Hello all. This is my first posting so be nice First, a simple dumb question. Some posts contain a statement like 'it will be available in the GA'. Ok. I give up. What does GA stand for? Under Virtual PC (yuk!) file sharing between the Mac and PC was simple. You simply designated a folder to be used for sharing. The PC could see it and of course the Mac could too. From what I have been reading, this is not how Parallels works. Is this correct? Will this be available in Parallels? My next query is about the Image tool. I know that it is not available as yet in the Beta for Macs but it will be available in the GA (there's that term again). So why would we need the Compactor? I have also tried Boot Camp but Parallels beats this hands down for me. I love being able to switch to the PC at a whim and still be in OS X. Now Boot Camp has some drivers for the video to match the Macs (I am running both on a Macbook Pro) created on the CD that Boot Camp burns. So here is a whopper of a question. Can we load those drivers into the VM running under Parallels? Is it a copyright issue? Compatibility issue? Finally, to the creators of this product, one word: BRILLIANT! I have been swearing and cursing Micro$oft for many many months at their inability to support Virtual PC. They create a product, take the money, and run. Pure arrogance. Parallels has won me over. Please keep up the excellent work.
I don't know if you found your answers already (there are other posts that address this)... but just in case, here's what I do to share files. In Parallels, it's easier to think of the virtual XP machine as a separate computer on the network than a computer within a computer (like Virtual PC). That said, you need to set up the OSX host and Windows XP guest machines for network file sharing. In OSX, go to "System Preferences" and then choose "Sharing." Turn on "Windows Sharing." I gave my Mac a short computer name to make it easier on the Windows side. In Parallels, launch Windows. If you open an Explorer window, you should be able to type "\\" and your computer name. A window should pop up asking for your Mac user name and password. If all goes well, you now have access to your MAC home directory! I mapped the HOME directory to a letter name in Windows to make access easier. If Windows can't find your Mac computer, chances are the two systems aren't assigned to the same Windows WORKGROUP. (www.apple.com/support has an article on how to set your Mac for a specific Windows Workgroup). This is what I've done and it works great. I have access to anything on my Mac this way while in Windows. Being a former PC user, I still have some old Publisher files on hand, so this works great for me. Just be aware, as Apple points out on their BootCamp page, this possibly opens your MAC files up to viruses that can attack PC's. There are a bunch of posts on how to configure things to limit Windows access to your host system. Also, I believe "GA" refers to the upcoming version of the software that will be for sale after the Beta period ends. Hope this helps.
No, you should not load these drivers. They are XP drivers for Mac hardware. A PW VM actually has totally different "hardware" (it's not real hardware, just virtualized), so the drivers would not do anything anyway. --Tim
