Parallels Technology Network

Originally Posted by constant

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Danny,

Two things. Firstly, is that really a registered trade mark? And secondly, what does Bueller mean?
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Originally Posted by danimal39

First, I do want to say that we all appreciate the hard work the Parallels guys and gals have been putting in to the product. Our company purchased the first release of Parallels and I have personally ran just about every single public release there was. Installed Windows XP SP2 on Parallels and it ran like a champ. Wished for a little more speed and a little less memory usage, but hey, we know they're working hard on this product.

Fast forward to the last beta cycle from 2.1 - 2.2. I'm running 1940 right now and it's completely unusable. I have a copy of the VM hdd file from a fresh install of XP SP2 at the ready. Why? I can't keep the program running for more than 3 minutes before it poofs into non-existance. At various times. I can't even run the recovery console from the boot CD to see if the problem is with XP or Parallels. It poofs as well even before I can type 'r' to run the console.

This has destroyed every single hdd file I've had that had programs installed on it. Meaning, at this point, running Parallels is entirely counter productive because I have can't keep it running long enough to install a usable program on. It's poofed on nearly any program I try to run. All this was from copies of a fresh hdd, no Parallels Tools installed, nothing, just a fresh, clean, XP SP2 hdd that has booted only once.

What gives? I've followed threads on this board to no avail, there's no way to troubleshoot this issue since there is no console log, I can't even boot into XP anymore because I don't know when it'll poof. And every time it does, XP will cease to boot to the desktop. It will, you guessed it, EPOD itself into a black hole. What's worse is that I can't even install the Parallels Tools in XP because it'll poof either half way through or before I have a chance to bring up the VM.

Answers? My company is looking to purchase a site license of Parallels next year and I'm working on the forecasting. It is truly an elegant solution for our users, but I can't recommend it if I am having so many problems with it with no support to boot. I realize that support is ramping up, but this is not the first time I've posted about the EPOD.

Something. Any answer (or a peep from Parallels) would help. If there's anything I can do to help, I will. I'll run test cases, document bug reports, whatever. You have a free beta tester who's had extensive software testing experience. I hate booting into Boot Camp, but at least that doesn't crash into nothingness for me.

Anyone? Bueller?

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Danny

Originally Posted by danimal39

Same problems as thorby, actually. I can do the same and send out a DVD. To answer your questions:

1. Answered above - exactly the same situation as thorby. XP would be running like a champ, then I get the VM properties page with no warning.
2. Yes, it is. I'll run XP some more with VT-x off.
3. Did that, and in 30 minutes of running Parallels (can't do much, though, with no network or shared folders), it hasn't EPOD-ed. VT-x is on.
4. Host = MacBook Pro 17". 2GB RAM. VM - 512MB, reserved memory limit - 1628MB.

Of note, not that it should make a difference...I have my hdd file on a FAT32 partition that I also have Boot Camp on. I've moved it out of that partition (and back on to a HFS+ volume) when I did step #3 and the poofs have not reappeared. Thanks!

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Danny

Originally Posted by danimal39

3. Did that, and in 30 minutes of running Parallels (can't do much, though, with no network or shared folders), it hasn't EPOD-ed. VT-x is on.

Originally Posted by Andrew @ Parallels

Hello Danny,

Could please give me more details about your problem?

1. What does *poof* means? Does it mean that your XP is suddenly Power Off and application with stopped VM remains or whole application vanishes?
2. Is VT-x setting on?
3. Please try to remove all devices except HDD from VM config. Does work now?
4. What is your memory configuration? Host, guest and Preferences->Memory->Reserved memory limit?

Originally Posted by bgose

Okay Andrew,

I have W2K installed on a Virtual HDD formated in NTFS loaded on a FAT32 drive. Parallels is loaded on my main MacPro OSX drive. To clarify, the VHDD is located on an external and completly seperate ATA drive installed in the 2nd CD bay. Details as follows:

WDC WD1600JB-00GVC0:

Capacity: 149.05 GB
Model: WDC WD1600JB-00GVC0
Revision: 08.02D08
Serial Number: WD-WCAL98266182
Removable Media: No
Detachable Drive: No
BSD Name: disk2
Protocol: ATA
Unit Number: 1
Socket Type: Internal
Low Power Polling: No
OS9 Drivers: No
S.M.A.R.T. status: Verified
Volumes:
BACKUP:
Capacity: 148.85 GB
Available: 144.82 GB
Writable: Yes
File System: MS-DOS FAT32
BSD Name: disk2s2
Mount Point: /Volumes/BACKUP


I did all that you suggested, I've got EVERYTHING off except for the stinkin' HDD and it still wont get past about 5 seconds of post boot run-time in Windows 2000 (quite possibly the MOST stable windows platform).

So the question is...do I need to format the real HDD to NTFS and also format the VHDD to NTFS?

-MacSolidWorks