Application Running in VM Can't Open Files Created by Same App While Running in Host?

I'm running Snow Leopard Server in Parallels 8. I can see the files in my shared folders, but my application can't open the files that belong to it, unless it creates them and saves them while running in the VM.

If a file was created on the host machine rather than inside the VM, my app can see the file, but it is grayed out and can't be opened by my application.

I tried doing a Finder->Get Info on the file from within the VM, and setting "Open With" to my application, but my application running in the VM can't open the file.

My application can save files to the same shared folder, so at first glance it doesn't seem to be a permissions issue.

How can I correct this?