Cannot get Primary machine to handshake Virtual Machine

Hi Everyone!

I have tried many things to get it so that the Primary OS (Windows 7 Professional 64 bit) can ping (handshake) the Virtual Machine (Windows XP Professional SP3) and vice versa without any success.

I currently have the Parallel's network configuration set to Shared Networking with DHCP disabled. I have the VM configuration for the networking adapter set to Enabled, Connected, Bridged, Default Adapter, and Send the Host's Mac Address to DHCP server checked. The Wireless Network Connections TCP/IPv4 are manually set. The Parallels Host-Only Networking Adapter, Parallels Shared Networking Adapter and the VM's Network Connection are all set to automatic. With this setup, I can ping the VM within the VM environment and receive an IP address that is in the same network as the Primary OS. However, I cannot ping the Primary OS within the VM and I cannot ping the VM within the Primary OS. There is NO HANDSHAKE between the two. I have tried to create the handshake with and without the Windows 7 Firewall turned on.

So, my question is: what am I doing wrong? How can I get a handshake between the Primary OS and the VM? Please be as detailed as possible since I am new to Windows 7.

Thanks