Multiple Users on OS X/ Desktop 4.0

I am running Parallels Desktop 4.0 with the newest update and I have installed Windows Vista Home on my administrator account. It works great on that account but when I switch to a different user account on the Mac it does not work.... it gives a message along the lines of "cannot run operation, program is being used by another user" or something similar.

I have the .pvm file stored in /users/shared/parallels with permissions for all folders and the .pvm set to read/write.

Any advice is appreciated.

 

Hello Gdpasteur,

Could you provide us the screenshots that pops up when you try to access Vista from other users.

To take a screenshot press and hold Command + Shift + 3.

Save the file on Mac desktop and attach this screenshot to your next reply.

Awaiting your response.

 

Thanks for the response. I tried it again today and have included 2 screenshots.

It seems when I start it the first time it appears to start up fine but then when I try to perform any actions it just disappears, when I try to open it again I get Picture 1. This made me think that maybe it was still running in the background so I opened the activity monitor it shows the VM running as well as Parallels, Picture 2. However there appears to be some glitch that makes it close in the first place and then I can't find a way to open it.

Thanks again.

 

So does anyone have any idea how to run Desktop 4.0 in more than 1 user account??

 

Running Parallel on more than 1 host account

I have been running Parallels 2 and 3 in more than one MAC OSX host account for several years, however it looks this is broken in Parallels 4.

I used an administrator OSX account to setup the Parallels application, and then the operating files, as follows:
I created a couple of new folders "/User/Shared/ParallelsOp" and "/User/Shared/WindowsShare"
I created a Windows XP virtual machine "winxp" with the operating files (winxp.hdd, winxp.pvs in P3) in the ParallelsOp folder. I configured the "winxp" virtual machine to share the folder "WindowsShare" with MacOSX, and mapped it to drive Z:

Then (and this is key) I quit Parallels, and using finder I changed the permissions of these two folders, and of all the files in each of these folders, to allow read and write access to "everyone", to each of the user accounts (admin and non-admin), and to each of the groups associated with each of the user accounts.

After doing that I was able to start Parallels in any account and open the winxp virtual machine with no problems. I used the "WindowsShare folder to move files between OSX and Windows XP (I guess I no longer need to use the shared folder since drag and drop works).

I upgraded to Parallels 4 - for a short time I thought everything was working, however I'm now having very strange access denied messages. Each access with a "new" user account seems to block all other accounts from accessing the virtual machine again.

 

Thanks for the reply Eric.

After a lot of searching I found this page http://kb.parallels.com/en/5733 that seems to work perfectly.

I uninstalled my VM (and parallels although I don't believe that was necessary) and then reinstalled them both using the simple directions in the above article. I have been testing it for a few hours between multiple account and it works seamlessly so far. It will even let me suspend the VM with open programs etc. and log into another user to resume working in the VM.

There is just one option to check in the installation that solved the problem. It just places it in a shared folder and sets the correct permissions... I did these exact things myself and it didn't work so I recommend letting the New Machine Wizard do it for you.

Thanks everyone for your help. I'll let you know if I run into anymore information on this topic as I go.