Hi there, I have two problems and appreciate any help very much! 1. Activation of Win XP in Virtual Mode is not possible I could successfully migrate my Thinkpad on the Mac now (this means the data transfer worked so far). I installed the very new version of Parallels 5. But the problem now is: when XP on Mac in Parallels 5 starts, it asks the three option activating menue of Win XP Prof. But whatever option I choose, WinXP in virtual mode does just not continue. I made sure before migration, that the internet connection starts right from the start up with windows, so this shouldn't be the problem that there is no internet connection. But even if this were the case, the option: activate later does not work either. The complete system WinXP stops just at this point with the three option activating menue without continuing regardless what option I choose. It is possible to shut down WinXp at this point and to restart it, but it never goes beyond that step of the three-option-activating menue of WinXp. Any idea? (Of course I have the licence to activate the software) 2. Impossible to get the formular for email support on Parallel's website The Parallel's chat option with India did not help here (it worked but there was no solution to fix the problem, the questions of the operator seemed unrelated to the problem too, and finally though the operator let himself time to reply, when I didn't manage to quickly type my reply, the operator finished the chat...), so I tried again the "get email support" option. But it does not work. The option to get email support directly from Parallels is not available on the Parallels website. It is possible to pass STEP1 "Authorization" but then when STEP2 "Select your product step" appears, there is no option one can choose. I tried firefox and safari, but there is just no continuation or link/button to proceed. What is the problem here? (I have the email support right, according to my status received by email.) Is there a email address to ask for support? Thanks a lot. Its a bit frustrating to have invested now almost 30 hours to migrate the Win System and then to fail on that point. I would really appreciate any help here. Thanks a lot.
sms on the solution process: I have now email support, it was activated by the person with whom I had a chat in India. The first suggestion by the email support was to press F8 key* while starting the Virtual Machine so that Win XP starts in safe mode and the activation is temporarily avoided, however, this does not work. I will keep you informed in case someone has a similar problem/question, this may save also time and money for the support team, because it avoids future inquiries by others. I hope this is ok for parallels team. Principally, I think it is very kind and a rare thing that a software company offers for 30 days free support by email, chat or phone, so I appreciate this offer by Parallels, and I hope finally we get the machine run ;-) *This was the exact advice: Please press F8 while starting Windows and choose Safe mode option. Then in safe mode it will not ask you for any activation code. Then restart Windows and go through normal mode. Then try choose activate later instead of trying to activate it.
OEM Versions cannot be migrated! So after one week of time-consuming trials and communication with the Parallels Support team, it turned out, that Parallels cannot migrate Laptops or Computers who have a OEM Win XP version. Since most computers have this, there will be quite likely problems for others to migrate a system which use OEM Win XP. I had the good luck that a software seller said before I bought a new OEM Win XP version - which I wanted to install since the migration via "Parallels Switch to Mac" failed - that I should not buy an OEM version, since this cannot be installed via parallels. He recommended to buy a SB version. Through his kindness I could help myself to step into the next trap. The support from the Parallels team was all in all very good, the main problem I see is that Parallels does not communicate the problem with the customers before they buy the product. (It was impossible to migrate my laptop with "Parallels Switch to Mac", so the support team and I wasted time and money because Parallels does not tell the customers that OEM version cannot be migrated. I think this should be changed. In my reply of the support I wrote therefore: "The problem and communication with the support team of parallels (and therefore a lot of consummation of time and money) had been avoided if Parallels would have made clear to customers before they buy the product Parallels 4.0/5.0 that OEM Win Versions cannot be migrated. I strongly recommend to Parallels to help the customer to know about the difficulties which arise if one wishes to migrate a Laptop using OEM Win system. Since I didn't know this and this was not made clear by parallels or in the internet, I bought the more expensive version to migrate my laptop only for the sake to find out after 1 week of time consuming trials and struggle with the support team, that parallels cannot migrate laptops/computers. So my time and money and the time and money of parallels were wasted due to a lack of communication of the problems, more precisely the inability, which arise of migrating OEM versions. Though I can bear that loss of time and money, I wish for other customers that they are informed about this before they buy the product. However, thanks a lot, I still belief Parallels is a good product and though I couldn't migrate my laptop as I wished, I hope I can use the newly bought full version of Win XP to set up a virtual machine with parallels 5.0. The possibility of support is a great help, since of course such issues are extremely complex. Best wishes to your team, ..."
