Parallels Desktop for Mac Release Candidate is ready for download!

[Ben @ Parallels]

We've launched the Release Candidate (RC) for Parallels Desktop! This release is a direct result of the awesome support from the Mac community...so thanks again to all of our 100,000+ beta testers.

Upgrade to Parallels Desktop for Mac RC now! (http://www.parallels.com/en/download/mac)Before I discuss the changes you'll see in the RC, I wanted to address the product name change. As you probably know, "Workstation" is a very Windows-centric term, and we recieved a lot of comments from our users stating that since we've got a great Mac product, we should make it look and sound like a Mac product. We listened, and the result is "Parallels Desktop for Mac". We're really pleased with the new name, and we hope that you are, too.

What's new in Parallels Desktop for Mac RC?
* New look and feel
* Improved performance and stability
* Better and broader USB support
* Improved Shared Folder functionality
* Improved networking
* Better sound support
* Better fullscreen operation
* Resolved Suspend/Resume issues
* Uninstaller introduced
* National keyboards mapping issues have been fixed
* Red “Power Off” button now always acts like Power Off
* Blue “Pause” button now always acts like Suspend
* The “Pause” button was moved to the VM menu


Known issues:
* Some USB devices are still unstable
* FreeBSD 5.4 installation sometimes hangs


NOTE: If you are upgrading from beta4 or earlier, you will need to reboot after installing RC.

NOTE: Be sure to reinstall Parallels Tools when you're done installing RC! To install tools, click the VM menu and select "Install Parallels Tools".



We need your feedback & continued support!

As we get close to the final release version of Parallels Desktop for Mac, your feedback is more important than ever. Don't forget to share your thoughts and any technical issues by using our online support form (http://www.parallels.com/en/support/mac/). If you'd prefer, you can email your comments to macsupport@parallels.com.

[calicardiff]

Way-hey !!!

Thanks Parallels chaps - my MBP 17" just arrived a few days ago (to replace my PC laptop for ASP.NET web dev) - I'd been a bit nervous about switching completely and using Beta6 (as stable as it seems) but this RC should do the trick. I'll be making sure this Victoria Day weekend...

[Copilot]

Thank you!

Nice icon!

[maverick808]

I've already found a few bugs which I've posted in the other forum. However, great work with the release. Looking forward to RC2 or the final.

[BCW]

I just tried downloading the image file of RC and i get an error message which says "Parallels-Desktop-183 not recognized". I even tried Toast 7.0.2 and it couldn't mount the disk. I also downloaded the file 2 times and each time I got the same error message. It appearts the dmg file may be defective on Parallels site. Has anybody else experienced this? I am running a MBP 2 GHz.

[kaufman]

I use this at my office on an external 1600x1200 display and at home on the MBP 144x900 display. The RC still has the bug where going to full screen mode display an error message saying that the resultion is not supported. If I manually change the resolution to 1440x900 and then switch to full screen mode it works.

This fails because you first go into full screen mode and then change the resolution. You need to do it the other way around.

I have been reporting this bug for as long as their has been a full screen mode. It should be fairly easy to fix, and it would certainly be nice to see it fixed before the release. Is anyone from Parallels reading this thread? It would be nice to know that you at least acknowlegde the problem.

Michael

[Sheppy]

I've noticed that if you try to download Parallels too soon after they post it, you tend to wind up with partial image files -- I think they post the notice the new version is up before the file is done uploading.

[prethip]

tell me u r working fotr the isight support

[spasecookee]

There should be a warning before upgrading Parallels to a new version if any ot the known virtual machines are in a suspended state. After upgrading Parallels to RC1 from Beta6, RC1 had to restart windows XP as it couldn't be resumed. If the RC1 installation had detected the suspended machine, and warned me, I would have resumed and properly shut down windows with Beta6 before upgrading to RC1 (I had numerous programs open with possible unsaved changes).

VMWare warns about this sort of thing when you try to convert a VM from VirtualPC to VMWare.

[jelockwood]

I am not sure about whether the name change is a good idea.

I thought yourselves and VM Ware used the term "Workstation" to identify a product that could not only 'run' a Virtual machine, but could also 'create' a Virtual machine, with the term Desktop being used to identify a version that could only run existing Virtual machines but could not create them.

Could you clarify this?

Thanks.

[ahlgren]

Still can't use the shared folder... it crashes.

Still can't get VM to recognize my PDA through USB.

Not sure if networking issues have been fixed yet.

I don't think I'm going to spend the $40 on this if these issues can't be ironed out in 7 betas...

[Andrew @ Parallels]

Still can't use the shared folder... it crashes.

