Terrible Parallels Support

R

Robbie_DB

Member
I'm sorry to post headline like that... but I have to in order to try and get a response from Parallels support.

My internet connection has been down for a week now under Parallels... it's working fine in OS X. Despite several threads, and three private messages to memeber of the Parallels team I still do not have a solution to this problem.

Again, I'm really sorry, because I generally think this is an awesome piece of software... but I need some support... I have purchased this product and I think it's reasonable that I expect some support within 7 days to get back on line.

Yours

Begging for help
 
Are you using the released version, beta version, or release candidate? What build? What is your hardware config? Are you trying to using bridged or host-only networking? What router are you connecting to? Who is your ISP? Do you get an IP address in Windows? (I'm assuming this is under Windows since you don't specify.)
 
Describe exactly how you have things setup both in the Mac OS, your router, and in Windows under the VM. Also let us know what your settings are for network in the VM. Some of us will try to help.

I have to admit that my own experience with networking has been perfect. It just flat out works.

In my case I have a router (both home and work) that supplies DHCP addresses to any who ask for them. I setup my MBP to get it's address from DHCP and I setup windows do the same. So my MBP is truly grabbing two separate, unique IPs. One for Mac OS X, the other for WinXP.

99.9% of the time I do this ONLY with a wired connection. As I sit here typing this to you I have airport on and in use but I'm not running Parallels. I don't often run Parallels with the wireless. Almost always on the wired connection.

But even since the early betas the networking has just worked great. I depend upon my VM/WinXP mapping to drives of our test machines at work. So if networking wasn't working I'd be in a world of hurt.

I don't use the Parallels shared folders. The few times I did I got corrupted files. Now I simply map to a Windows share on Mac OS X. I use the utility SharePoints to publish this share automatically whenever the machine boots.

Anyway I think asking Parallels to help is reasonable and why they have not is troublesome. But in the mean time if you post some details some of us here will try to help.
 
Thanks for your replies guys.

I have actually provided a ton of information to Parallels directly (as requested by them) via the private message services on this board. And had zero response. Which is why I'm frustrated.

I've been running Parallels since it launched and networking has been perfect until about 10 days ago, when I stopped altogether.

Parallels have actually PM'ed me now saying they are going to come back to me. So lets see what they come back with... if it doesn't solve the problem then I'll go to an open forum.

Thanks
 
i agree robbie. parallels is an awesome product that works amazingly well, but i think the number of people who post regarding nonresponsive support is indeed an issue. there is really no excuse for it i think.

hope your problem gets solved.
 
there is really no excuse for it i think.
Click to expand...

If you think that Parallels get stuck between supporting their product (a virtual machine) vs. supporting everybody's installs of guest OS's I think it is pretty clear why response from the Parallels team can vary.

You have the option of trawling through on-line info or you can pay $29.99 for phone support. However if your problem is a guest OS problem, your $29.99 won't necessarily buy you a solution.

If your install has stopped working, something has changed in your setup. You are the best placed person to know what has changed. Windows has narfed? Can't blame the vendor of the virtual machine. Using beta product? Did you take backups of your VMs? No response within 7 days? What is their SLA?

Running virtual machine environments was an esoteric activity until products like Parallels came along. I can't emphasise enough that, just like real PCs, only more so, you need to take backups of your VMs. If Parallels were after feature enhancement requests, an integrated backup tool would be number one on my list.
 
I've been waiting for 4 days now and no one has responed to my request, even though it said to allow 3 days. I have a cable modem and it stays on continuiosly. Some how when I try to setup my internet connections it does not recognize my cable modem. Do I need the disks that came with the cable modem that is now 5 years old? When in windows it will say "Have Disk" should I install it then? But when I originally got broadband it was installed with a Mac CD I believe. Any suggestions? Also windows will not recognize my printer, do I need to reinstall it under windows also? Any help will be reatly appreciated.
 
tpetty, you're hijacking this thread, but I'll offer some info. Sounds like you haven't read the manual about how networking works. Windows XP in a virtual machine shouldn't need to worry about your cable modem -- it just shares your connection. As long as the Mac is connected to the Internet, so should your VM.
 
tpetty said:
I've been waiting for 4 days now and no one has responed to my request, even though it said to allow 3 days. I have a cable modem and it stays on continuiosly. Some how when I try to setup my internet connections it does not recognize my cable modem. Do I need the disks that came with the cable modem that is now 5 years old? When in windows it will say "Have Disk" should I install it then? But when I originally got broadband it was installed with a Mac CD I believe. Any suggestions? Also windows will not recognize my printer, do I need to reinstall it under windows also? Any help will be reatly appreciated.
Click to expand...
A 5 year old cable modem probably doesn't include a DHCP server. If you are running with a directly connected modem, you would be well advised to get yourself a firewall router for about $60 which will protect your network as well as allow both OSX and your guest(s) to have network access.

Exposing a Windows machine to a direct Internet connection is even more risky than exposing a Mac, but both are risky if you don't harden the machines. You really need a firewall, and a hardware firewall is considerably safer than a software one. And you get a DHCP server for free!
 
Hi SA,
My point is that support should respond, which they don't. Obviously they do not need to take on the burden of supporting windows, but if something is out of the area they support, they can send an email saying so. Many issues are common and could be handled with a form email and/or a link to a forum post. The fact that they seem not to even do this is concerning. I'm glad I have everything working with both Windows and Linux, but it would be nice if support provided some response. I've stopped reporting any bugs because to be honest I don't know that they read the emails.
 
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