Unable to find Mac host from Windows 8.1 Pro VM

Discussion in 'Windows Virtual Machine' started by Überlogix, Aug 31, 2014.

  1. Überlogix

    Überlogix Junior Member

    Messages:
    10
    Maybe it's my very limited knowledge of Windows 8.1, but I have not been able to find any of my shared Macintosh drives from my Windows 8.1 VM. I do have full sharing turned on in Preferences for the VM. In Windows 7 VMs I am used to seeing a list of drives when I open a new document window, showing such things as "Y: Host on .psf". But in my new Windows 8.1 VM, it only seems to see its own drive C: and nothing else. It is as though the VM exists in total isolation.

    I am running Parallels 9 on a Mac Pro Quad-Core Intel Xeon X5, 16GB RAM, OS X 10.9.4. My VM is Windows 8.1 Pro.

    How can I access files on my host machine from the new Windows 8.1 VM?
     
  2. kat

    kat Product Expert

    Messages:
    823
    Have you checked if Integration is checked?
    Look under Configuration>Security> if Integration (Isolate Windows from Mac) is checked please uncheck.
    kat

    This would be under your Parallels menu.
     
    Last edited: Aug 31, 2014
  3. Überlogix

    Überlogix Junior Member

    Messages:
    10
    Thanks for the suggestion Kat, but that box is already unchecked. And I do have everything turned on under the Sharing option too. No luck yet.
     
  4. kat

    kat Product Expert

    Messages:
    823
    Please reinstall Parallels tools.

    kat
     
  5. Überlogix

    Überlogix Junior Member

    Messages:
    10
    Aha! Many thanks for the encouragement to try that again. This time it worked.

    There is a story, though. Reinstalling Parallels Tools was one of the first things I tried before coming to this forum, after simply rebooting both the host and the VM. But when I selected that from the Parallels menu, instead of having an installation start, I got a question about what I wanted to do with the drive D:, the DVD drive. My host system doesn't have a DVD drive, so I clicked "Ignore, take no action." After having done that drill a few times, it struck me that I had never seen a progress bar. So this last time, I told it to open the drive in Explorer. I found it did contain an installer. AutoRun did not run automatically, so I launched it manually, and finally got the Parallels Tools Installer progress bar. After rebooting, the various folders on my host system appeared to my Windows 8.1 guest.

    So, the problem appears to be solved.
     

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