Unable to connect to Internet - New Trial Installation

I have just installed Parallels Desktop 5 on a new MBP and imported a Windows XP Virtual Machine from a VPC installation on my old G4 Powerbook, using Firewire Disk mode. The installation proceeded smoothly and everything seems to work as advertised, except I cannot connect to the Internet.

The Internet connection is working OK under Mac OS X.

Under Parallels Desktop, Preferences, Network, I have selected Shared networking, DHCP is enabled and the address range is 10.211.55.1 to 10.211.55.254, subnet mask 255.255.255.0

In the Mac System Preferences, Parallels Shared Networking Adapter is active, manually configured with address 10.211.55.2, subnet mask 255.255.255.0

Does anyone have any suggestions for how to fix this?

 

OK. Back to the top. A few views but no responses so far.

THIS IS A QUESTION FOR ANY PARALLELS EMPLOYEES READING THIS FORUM.

You would presumably like me to buy your product. I would like to buy your product, but I'm not going to do that until I can resolve the issue of the non-existent Internet connection. I've exhausted the online FAQs, I've posted here and I am no further ahead. I cannot get any direct support unless I buy the software.

So what do I do? Can anyone help me resolve this problem?

I feel like I'm trapped in a Joseph Heller novel:

 

Use bridged networking and turn off DHCP, maybe that helps. Good luck!

 

Shaddam,

Thanks for your response. Could you be a bit more specific? Are you talking about Mac preferences, Parallels preferences or settings inside Windows XP?

Simon

 

Hi Simon,

The DHCP server can be turned off in the Parallels preferences (Parallels->Preferences>Network), while the network mode (Bridged or Shared) can be changed in the VM's preferences (Virtual Machine->Configure->Hardware->Network Adaptor). I don't think you'll need to change anything in Windows.

Good luck!

 

Shaddam IV,

Thanks for the advice. I can now confirm what I suspected. There is something wrong with the installation (or the virtual machine). I can turn off DHCP under Parallels Preferences, but when I go to Virtual Machine->Configure->Hardware->Network Adaptor, I only see Boot Order, Video, CD/DVD 1, Hard Disk 1 and Printer Port 1, but no network adapter.

Interestingly, in the Mac System Preferences, Network pane, two Parallels Network Adapters showed up.

I then tried uninsatlling and re-installing Parallels, with the same result, except that now the Parallels Network Adapters do not show up in the Mac System Preferences, Network pane.

I'm going to try building another VM and see if that makes a difference.

 

Update.

I went back to my VPC VM on my old G4 Powerbook and checked it out. The networking wasn't working there either, so with high hopes, I fixed that and then imported the VM to Parallels. Still no Internet and no adapter showing up in the Parallels Preferences.

During the import process, where a restart is required, a dialog poppes up saying that I would need to run setup.exe from the Install disk. Obviously, I don't have one, but that my be a clue to the problem.

Unless anyone has any ideas for a fix, I guess my next try will be to build a bootable XP CD from the VPC disk 3.

 

Well, after much searching, I found an idiot-proof site with instructions for converting an OEM disk (VPC in my case) http://www.howtohaven.com/system/createwindowssetupdisk.shtml

By following the instructions, I was able to easily create a bootable XP Pro disk, which I then installed into Parallels. My Internet connectivity problem was solved.

I now need to persuade Parallels to give me a new trial, since I wasted the first one, trying to get the XP VM to work!