Though the parallels installer doesn't tell you to - you should restart the computer to allow the networking changes to work properly. I would try doing an uninstall, reboot, re-install and reboot again. you can check your osx network system settings and look for any of the adapters that have a red dot by them, meaning something isn't working.
bridged mode makes the guest OS act as if it was a totally separate machine and does not seem to work in all situations - especially hotels and such where you have to authenticate before you can connect. I can imagine a university might have a setup that would also not be compabible with bridged mode.
shared mode works essentially as an internal router for your guest OS w/ it's own DHCP and NAT. if OSX has a connection, then the guest will generally always work. however, shared mode does not usually work with VPNs and other special network connections.
Last edited: Jan 10, 2007