Tried to rev up from 3.0 to 4.0 today. Got all the way done and then got all the problems with the mouse not working and other things which were caused by tools not being installed. I tried installing tools several times and talking to tech support. The tools installer fails because it runs out of hard drive space (c: drive on windows not the Mac side). The automatically resizing hard drive feature will not work until tools is installed. My particular crash point is when trying to install the PS/2 mouse driver and then the tools installer hangs and give an out of space message. Tech support suggested moving about 2 GB of stuff off of the XP machine to make room long enough to get tools installed and then putting it back. I told them that was unaceptible and I was going back to 3.0 (which I did) and when they got a conversion and installer that worked (if it is going to run out of hard drive space installing necessary stuff then the installer should allow for and fix that.) then I would try again. I sent a couple of terse e-mails to tech support which are unanswered as of yet, and told them to get there act together, rewrite the installer, and get me a copy that works.
An Early TURKEY? Seems an untested version has been foisted upon us. Perhaps Parallels needed to increase development capital? At any rate, 4.0 seems to have all the characteristics of an early turkey without much reason for giving thanks! I paid my upgrade fee through Nova Development. Downloads repeatedly failed for about 24 hours before I finally connected with a tech support person who pushed out a new link which worked for the update package download. Perhaps that was an omen. Proceeded to "upgrade" - - several attempts, finally it installed. In the process, 3.0 was removed. And ALL of my Windows-based applications, data and Windows XP Pro DISAPPEARED. Panic. Restore, reload, retry. Same result. MORE PANIC. Opened MBP in OSX and established that data and aps were still around but Windows OS appeared to be corrupt. Relaunched in Boot Camp (updated version) and reloaded Windows XP Pro and did all the upgrades post CD issuance, including SP3. Reloaded Parallels 4.0 and launched. Since upgrade was a download and the CD copy has yet to arrive, I'm unable to load the Virtual Machine Tools. The VM (Boot Camp) will not load because it says the Hard Disk cannot be found . . . but it is obviously reading it! Have read all the FAQs to no avail. $50 bucks (+/-) for an inedible and unworkable turkey. I'll give it a week to "marinate" and will get back in touch with tech support to see if they have gained any actually factual knowledge which helps and works before seeking a full refund. I suspect we'll see a 4.1 REALLY soon - - or at least that's my hope.
