Downgrade procedure 5584 to 3214

I have owned Parallels for just over a year and have been generally satisfied with the product.

However, I blindly downloaded an upgrade, installed it and have subsequently discovered that A) this is a NEW version of Parallels that requires payment to continue using and that B) I didn't need this NEW version in the first place.

The trouble began when I couldn't cut and paste from XP to Leopard and vice versa. Naturally, I sought some quick fixes. I saw there was a new version of Parallels and installed it. When I discovered I had to PAY (again!) I was kind of mad. I wrote support and asked why I had the problem in the first place and how do I get back my old, already paid-for version.

They were not helpful at all. They blamed it on an OS X upgrade (funny, but doesn't most of your existence depend on OS X????) and gave me a link to build 3214.

Well, I've done some reading and it appears that I won't be able to "downgrade" very easily.

Has anyone been through this? I just want my old, working version of Parallels please. I don't even SEE what the UPgrade is with this new 3.0. Other than a few graphical improvements, I see no obvious difference. I suppose there is something I'm missing out on but I don't need it. Whatever IT is...

A detailed procedure for downgrading from 5584 to 3214 would be very much appreciated. Thanks!

 

very bad idea

Apple OS updates broke the old Parallels a couple of times
It pays us users to get all updates for vital software

Hugh W

 

If you really want to "downgrade" to 3214, you may wish to also "downgrade" your MAC OS back to Tiger 10.4.x. I continue to run 3214 with OS 10.4.11 with absolutely no problems. I have held off on Leopard because of various wireless printing and networking problems some Leopard users report. And I don't have the time necessary to fix such problems when everything I need is working fine right now.

 

I would suggest you keeping the 5584. 5584 is very stable and uses less resources than 3214. I have a XP Pro VM and a Fedora 7 VM running in the background all the time on my iMac. I couldn't do that with 3214. I just checked the uptime of my Fedora 7 and it shows 22 days, 15:58. 5584 is worth the extra cost.

 

I have two macs running parallels. One has 3214 and it seems to run fine. Both are running Leopard. I guess I'm surprised that no one seems upset that they had to pay twice for the same promised functionality.

Is there a way to get back to 3214 without screwing up my Windows VM?

 

Use Parallels Image Tool to convert your VMs to the old format

If you want to downgrade, use Parallels Image Tool to convert your VMs to the old format, that will ensure your VM is compatible with 2.x.