Parallels and BoardMaker v6 for Win

F

fixmacs

Bit poster
I'm not sure if anyone else has experienced problems using software that has copy protection on the CD or not. We use some Windows software in XP called BoardMaker that requires the CD be in the drive or the program won't start up. The CD has some form of copy protection on it to prevent the disc from being copied. Apparently the way Parallels handles access to the CD drive doesn't allow BoardMaker to "see" whatever it needs to for the program to launch. I've tested the software using VMWare Fusion and it will run properly in that virtualized environment. I was just hoping that someone at Parallels would look into the issue and possibly fix it. I was forced to switch to using VMWare Fusion for this reason. The computers are MacBook Core Duo 2.0 GHz with 2.0 GB of RAM running Mac OS 10.4.11 with all applied updates and Parallels Desktop 2.5 build 3214.
 
Hello,

for investigating the issue we need to know the exact type of the protection technology that is used for this CD. Could you please specify it?

Best regards,
Alicia.
 
Copy Protection on CD

I'm sorry, I don't know what kind of copy protection they are using on their CD's. The companies website is http://www.mayer-johnson.com/ and they have a pretty responsive technical support department. Maybe someone from your company would be willing to contact them to enlist their assistance in resolving the issue. Thanks.
 
Any update on this? This is still a problem

I am trying to get Boardmaker up and running on my Wife's Mac. This program is basically the reason I bought Parallels for her. Please help!
 
Unless your trial version included the copy protected CD then you haven't really tested or solved the problem. I've already resolved my problem by going with VMWare Fusion which does not have any problems reading the copy protected CD.
 
fixmacs, your post deleted because it is advertisement, and it doesn't give steps or suggestions to find solution, your other posts are untouched
 
On the contrary, the suggestion to use a competitors virtualization product is a solution to the problem. I included the steps he could take to resolve the problem. It just doesn't include your product. If your company really wanted to solve the problem they would have contacted Mayer Johnson and either asked for a free copy or paid the money to buy a copy of their software to test on your own. As I stated in my earlier posts, the problem is that your software is unable to read the copy protected CD. The trial software obviously doesn't require you to have the copy protected CD in the optical drive when starting up the trial software.
 
You can suggest another product, if you notice, your other posts with suggestion are not deleted, because they are not advertisement , even you mentioned Fusion, but pointing to url with additional details is adds
About protected CD, Parallels can read protected CDs, because we are not virtualizing the CD-DVD device, we just send it instruction , this is the only device which is not virtualized,
And we have too many trade customers which use software with protected CD, and it is working, and I am sure that some one is also using BoardMaker, as you initial post is about 8 month old, but I can see only 2 affected users
 
John,
I didn't realize that posting a URL to a solution was considered advertising. My apologies. I certainly won't do it in the future.
When you say "we have too many trade customers which use software with protected CD, and it is working, and I am sure that some one is also using BoardMaker, as you initial post is about 8 month old, but I can see only 2 affected users" is not a solution to the problem either. Until you properly TEST the problem you can't know if it is a problem or not. Just saying that "I am sure that some one is also using BoardMaker" is not the same as saying I have personally tested the full commercial version of the software with the CD and it worked fine for me. At the time I did my testing, I tested on multiple different computers with different versions of Mac OS X installed. None of them were able to properly read the CD so the software would not launch. Those same computers with a native Bootcamp install of Windows XP had no problem reading the CD and running the software. So I can say that I personally tested and could verify there was a problem on multiple computers.
BoardMaker is very specialized software that is generally used by teachers/speech and language pathologists/educators to create symbol-based communication and educational material that help people with various impairments communicate. It is not used by a large population of people. So, I wouldn't expect that there are a lot of people that would be trying to use the Windows version of BoardMaker in Parallels, especially when they Mac a native Mac version of their software. At the time of my original posting, there were some differences between the Windows and Mac versions which would make a very small minority of people with Macs desire to run the windows version.
If you really want to solve the problem I would suggest that your company either purchase the software (currently $299) or talk with Mayer Johnson about getting a full copy of their software with the copy protected CD to test for yourselves. That way you will be able to see what the problem is and hopefully resolve the issue.
For me though, I have found a suitable solution which is to use a competitors virtualization software. I just hope that jcprovideo is able to resolve his problem as well.
 
Please dont make me switch to VMWare

I find it very disappointing that you say this is not really a problem because only 2 people have reported it. This totally dismisses our problems and basically slaps your customers in the face. With that begin said, let's get back on topic.

I have tried installing 2 different versions of this software with not avail. I am able to install the actual software, but the program will not actually start up as it must authenticate that you have the original CD before starting. Well the CD is inserted as I just installed the software from a CD, as well as I can see the CD under the file manager.

This confirms that it is something to do with Parallels as the same software worked just fine when it was not virtualized. I really don't want to move to WMWare, nor do I want to look at other options. I like using parallels, so please fix these issues.
 
I did a quick search on google and found several others interested in Parallels/Boardmaker, as well as some posts with the same problems we are having. Also note that Boardmaker is used by millions of teachers all over America. My Wife (a special needs teacher) mush have this software to be able to reach her kids. Next time please refrain from being so flippant in your responses.

http://forums.parallels.com/showthread.php?p=111620#post111620

http://forums.macworld.com/message/483516

http://spoowriter.blogspot.com/2008_03_23_archive.html
 
I didn't want to switch either. We had already purchased Parallels for the users that needed to run BoardMaker v6 for Windows. So, we ended up spending money on Parallels and then buying Fusion. Our organization has around 70 licenses of Parallels Desktop and 20 licenses of VMWare Fusion. All of our future virtualization needs will be filled by VMWare as I haven't had any issues with it. I do like and use Parallels Desktop at home on my personal MacBook but my needs don't require the use of BoardMaker. But since Parallels never adequately followed up with a resolution to my problem, I just decided to go with VMWare for everything at work. So when my other 70 users require an update to their virtualization software we will be switching them to VMWare. Luckily they have some software (in beta currently) that will migrate a Parallels virtual hard drive to their virtual hard drive. I haven't tried it but I am hopeful that this will help to save time when we eventually have to migrate. Good luck jcprovideo in getting your issue resolved.
 
Hi,

Is there any news on when this issue will be fixed?

I'm currently using a trial of parallels desktop v5 for the sole purpose of using boardmaker, but it won't work due to this copy protection. So unless this bug is fixed, I won't be purchasing Parallels.

Cheers,
Daniel
 
Hi,

Is there no solution to this problem, Parallels?

Please let me know soon, as the trial is about to expire, and VMWare are offering a good special at the moment...

Cheers,
Daniel
 
Hi ElisabethH,

It's been a while since the last post, could you be a bit more specific about the issue?
I'm specifically interested in the steps to reproduce the issue and what you mean when saying it's not working.
Are you on Parallels Desktop 8?
 
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