Parallels doesn't work anymore

Hi!

I had to reinstall OS 10,6 (Snow Leopard) and since then, I'm not able to open Parallels. I received this message instead :

«Make sure that the prl_disp_service process is active and it is not blocked by Firewall. If the problem persists, contact the Parallels support team for assistance.»

The firewall is not a problem. I tried to activate the prl disp service, but I have no clue about how to do it. Anyway, what should I do to make it work again?

By the way, I sent you guys a report and here is the ID : 2164802

Thanks in advance for your help

 

reinstall parallels. the dispatcher service, from what I can find out, is an interfaceless process that waits for you to do something that requires the virtual machine to be running (such as double click on a file that you'd previously set to open within the VM, e.g. with a Windows application). It probably does other things as well - I once killed it while my VM was running, just to see what would happen, and Parallels died. Instantly. So after your re-install the dispatcher is gone and so probably are a number of other files that Parallels puts into your system folder - your best bet is to re-install Parallels. Don't worry about your Virtual Machine (the .pvm package), that is independent of Parallels and will survive a reinstall of Parallels.

Your best bet though is to make a backup first.

Good luck!

 

Tried this and it still doesn't work. Tried the Onyx clean and the other suggestion through the support team and I still have the same problem......

 

ok, de-install parallels using the de-installer provided on the install disk / image (mind that you don't delete your serial number and the vm, the de-installer gives you this option), restart, do the onyx thing, re-install parallels.

if that doesn't work i'm at my wit's end.

 

Hello ShaddamIV, thank you for your reply. I have done this and still not working. I uninstalled and did the onyx without rebooting though...so I'll try that and let you know.

 

Hi Shaddam IV, did as you instructed and I still get the same message:

Unable to connect to Parallels Service.

Make sure that prl_disp_service is running or check your firewall settings. If the problem persists, contact the Parallels support team for assistance.

I too am at my wits end and curious as to why this would simply stop working. I have not installed any other new software and have made no other changes to my mac.....I started it up one morning and it simply stopped working. I have had this issue in the past but the Onyx did the trick then.....I am also a little p.o'd this product is not working six months after purchasing it......

 

I had this problem before and it seems like Parallels does nothing to fix it... Before I remember having to reboot my machine two and three times just to get it to start. Then Parallels started working a little more consistenly. That was until yesterday when the Parallels updater wanted to install the new updated build. I didn't think anything of it and went ahead with the update.

 

try to find out whether you have a folder "Parallels" in your hard disk's "Library" folder - this is not your home folder's Library folder (!) but the main Library folder. If yes, see whether you have an application Parallels Service in there (the icon looks like a cog with the Parallels bars drawn over it). That thing is really a package with a lot of goodies inside; one of them is the Parallels dispatcher service without which Parallels just won't run.
If your Library folder does not have the Parallels folder in there, or if there's no Parallels Service application in there, something is going wrong during your attempts to install Parallels.

 

I have the cog and have gone through everything on these forums... Parallels intermittently works. Almost every day, I have to complete a reinistall to get it to work when I need it. I am currently on the latest build of Parallels 5 and it works after I reinistall and then nothing the next time I start my computer.

 

Weird. It sounds to me as if you were running some other software on your machine that is interfering with parallels' normal operation. Or maybe something that prevents the dispatcher (and possibly other parallels software and kexts) to start up. One last idea: when you try to start parallels and it won't start up, could you double-click on the cog to help start the dispatcher manually, then double-click Parallels the program, and see whether you'll get it to start that way?

You may actually want to take this up with parallels and send them a problem report (parallels menu -> help -> report a problem (last menu entry).