Media Player not working after upgrade to 3.0

A

Annapolis sailor

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The thread was moved from "Installation and Configuration in Mac OS" by Xenos

Ever since upgrading to Parallels 3.0 5160 I have lost the ability to play video files in Windows Media Player. I get an error message saying the codec may be incompatible, but I am trying this on a sample .wmv that comes with Vista. Everything worked properly before the upgrade. I installed VLN, and I get audio to play, but no video. I do not have the Direct X option checked off in the configuration file.
 
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I have had this experience too with Vista Ultimate... On two new clean-sheet VMs.

Installing a new VM with a clean install, has everything working "out of the box". Media player runs fine on the sample media, as does all the other stuff bundled with the OS install.

Before installing anything else from Microsoft (like Office) or other vendors, the next thing I installed on this virgin Vista system was the Parallels Tools. I followed all the instructions and discovered that immediately after the successful install/reboot, that I experienced the same video/audio content playback issues with media player as described above.

All I can think of is that is something to do with the new (virtual) hardware and drivers that are installed for stuff like the video display (and network and...). Looking at the video driver properties, it is unsigned. Could this be breaking the Vista DRM enforcement and thus giving the symptoms described?

On my first VM, I tried to see if it was a damaged Vista install, so ran up the old command prompt (as administrator), and did an "sfc /scannow" to fix anything that was supposedly dodgy. The end result was I completely broke WMP11, and also the foundation pipeline stuff used for media... I ended up deleting the VM and started again from scratch.

FYI - Installing VLC 0.86c for Windows on the Vista VM shows that it is a media player issue, as everything opened uner VLC plays perfectly...

(this has been sent in 2 bug reports to Parallels support).

edit: I DO have the Direct X option checked in the VM config options
 
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Just to expand on rbh's excellent and detailed description of the problem, my version of Vista was Ultimate also. While I also ran VLC on the same sample Vista media files (mistakenly referred to as VLN in my original post), it played back audio correctly, but not video. When starting the video file with VLC, a white box popped up initially where one would expect the video to appear, but the box immediately collapsed while sound continued to play.

An acknowledgment by the Parallels forum support team that they are aware of the problem and working it would be appreciated (or a suggested work around).
 
Hello.

Thank you everybody for your reports. Please answer my questions:
1. Please specify your Mac type.
2. Please specify your Mac OS version.
3. If you disable DirectX support in VM configuration will problem go away?
4. If you uninstall Parallels Tools in guest OS will problem go away?

Thank you.
 
MAC HW and SW configuration

In response to Parallels Support's questions:

Hardware - MACBOOK Pro 2.33 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo

OS X 10.4.10

DirectX support not checked in VM configuration

Problem still exists when Parallel Tools uninstalled

Upgrade to 3.0 done with clean install
 
My config

Hi,

Turning DirectX support off in the VM doesn't improve the situation, the major visible difference being that if I try to run up a sample video I no longer get the "media changing" message in the bottom left of the WMP11 window... So I have resorted to leaving it "on".

My config:
* 17" MBP with high-def display, (custom set to 1440x900 in the VM config)
* 2.4GHz Core2Duo
* 160GB 7200 rpm HDD
* 4GB RAM

running Parallels v3.0 build 5160 on OS X 10.4.10 with all the latest software/security updates.

I have not tried to uninstall Parallels Tools as yet as I need the interoperability features. (though if you read my original reply it was the tools install that broke WMP11).
 
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I've got the same problem as everyone else. I have a new MacBook, shortly after I loaded Parallels 3.0 and Vista. I can't even play the sample videos that come with WMP 11, and I get a error regarding not having the proper codec.

As I said, I have a MacBook, 2.16 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, Mac OS X version 10.4.10. DirectX support is disabled. Problem also occurs when DirectX support is enabled.

Jim

Archy said:
Hello.

Thank you everybody for your reports. Please answer my questions:
1. Please specify your Mac type.
2. Please specify your Mac OS version.
3. If you disable DirectX support in VM configuration will problem go away?
4. If you uninstall Parallels Tools in guest OS will problem go away?

Thank you.
Click to expand...
 
Same Issue

I'm also having the same problem when using Vista on Parallels 3.0 build 5160 on my Macbook Pro 2.2 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo running OS X 10.4.10.

The error states that Windows Media Player cannot play files because it doesn't have the correct codec and occurs even when playing the sample WMV files that come with Vista. I also cannot view videos using the Netflix WatchNow service or even play Solitaire because it now appears to require DirectX. All applications that require DirectX seem to crash or fail. Turning off Parallels's DirectX support has no effect.

Disabling the Parallels video driver and using the default VGA video driver fixes the problem, but performance and integration suffer severely.

Any help resolving this frustrating issue would be greatly appreciated.

