Because virtual machines are files, you can back them up by making a copy.

Although virtual machines run other programs and manipulate files, they are still files themselves. Because of this, you can back them up by making a copy to external media and restore the virtual machines by copying back.

Note: You cannot copy a Boot Camp virtual machine, because instead of having a virtual hard disk, the Fusion virtual machine uses the Boot Camp partition.

Unless you specify a file location for a virtual machine when you create it, Fusion saves the virtual machine package to a default location, which can vary. See Default File Location of a Virtual Machine.

Prerequisites

Shut down or power off the virtual machine and shut down Fusion.

Procedure

  1. Connect to the media to which you will be copying the virtual machine.
  2. Browse to the virtual-machine location, such as the default your home directory/Virtual Machines folder, and select the virtual machine to copy.
  3. Right-click and select Copy "virtual machine name".
  4. Open the external media in the Finder, right-click and select Paste Item.

Results

The contents of the virtual machine package is copied to the external media. You can reverse the process to restore the copied virtual machine to your Mac.