Parallels locking down a shared database file

Hello all,

I just installed Parallels for the first time yesterday (I got my first Mac last Saturday), and I'm attempting to configure it at my business to run my point of sales software. The software itself installs without a hitch, runs very smoothly (Mac is running OSX 10.6 and it's Windows XP SP3 on the virtual machine). It's an MS Access based system with the database in a shared directory on my server (running Server 2003 SBE). When I load the program and access the database file, it locks out every other POS machine that is currently accessing it or that tries to access it. I'm certain this has something to do with the file sharing aspect, having the shared directory in OSX then brought into Parallels must cause something. I've been banging my head against a wall for a while now, anyone have any ideas that may help?

 

Thank you for the feedback. There is a problem in Parallels Shared Folders. We will work on it. Please access your server directly from the virtual machine to avoid the problem.

 

When you say to access the shared files directly from the Virtual Machine, what exactly do you mean? I have the shared folder on the server mapped as a network drive, but that comes from shared files that the Mac passes onto the VM. Is there a way to map directly to the server from the VM? I tried the standard mapping, but I can't see the server or any other machine on the network.

 

I mean standard mapping, using network in the VM. You can try first to type \\youserver\share into Address bar of the Windows Explorer, thus, you check whether the share is accessible or not. If it is not, make sure a network adapter is present in your VM configuration (Virtual Machine->Configure->Hardware), and, if present, make sure Shared or Birdged networking is enabled there.

 

I can access the server in the VM, no issues at all, from the address bar. There are (what appear to be) mapped network drives visible when you load My Computer and those lead to the shared folders on the server, however those are ones I didn't map myself, the OS loaded them on it's own (I guess as Mac OSX had accessed them as shared directories as well). I have always been able to do this, but still I cannot access the file without locking it down for other users.

As for the network adapter, it does show up with a Parallels Ethernet Adapter in Device Manager. I am at a loss as to what you mean when you say to make sure that Shared or Bridged networking is enabled "there". There is no where I can see in the device tab that I can turn on any options that are named that (mind you I could be blind).

 

You can see "Shared Networking" or "Bridged Networking" in the VM Configuration->Hardware dialog, as the properties of the network adapter of your VM (not the Parallels Ethernet Adapter of your guest OS). But this doesn't matter because you can access the server from the address bar.
I guess, you currently have mounted the share to your Mac, and Parallels Desktop made available the share to your guest OS as \\.psf\sharename mapped to a drive letter. Your database client accesses your database, using the drive letter. Is this right? You typed \\yourserver\sharename into the address bar, and the share was available this way.
If right, please, unmount the share from your Mac. The drive letter will automatically disappear from Windows Explorer inside your guest OS. Then, map the share to a drive letter manually:
1. Open Windows Explorer and go to the Tools->Map Network Drive menu.
2. In the dialog opened, type \\yourserver\share into "Folder" field, and click "Finish"
3. Use the new drive letter to access the database.
If I'm not right, please, describe the situation more clearly, and/or send us a problem report (using Help->Report a problem dialog of PD, when the virtual machine is running and in focus), and post it's number here.