Josh
 
Hi,

I notice there are still Vista video issues listed in the announcement of the 5540 (open beta) build that has just gone up (incl. WMP inside IE). Have you guys made any inroads into the standalone video playback issue described in the thread above.

I'd love to migrate to Leopard, but most importantly, would like the current setup to run Parallels perfectly (and other than this issue, it does!) over the next few months first...

R

P.S. for those who need a work round like I do (where corporate training is delivered via HTML with .WMVs played through WMP embedded in IE) - is I open the training HMTL in IE, the open the WMV video in VLC (on the OS X host) and run it. The only issue is keeping it sync'd manually as you do not get to use the .WMZ skinning for controlling the video in the web page.)
 
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I just purchased a macbook 17" with Leopard 10.4 core duo Intel and installed Paralells 3.0 so I could import my Visa OS from my Hp laptop. The import went fine and Vista is up and running. HOwever, I have the same problem with playing video's in Windows media player. I can here the sound, but the video is frozen. The other problem is that the Windows Media DRM (Digital Rights Measurement) has been corrupted. It seems like that when the OS was imported through Parallels, it corrupted the license so I cannot play any of my music that is licensed. This occurs with both Rhapsody and Yahoo.

I"m a new mac user and have only had the laptop for less than a week, PLEASE HELP!!!!

Thanks,

cestep6
 
I have the same problem. WMP does not work.

My config:

Model Name: Mac Pro
Model Identifier: MacPro2,1
Processor Name: Quad-Core Intel Xeon
Processor Speed: 3 GHz
Number Of Processors: 2
Total Number Of Cores: 8
L2 Cache (per processor): 8 MB
Memory: 5 GB
Bus Speed: 1.33 GHz
Boot ROM Version: MP21.007F.B06
SMC Version: 1.15f3
 
5540 Beta Update

I was able to get DirectX applications working by reducing the video memory allocated to Parallels to 32 MB. This is very odd as using less or more video memory causes DirectX applications to crash on startup. Some applications, like Minesweeper and Mahjong, flash garbage or black when the screen isn't being updated. Also, WMP is still giving the C00D1199 error code (original error C00D36B4) when playing any media, including sample movies shipped with Vista (is this a DRM issue or a video driver issue?). Also, the Vista performance analysis tool encounters errors when performing tests.
 
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Hi,

Has this been fixed in the new 5570 beta?

Also - though the 5540 and 5570 builds seem aimed at Leopard users - are they cleanly compatible with Tiger - esp. 10.4.11?

R
 
Hello,

hadronzoo, did you reduce the amount of memory for your VM in Configuration Editor?
Amount of memory allocated to Parallels can be changed in Parallels Desktop - Preferences - Memory. And reducing it is not supposed to help, all the more you can't make it less than 96MB. However reducing your VM's RAM can help as this will give more memory for Parallels program to operate with different applications.

rbh, the Media Player issue is not fixed in 5570 unfortunately. Will be fixed in the next update.
5540 and 5570 are compatible with Tiger.

Best regards,
Xenos
 
Xenos said:
rbh, the Media Player issue is not fixed in 5570 unfortunately. Will be fixed in the next update.
5540 and 5570 are compatible with Tiger.

Best regards,
Xenos
Click to expand...

Should I cross my fingers that it is fixed 5580 RC ???? :-)
 
Hi again,

I just did an "uninstall" of Parallels Tools from my VM prior to doing a clean install of build 5582.

Once removed, i tried media player 11 again - and was quite happily able to play the sample videos. So it is definitely the toolset that breaks WMP11 (or the DRM or...).

On upgrading to build 5582 and re-installing the toolset - the WMP11 error/behaviour re-appeared.


FYI - upgrade for me consisted of:
* cloning the VM as a backup
* remove the tools from the VM (and once done shut it down)
* quit Parallels v3.0 build 5160
* open .dmg file for 5160 and ran the un-installer.
* open .dmg file for 5582 and ran the installer.
* reboot (took ages - 30+ spins of the little widget under the Apple, followed by a long time on a blue screen)
* logged in and did a "repair permissions" from Disk Utility
* restarted - and flashed the PRAM (waited for three "bongs")
* restarted again from login window (took only 4 spins of the widget :) )
* ran up Parallels (now build 5582)
* ran up the VM (and WMP11 worked!!!)
* installed Parallels Tools and restarted the VM
* WMP11 not playing video again - but everything else is humming nicely
 
Hello rbh,

The Media Player issue is reproduced by QA team and fixed in-house in internal builds. The fix will be delivered in the next public update.

Best regards,
Xenos
 
Thanks for the update Xenos.

FYI - after the upgrade to build 5582, VLC 0.86c not longer plays video media, and installing 0.86d this morning also sees it no longer playing media.

The work around of playing the media in VLC on OS X still works though. :)
 
Rbh,
Did you try disabling DirectX Shaders (experimental) on Video tab in Configuration Editor?

Best regards,
Xenos
 
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