Down to just two problems in PD4.

After numerous upgrades, downgrades, reinstalls etc, I'm down to just two issues - hopefully. Time Machine is the only reason this isn't a rant(sort of) blasting Parallels for such a poor release.

Here's the info you request:
1. Mac OS Version - 10.5.5
2. Parallels Build # 4.0.3540
3. What kind of computer - iMac
4. Total Physical RAM - 4GB
5. Hard Drives - SATA 500GB
6. If you are using a BootCamp configuration or not - Not
7. Did you upgrade from a BETA - No
8. With what Build did the problem start - 4.0.Whatever was first released
9. If Parallels Tools are installed - Yes
10. Anything you have tried to get things working - Uninstall, reinstall, upgrade you name it
11. Anything specific about your set-up you think we should know - If people didn't insist on active x apps in browsers I wouldn't need it.
12. If you are crashing, upload some crash logs - No crashes
13. If you are getting an error message type it in and then attach a screenshot. - No errors
14. If you are having issues with a specific component (i.e. mouse, keyboard, monitor) tell us what it is. - Two items to follow

First, whenever the mouse wheel is moved, the mouse loses focus in the Windows window, i.e. it switches to the Mac pointer. It's a Logitech v470 Bluetooth Laser Travel mouse. This does not occur with the Mac wired mouse but this also did not happen in PD 3.

Second, I use a Mac VPN client (IBM mobility client) and since the 4.0 upgrade DNS does not resolve properly for my company's intranet sites. I can get to those sites if I use their IP address and I can get anywhere on the internet as usual so the shared networking does work.

Fixing these two issues would be most appreciated as I'm tired of going back to PD 3 to get my work done.

 

Could you descirbe how this happens?

Does it happenes only when you are connected with Mac VPN client?
Does it happenes without any started VM?

If it happenes without any started VM have you tried to disable Parallels Adapters in the Mac OS X Network preferences?

Do you have all software updates from Apple installed?

 

The VPN works fine on the Mac side. The problems I'm describing are in the VM.

 

Thank you for the valuable input. We had some notes in the our ToDo list about this issue, but we were considering it as very unlikely. We will raise priority of this task.

 

About Logitech mouse, as far as I remember, it is causing by Logitech driver version installed on Mac OS side,
Try to install the latest version of the driver for Mac,

 

If someone is having this problem now, while the VPN connection is established, try to open the Terminal (Application->Utilities->Terminal) and type command

sudo killall -HUP prl_naptd

and try to repeat the failed case without restart of VM (restart doesn't make any difference).

We are investigating the issue and will try to resolve it in the nearest update.

 

I'm on the latest version of the Logitech mouse software. Removing the software gets rid of the problem... as well as its additional features. But as I said, it worked fine in PD3.

sudo killall -HUP prl_naptd had no affect.

 

Sorry, i'm a bit lost: did you mean that after this command your company's intranet-sites still not resolving correctly?

 

Yes, intranet sites are still not resolving correctly.

 

Try to use custom DNS configuration in your TCP/IP protocol settings:
Set three DNS servers:
1) 10.211.55.1 (if you are using Shared Networking)
2) your Mac's gateway IP, e.g 192.168.1.1
3) your ISP's DNS server e.g. 217.70.96.34
also you may add your intranet DNS server if there is one.

As the last attempt you may do the following:
1. Go to C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc
2. Right-click the file 'hosts' and open with notebook.exe
3. Add multiple lines with your intranet addresses:
<IP> <domainname> like
74.125.77.147 www.google.com
64.131.89.6 www.parallels.com
4. Save changes and restart the virtual machine.

 

Placing my company's DNS entries in the windows network config along with 192.168.1.1 does appear to work around the problem. Though order is important, my company's name servers need to be listed first or it still doesn't work.

A quick update on the mouse issue, the problem does not appear in Coherence mode but it does persist in Window, Full Screen and Modality. Though I must say I hate the way coherence works with two monitors.

 

After upgrade to 4.3540 DNS not working

I tried the killall -HUP prl_naptd and it solved a problem that randomly appeared where DNS would not resolve on the Windows XP guest.

After the killall I'm surfing again. What is prl_naptd? How do I keep it from starting up? (Oh, yeah, what won't work now...)

Thanks.

 

Are you using VPN, or USB wireless modem?