What's New/What's Fixed in RC2 (comments)

The second Release Candidate introduces a number of customer-driven fixes and improvements. Here they are, commented

* Significantly improved performance
(We've tried to regain performance loss between betas and we think we've managed it )

* Improved USB stability and broader device support
(USB devices support should be stable at the moment)

* Improved Host-guest networking
(Internal fixes with host-guest virtual NIC)

* Automatic network adapters now switch on-the-fly
(That was a feature request from significant number of customers. The feature is intended for automatic switching of the adapter Parallels Desktop bridges to when connection is lost on it. This feature is enabled for "Default Adapter" mode.
Imagine that you have put yor MBP to sleep at home where only wired Ethernet connection is possible. Once at work with wireless LAN, you wake up MBP, Parallels determines that Airport is now active and switches to it automatically.)

* Guest OS no longer steals host IP address in some DHCP servers
(This was one of the most annoying bugs of RC1 and now it's fixed)

* Fullscreen mode is now customizable
* Integration with Virtue implemented
(This feature was developed especially for Virtue users. Browse to Parallels Desktop->Preferences->User Interface to find Advanced controls. Under this control you'll find a new "Exit Fullscreen on focus lost" checkbox. Uncheck it, and Parallels Desktop will no longer leave fullscreen when switching between Virtue-powered virtual desktops)

* Customizable Ctrl + Click mapping
(Another feature request from customers was implemented. You can control Ctrl-Click behavior via Parallels Desktop->Preferences->Hotkeys menu)

* Guest 32bit color is supported when Parallels Tools is installed
(And finally, we've added 32bit color depth support to guest Windows 2000/XP/2003. Please note that scrambled cursor when dragging icons in 16 or 32 bit color depths is a known issue and it will be fixed in the next public release)

* Improved Shared folders performance
(Just check it. Browsing shared folders should be faster with RC2)

* Resolved shared folders/MS Office incompatibility issues
(A number of bugs were fixed in Shared Folders system, MS Office one was just the most annoying of them)

* Windows 98 no longer consumes 99% host CPU even when idle (in VT-x mode)
(Doesn't need comments. