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

You are entirely wrong. I've been using since Beta 1 and Parallels have consistently said the next MAJOR release. As in Release 3.0. Get off your high horse.

 

Needs CD/DVD direct communications

Windows has a number of tools for CD and DVD authoring and extraction that are not fully matched on the Mac. My need for Parallels hinges on being able to use these tools:

EAC for accurate digital extraction of my CDs for backup and archiving.
Plextools Professional for control of my external Plextor drive's features.

Neither of these works with Parallels. The tools can't see the connected CD/DVD drive, just the imaginary CD/DVD drive created by Parallels. They crash or produce meaningless results (an audio file extracted with EAC under Parallels is empty of audio data).

I'm still stuck using Boot Camp to have any meaningful access to connected hardware.

I appreciate the effort that the Parallels development team is putting in, but I wish the improved hardware support had showed up in this beta.

 

Eeeeeh Right.

So I fixed the FAT32 issue..... Now my XP wants me to reactivate...... And I am through my number of allowed reinstalls.....

Before I reactivate, Is it possible to switch between bootcamp & parallel's without having to re-activate?

 

Will Parallels be supporting dual monitors with Coherency? I tend to keep parallels on my ext monitor but it would be cool to be able to drag between displays.

 

wow!

Parallels guys: I am *REALLY* f---ing impressed!!!

The new look and feel is just fantastic, as is coherency mode and overall performance. fantastic!

 

While booted into parallels/boot camp, I had snapz pro lock up. Had to hard reboot.

Now when I try to boot parallels/boot camp, it says my boot camp is in use by another virtual machine.

Will toss prefs or something, but thought i would report it

(THe hard crash is not related to parallels)

 

So the Boot Camp stuff only works with a NTFS drive and not a FAT32 drive? Bummer.

 

Reactivating WindowsXP

Weird. I got the Virtualized BootCamp to work but it says I need to reactivate windows due to some sort of hardware change. I was able to reactivate in BootCamp but then in Parallels it asked me to reactivate and it tells me I have exceeded the number of times I can use this. Ouch. Now what? Did I do something wrong?

BTW, the new update is pretty cool otherwise. I'm impressed with all the work they've put into this. Definitely well spent money. (still waiting for my Garmin device to work with it though...)

 

Here is what I want to know - if you're using a BootCamp partition for Parallels - is it faster in disk access?

I have no desire to use Bootcamp - but I do want to partition my disk to have Windows on its own partition and have Parallels use that IF its noticeably faster.

 

We will investigate this FAT32 issue. Most likely it is bug.

 

Hi guys.

A couple of problems so far.
1. At first I thought my old Windows XP Virtual Machine would not suspend or shut down but then I realized that the old "Suspend" button is now a "Pause" button.
2. For some reason, after going through all the setup steps to use my Boot Camp partition as the boot partition under Parallels, I get a message "Unable to open disk image Boot Camp!"
3. I can no longer use my Apple Bluetooth keyboard with Windows under Boot Camp. I tried deleting the keyboard from Bluetooth and then adding it back, and that worked until I rebooted, at which time the Bluetooth Keyboard was lost again. Also, because of the changes made to the WIndows Boot process, where now you have to pick a Windows XP configuration and profile, I can't do that with a Bluetooth keyboard because Windows hasn't booted up enough to recognize Bluetooth devices at that point.
I like what you are adding to the program but there are a few challenges left to resolve.
thanks for listening.
Bill Damon, Salem, VA

 

how did you fix the issue? Im also getting the problem where bootcamp partition is not recognized by parallels.

 

johnny0:

You have 2 options:
1. Convert your FAT32 o NTFS
2. Wait for the good guys to fix the FAT32 bug.

P.s. Please let me know if you also have the activation issue once you get to that point .... .......

 

Hello asondica,

We're working on all reported problems. Stay tuned.

Nick

 

Nick (or anyone on the Parallels team) -

After a bit more experimenting, I have narrowed down my Vista problems to the fact that when I first open one of my existing VMs, they have been in a suspended state. Parallels reports that the current state of the VM is incompatible with the new version of Parallels, and wants me to restart the VM. I do that, and from then on, the VM will boot only in Safe Mode. Will not boot normally (no matter whether Parallels Tools are installed or not).

My XP VM is running fine (with the new Tools installed).

Mike

 

I'm having real problems with the Bootcamp stuff...

Firstly, I've just installed the Parallel Tools under Windows XP on Bootcamp. However, when I now restart the iMac and go into WindowsXP on Bootcamp it has 'lost' the keyboard and mouse so I can not select the environment I want (as parallels seems to add a new environment under Windows XP for some reason). So this has messed up my Bootcamp partition..

Secondly, how exactly do I access the bootcamp partition under Parallels ? I don't understand how you tell Parallels to use the Bootcamp partition and I can't see an option for it anywhere...

Thanks, Mark

 

thanks. i dunno how i feel about making my bootcamp partition ntfs. Id like to still have access via osx. Im using an OEM/corporate version of XP that doesnt required activation.

 

Bootcamp / Fat 32

Add another Bootcamp/FAT32 user who can't get Parallels to load to the list. I too added the Parallels tools to Bootcamp, but after reboot, I still get the "Parallels can't load Bootcamp Disk Image" message.

On another note - BRAVO.

The feature set of this upgrade is amazing. Coherence is just flat out brilliiant. It's like Classic, but instead of OS 9, it's Windows. The ability to drag files between environments is monumental too.

Keep up the great work guys. You just raised the bar and the VMware guys are looking at themselves thinking, "what the #^#%# happened?".

 

Different Windows Profiles

I am absolutely surprised about the new features. I bought Parallels a long time ago and I was delighted by its speed. But I missed on feature: the ability to run an existing Windows Bootcamp installation through Parallels. This is one thing that VMWare had several years ago. It seems like Windows has a way to change system profiles between booting in the native hardware and in an virtualized environment, but it never worked right at VMWare.

Now this strikes me: what will happen when I choose to run my current bootcamp installation through Parallels?

When I boot back through Bootcamp, will my system setting be messed up? I am particularly worried about my network settings as I work at my clients network and I am not allowed to own the WEP password for the wireless network.

Will the Windows Activation prompt me to activate at each reboot?

Kudos for all of you Parallels guys. I am eager to see a stable point release soon. I use my Windows Bootcamp at work and it would be terrible to lost it.

 

"VM in use" message when starting

Hi,

I needed to kill my VM just after the Windows start and a restart of the VM always displayed "VM is already in use in another session".

That's wrong as this is the only session for this VM. I found that a lock file is created in the virtual machine's folder to prevent simultaneous startups. Deleting this hidden file resolved the issue.

Maybve Parallels should add an option to the message box allowing the deletion of this hidden lock file. I think that lots of users aren't aware of hidden files.

Romain