4560 to 5160 Update failed

Today I launched Parallels for the first time in a couple of weeks. While my guest OS (Ubuntu) was starting, I saw a dialog box instructing me to download the Parallels Update. After download had completed I saw another dialog box asking if I wanted to install the update. I said Yes. The Parallels app stopped responding for several minutes and I had to kill it. I then shut down Parallels and tried to double click on the Parallels-Desktop-5160-Mac-en-ND.dmg file that was downloaded to my home directory, but nothing happens. Presumably the .dmg gile is damaged. I can't tell if it came that way, or it got damaged when I did a force quit.

OS X 10.4.10, Intel MacBook. Parallels version 3.0, build 4560.

3 things:

1. This is a bug report. Is there a place other than this forum that I should file it?
2. I'd like to upgrade to the latest version of Parallels, but the downloaded DMG is broken. How can I try to download it again?
3. UI feedback: bugs aside, the upgrade experience was bad. Having the option to download dialog box appear when the guest OS was running was okay, but having a modal install update dialog box show up while the guest OS was running was unnerving. I didn't want to try and do an upgrade until I had shut down Parallels on the general principle that you should upgrade over a running app, but it also wasn't clear to me how to relaunch the upgrade process after I had dismissed this dialog. What I really wanted to do was shut down the guest OS without dismissing the upgrade dialog box, but I couldn't put focus on the guest OS at this point. Finally I clicked Yes to the upgrade option thinking, "Well, they know what they're doing" and it hung.

It'd be better if the user didn't feel like they were being forced to upgrade Parallels while their guest OS was running. Could you make the install upgrade dialog box non-modal?

 

Disregard point (2) above. I logged out and logged back in, and was able to open the .dmg and successfully upgrade to 5160. I assume OS X got in a weird state about .dmg files.

Points (1) and (3) still apply.

 

I recommend downgrading back to 4560, there are memory leaks in Parallel tools and other issues

 

Downgrading to 4560

Thanks for the warning. Is there a bug report somewhere online about the 5160 problems? Also, is there a way to downgrade without losing my current guest system installation?

 

I don't know if there is a bug report online, there is a bunch of messages about this in the forums, but Parallels is not saying anything.

please enter these items as under Parallels top menu Help/Report a Problem. I should have done that but I had important project and I was crashing so many times that I had to down grade.

I had a backup of the VM prior to upgrade so I did the following.
1. opened the 5160.dmg and ran the uninstall app to uninstall 5160
2. restored backup of VM (both .hdd and .pvs)
3. installed 4560, your key is remembered
4. restarted (dont know if necessary, but old Windoz guy habbit)

I don't know if there was any VM changes from 4560 to 5160

Hope this helps.

 

My experience when attempting to upgrade was similar.

It has been three months since I last visited this forum, but I immediately noticed that one thing has not changed. Users report repeated problems with Parallels, but the vendor refuses to reply. This total lack of support will eventually kill the product.

Jack

 

Don't you want to try one more time to get updates - for example manually this time? In sober fact, there are some useful novelties... Here is the link for manual updating:

http://download.parallels.com/v3/uk/BS/GA/Parallels-Desktop-5160-Mac-uk-BS.dmg

 

Not sure what you are saying. With having to turn off all the options, I have found only one real change, and that is the un-grouping of Windows windows in coherence mode.

In interest of helping, With a backup of my VM safely tucked away I, decided to plunge into 5160 to see if changes I did to VM setup in 4560 and the use of a cool utility that goes thru on the Mac and recaptures the default file associations
(go to this thread http://forum.parallels.com/thread16924.html and run script created by brkirch)

This time I turned security to high and made sure all the shared and smart selects where unchecked.

In Preparing to upgrade to 5160 do the following...

0. MAKE A BACKUP OF YOUR VM PRIOR TO UPGRADING!!!!!
1. While in build prior to upgrade, go to applications and reset default files associations
2. Turn off all smart select
2. Turn off all shared applications
3. set security to high
4. shut down all unnecessary Mac Application before upgrading (especially the ones that were previously associated to Windows)
5. Install Upgrade.

Notes after re-upgrade to 5160
1. Even though i have shared applications turned off in VM setup, when i started the Windows VM it populated the Parallels shared Application folder with all my Mac Applications, like I said, even with them off on setup and grayed out in top application menu. but they seem to be benign.
2. Apparently when i upgraded the first time, the prior versions File Associations, from build 4560 really caused havoc, so clear them out the best you can.

So, Im back in 5160 and this time i didn't have immediate crashing as i did that stopped my production work, and conclude that the issue was mainly Smart Select.

I will be sending in trouble reports as i get them

 

I've had trouble trying to update 5160, I didn't read all of the threads regarding this, and wish that parallels just have an update prog that works. Like other programs, 'click' update a minutes later, tadaaaa your update is a sucess.

I did the support/request thing, one thread said that having the VM still running when doing and update seems wrong? I don't know what that means.
Also same thread says that, restarting the Macbook, makes the dmg file work?
Will doing this 'reinstall' to update delete all my work in the VM?

Having to turn this on and turn that off, switch here and switch there before update, is a real pain, specially being an idiot like me.

Even having a step by step is un-nerving for me, what if I did it wrong?

Please parallels, make it easier for me?


Additional Info
____________________
Macbook 2.16
2 Gig Ram
OSX 10.4.10
Current: Parallels 3.0 Build 5158
No Bootcamp
Parallels Tools Installed
Haven't tried anything to make it work, after reading more threads it seems 5160 is not a good update (more problems then solved ones)
I am not crashing
No error msg, No problems with keyboard, track pad.
Did not have anything hooked up to USB or Firewire.