Still can't get VM to recognize my PDA through USB.

Not sure if networking issues have been fixed yet.

I don't think I'm going to spend the $40 on this if these issues can't be ironed out in 7 betas...
Did you upgraded Parallels Tools in RC?

[cawaker]

great work, love the update its solid.

My only annoyance is the change of the pause button, to suspend. to me the blue pause button should pause not suspend.

But maybe thats just cause I used pause a lot. not a big deal, it was just nice to have it easily accessible.

[aarebalos]

Excellent job guys. My virtual PC solved the networking problem, Now it can see and be seen from my LAN. Works beautifully with Home Seer Z-Wave USB Computer Interface, and all in all, it is very stable and fast running on an iMac, 1.83 Ghz with 2 GB RAM.
Looking forward to the Final release (I ordered it already).
Keep up the good work!

[ahlgren]

I get wireless on OS X, and I get a connection from XP Pro from home. But when I try to use other wireless networks, I get no connection from the XP side. I was hoping this newest release would fix that.

Suggestions?

[EBorisch]

This new version crashes every time I try to load it... Suggestions?

Thanks,
Eric

Error report attached...

[charliektm400exc]

I've downloaded and installed the RC, but when I try to use the new activation key that was sent to me today, I get the following error.

The activation key seems to be invalid!


Any suggestions?

Charlie

[Flobidde]

I've downloaded and installed the RC, but when I try to use the new activation key that was sent to me today, I get the following error.

The activation key seems to be invalid!


Any suggestions?

Charlie
Same problem with my new key from yesterday's mail...

[Andrew @ Parallels]

There should be a warning before upgrading Parallels to a new version if any ot the known virtual machines are in a suspended state. After upgrading Parallels to RC1 from Beta6, RC1 had to restart windows XP as it couldn't be resumed. If the RC1 installation had detected the suspended machine, and warned me, I would have resumed and properly shut down windows with Beta6 before upgrading to RC1 (I had numerous programs open with possible unsaved changes).

VMWare warns about this sort of thing when you try to convert a VM from VirtualPC to VMWare.
Your are right - we apologize for inconvinience! We will fix it for our next announces.

[Jim Putnam]

Congratulations on RC1! Delighted to find that hotsync via usb is working. :)

[itsanaddams]

Like the above poster, I wanted to add my congrats for the speed of the RC1 candidate. I know it's beta, but I'm already using it on my production machine for getting some serious windows work done, that was painful under VPC.

I'm really impressed and for one living in a sea of windws machines, you guys are lifesavers. Every program I've thrown at it has worked at near native speed and more importantly, hibernate and resume are fast.

My only problem has been a bit of confusion at the many activations and a lock out of the CDRom and USB devices from the OS X side.

Thanks for all of your hard work.

[EBorisch]

This new version crashes every time I try to load it... Suggestions?

Thanks,
Eric

Error report attached...

Any suggestions? Is there any way to download the previous version so I can at least get back up and running?

Thanks,
Eric

[Ksafbond]

My Macbook Pro reboot frequently since I've installed RC1.

And It cause damage to the partition of my VM.

I never have that with beta 6 !

Suggestions ?:( :confused: :(

[thingi]

Full Res 1280x720 video issues are still present.... :-(

But I like the auto res switch when going from teh desktop to full screen :-)

Networking seems pretty stable :-)

My Terratec Cinergy T2 still causes a BSOD when try to perform a channel scan in either mode or the terratec software :-(

Parallels isn't as slow as a dog to load and close anymore :-)

All in all good job, I like the progress which is being made, Well done all in all

Thingi

[Alexey]

My Macbook Pro reboot frequently since I've installed RC1.

And It cause damage to the partition of my VM.

I never have that with beta 6 !

Suggestions ?:( :confused: :(

Was Parallels running in the reboot time?
Can you specify what is the guest OS and what did the guest OS do in the reboot time?

[Ksafbond]

Was Parallels running in the reboot time?
Can you specify what is the guest OS and what did the guest OS do in the reboot time?


Yes I was using Parallels in the reboot time.
The guest was XP home. I was working in a professionnal medical software. I do this with beta 6 for hours without any problem.
After the reboot, XP repair lost cluster at the booting. This action never end. T0 run Xp, I must skip this step.

Tank for your help !

Ksaf

[Andrew @ Parallels]

Ksafbond,

Thank you for report - we will investigate this.

