsock | ModernNet, ModernSerial; ToolgatePort, LoopbackPort; Mouse; ToolgateEnabled. |
CdRom, Hdd, NetworkAdapter, Sound, USB | The devices, each with an id and the common children below. |
UsbConnectHistory, BTConnectHistory | Lists of USBPort (Location, SystemName, Timestamp) and Bluetooth connections. |
TpmChip | Type, Policy. |
Devices
Every device carries Index, Enabled, Connected, EmulatedType, SystemName, UserFriendlyName,
Remote and DeviceDescription. A disk (Hdd) adds the elements below; the checks are against the disk’s own files.
| Element | Seen | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
SystemName | “Fedora 42 ARM64-0.hdd” | The name of the disk’s .hdd bundle in the machine folder. Checked. |
Uuid | a GUID | The device’s identifier. Checked: it is not the disk’s UID in DiskDescriptor.xml. |
Size | 65536 | The disk size in megabytes. Checked: 65,536 MiB is the 134,217,728 sectors of the descriptor’s Disk_size. |
SizeOnDisk | 10124 | Space used on the host in megabytes, by its name. Checked, does not match: the Fedora image file is 7,858 MiB, so the value is out of date or counts something else. |
DiskVersion, CompatLevel | 2, “level2” | Checked: 2 is the version field of the expanding image’s header, and “level2” is the descriptor’s CompatLevel. |
InterfaceType, StackIndex, DiskType, Passthrough, SubType, Splitted, AutoCompressEnabled, OnlineCompactMode, Partition list | numbers | Undocumented codes and flags. |
A NetworkAdapter adds AdapterNumber, AdapterName, MAC (12 hex digits), VMNetUuid, HostMAC, HostInterfaceName, Router, DHCPUseHostMac, ForceHostMacAddress, AdapterType, StaticAddress, LinkRateLimit, AutoApply, ConfigureWithDhcp, DefaultGateway and NetProfile; a Sound adds BusType, AdvancedType, VolumeSync, Output, Mixer, Channel, AEC and nested SoundInputs and SoundOutputs lists; a CdRom adds InterfaceType, StackIndex, Passthrough and SubType. A USB entry’s SystemName reads like VIRTUAL@UVC@|203a|fff9|high|--|GUID (a virtual camera: vendor 203a, product fff9, high speed).
Sources: three real config.pvs files and their bundles on the owner’s Mac, read directly (nothing was changed or started); the
Parallels Virtualization SDK C API reference (download.parallels.cn/desktop/v17/docs, read 2026-11-14, which names the PVS_GUEST constants but not their values).