Parallels Desktop for Mac build 3036 Beta is available for download.

Actually anyone getting their licenses via corporate or MSDN will not have this problem. And that is a whole lot of people who are legitmately using XP. So while I understand the frustration, I can also understand why Parallels didn't encounter this in their own testing as they are almost certainly using MSDN or Corporate licenses, given the number of copies of XP they must have running on various test and development machines.

 

Not to mention if you have apps like Adobe CS2 you only need to use one instance of the 2 installations you're allowed.

 

fyi - uninstalling the Boot Camp tools and rebooting fixes Macdrive

 

Then why do you ask "where was the warning"? The very fact that it's a pre-release is a big warning. You simply don't EVER install a pre-release on a production machine, and if you do, then that's your responsibility and yours alone.

 

Confirmed.

Too many bugs! I’m reverting to the 1970 beta.

 

I downloaded the Beta and I love the new direction for Parallels. It came out in perfect time as I had a project I worked on all day that I could take full use of Coherence mode. I was using SPSS on the Windows side, as well as a few Office products. On the OS X side, I was running Word, Firefox and Preview. It worked really well and made work a breeze.

I did, however, want to report one possible issue. After using Parallels for most of the day yesterday, I started it up today and asked me to pick to VM I wanted to run. I have both Vista and XP installed. I chose XP, but said that it was already in use by another Parallels Desktop. This was after I just started my comp. I even shut down and restarted my comp to try again, only to get the same result. I know that I shut down Parallels properly after using it yesterday as I always do. Anyway, I just wanted to get this information out there for you guys. Don't bother trying to help me fix this issue; I've reverted back to the stable release so I can access this work I did yesterday. I'm only reporting this for your benefit.

Again, thanks for the great release!

 

I get my copy from MSDN and I only have 10 licences for WindowsXP (which is believe is standard on MSDN). So I'm not sure why you are saying MSDN people don't have this probem with activation ?

 

It beachballs for me even if I manually set the amount of system memory. What did you set it to and how much memory are you allocating for your VM?

 

I stand corrected. The more recent MSDNs XP licenses have 10 activation limits. The ones from around the time XP was originally released do not. Thankfully I have those....

 

darn that didnt work. the slider was already to the far right(on hardware accelaration all the way up.

 

force quit parallels desktop. first set parallels memory in parallels desktop preferences > manually (we set client workstations to 50% of your total machine memory). then set memory for your parallels virtual machine...edit > virtual machine > memory to something lower (we set to 80% of parallels desktop value).

don

 

this update provides a solution for those of us who have parallels rolled out to many users in a corporate environment. individual licenses have an issue booting windows back and forth between parallels and bootcamp. parallels is aware of the issue - just be aware this is NOT a parallels issue...microsoft windows senses one license is being used at the hardware level (bootcamp) and one is being used at the virtualization level (parallels) and disables activation each time you move back and forth.

i agree, it's irritating...but keep in mind, microsoft already stated publicly they will not allow this. take this up with microsoft. for parallels to try to work around this would amount to sponsored piracy.

don

 

i got that same error when i didn't select "parallels" at windows boot.

don

 

Mac Pro Multiple Hard Drives

Please add support for a Windows XP partition on a different physical internal hard drive for Mac Pro users. Both GUID and MBR partitioning should be supported just as Mac OS allows.

Maybe even R/W access to Firewire and USB external drives, too (not as useful).

I have my Drive 1 all HFS+ and Drive 2 XP, Vista and Linux.

Great release, BTW!

 

It woud be nice to get a bit more information on this Boot Camp option, and how it works. It is THE feature that I was waiting for, so this is very good news indeed. But, I would want to be sure that the Parallels access to the Boot Camp partition does not compromise or change, in any way, the native Windows boot.

I have seen a couple of posts that suggests that the Parallels access to the Boot Camp partition does somehow change the native Boot Camp installation of windows. Does the HW configuration change in any way? how would harware issues be tackled? For example, my Apple Wireless Mighty Mouse works great in the native boot into windows. An earlier test of Parallels that I did obviously was not supporting that mouse (USB 2.0?). So, what happens when I use this newer method of accessing the Boot Camp partition from Parallels, and it encounters an issue like this?

I suppose I'll wait until the dust settles a bit - I only have 1 machine to test it on, and I can't afford to have something go wrong.

Alternatively, could I partition my WIndows Boot Camp partition into two, and install another copy of Windows on that second partition, and use it as a test environment for the Parallels Boot Camp partition option? What happens in Parallels when it detects two physical partitions, each with a copy of Windows on it?

 

Well Done !!!

This beta of Parallels is simply great. Fortunately, I have had none of the problems reported. I do not have Boot Camp. I got rid of that when I bought Parallels. I have tried the hard disk compacting and didn't have any problems with it. So, this is not a global problem, but more limited. The coherence feature is simply icing on the cake. Thanks for a great beta release. I hope the rc and actual release are just as great.

MacBook (black)
2 GHz clock speed
2GB ram
17 GB Parallels VM

 

Infinite Reboot

Hi.

I'm using a 2ghz Intel Core Duo MacBook with 2gb RAM. My VM is a Windows 2000 Server with all updates. 1500 mb is assigned to Windows. No Bootcamp.

I was running 1970 fine, when I read all these great reviews about 3036. I downloaded and installed it, ran it, and it gets stuck in an infinite reboot. I log into Windows, the initial system tray programs and icons load, and then Parallels shuts down, pops up a "Report this error" window with a snapshot and a log file, and reboots.

 

On Coherence Mode
Windows windows are grouped. Clicking in one Windows window brings forth all Windows windows. This is, of course, not the expected behaviour. I suppose you're 'just' making the desktop transparent and still have everything in one big window. Moving each Windows window into a real MacOS window each would be a great addition.

On being The New Classic
I'd love silent guest OS booting, just like when Classic boots No fugly DOS window, just a nice aqua progress bar until all's loaded.

 

Windows XP Reactivation with Boot Camp?

 

Boot from Boot Camp doesn't work.

Parallels Desktop 3036 Beta
MacBook Pro Core 2 Duo, 2GB RAM, 20.09 GB free in the MacOS partition
Boot Camp partition 4.19/8.83 GB free, FAT partition, default partition name NONAME unchanged
Installed Parallels Tools for Boot Camp per instruction.
Created new VM, custom configuration, Boot Camp.
Attempting to start the VM results in an alert sheet saying Unable to open disk image Boot Camp!
Renamed the FAT partition to Boot Camp, restarted Parallels Desktop, clicked start button.
PD solicits an administrative password, then repeats the Unable to open disk image Boot Camp! sheet.

Windows-in-Boot-Camp is unusable.
Reported to [email protected] .