[Ronch]

I own an IT company and am a rare non-biased Mac and PC user and technician. I can ALMOST tell anybody nowadays to get a mac when asked what to buy, and the change from "sometimes a pc is better for certain uses" to "get a mac no matter what" was all due to Parallels. I used to tell most corporate users or even small business users to stick with the platform that the office was using for office situations, and always recommended macs for home use unless there were specific needs that required a pc.

Gamers who wanted all the PC games in the past were still referred to Dell or other PC manufacturers and as of today, will continue to be sent that route as relatvely few games work at this time with parallels. Direct Draw causes errors, and 5 out of 5 games loaded tonight on this RC fail to launch or crash. The windows OS runs at great speeds and if you have a 2.16 GHZ mac, then Windows is faster in Parallels than most PC boxes running natively.

I would love to see this thing perfected as I have set it up on at least 20 macs for different uses in the past 2 weeks, (Boot camp is not really a viable option for many business people who only know what they know, and dont want to reboot to switch to ACT or other business software and this works great for that crowd) For me and gaming, boot camp is still the only option at this time but I too would love to avoid restarts. I praise the work done so far here and hope that the few remaining bugs get worked out soon! If there is any way I can help get these issues resolved, so we can really use all this great hardware for gaming on the PC platform without rebooting, I would love to do my part!

[mafoe]

hi there, I tried to install Lotus Notes 7.0.1 to a shared folder, but the installer says there is not enough diskspace available.

Any hint is appreciated.

Cheers marco

[ekaram]

I have been using the product since Beta2 was released and i can see the definite improvements. However, since RC was released i have noticed that the Mac became slow. RC takes no less than 175 Mb of memeory and goes sometimes to 300. It also uses around 30 to 40% of CPU and on start, it uses 80% and i have seen 120%, which just freezes the Mac until Windows is on. I hope these problems will be resolved.
Another issue i have is folder sharing. The one proposed is very slow. If i am in windows and i map My Documents to the Mac's HD, clicking on My Documents takes a bit of time to get it open. I use instead an application called SharePoints which is much much faster.
I have raised both issues through support but have not got any answer. I hope they are working on that because the product is really good and needs just tuning.

[hayes_philip]

Hi ekaram,
Quick question, how have you mapped your MAC's HD to your My documents folder?

Thanks
Philip

[hayes_philip]

I worked it out.

[ekaram]

Hi Philip
I used SharePoints where i shared Documents folder on Mac and named it OSXtoXp. Then in Windows, you right-click on My Documents and in the Traget box you write \\MacName\OSXtoXP. When you puxh Apply, you are asked if you want to move all the files youu have under My Documents to the new location, you should normally answer no if you do nnot have any in Windows. And that's it.
Normally it should work also when using the shared folders of Parallels Desktop (map target to \\.host\Documents), but for some reason this works exremely slow. I hope the guys will solve it soon.

Cheers
Elie

[hayes_philip]

Thanks Elie

[phpmonkey]

Has anyone successfully gotten the built-in iSight's to work on the Intel Macs?


-Jerome

[Scott Willsey]

Has anyone successfully gotten the built-in iSight's to work on the Intel Macs?

They work fine on the Intel Macs... Oh, you mean in the XP VM? :D That would require windows drivers to be written for the iSight... something no one's done, including apple or it would be on the drivers disk created by the Boot Camp setup.

[mkoistinen]

There should be a warning before upgrading Parallels to a new version if any ot the known virtual machines are in a suspended state. After upgrading Parallels to RC1 from Beta6, RC1 had to restart windows XP as it couldn't be resumed. If the RC1 installation had detected the suspended machine, and warned me, I would have resumed and properly shut down windows with Beta6 before upgrading to RC1 (I had numerous programs open with possible unsaved changes).

VMWare warns about this sort of thing when you try to convert a VM from VirtualPC to VMWare.

I upgraded while in a suspended state without issue.

[charles]

I get wireless on OS X, and I get a connection from XP Pro from home. But when I try to use other wireless networks, I get no connection from the XP side. I was hoping this newest release would fix that.

Suggestions?

Just edit your virtual machine network adapter setting and choose en1 for the adapter.

hth
charles

[charles]

[QUOTE=ahlgren]Still can't use the shared folder... it crashes.
QUOTE]

Same here.

charles

[Andrew @ Parallels]

[QUOTE=ahlgren]Still can't use the shared folder... it crashes.
QUOTE]

Same here.

charles
Try to completely uninstall Parallels Tools and then install it again. There is known issue that shared folders doesn't renew if just upgrade.

[billdill]

SlingPlayer crashes after about 10 minutes with an online transfer speed of 320k/sec from my DSL account.

I'm using Winows XP Professional
MBP 2 GHz
2 MB of Ram
OS X 10.4.6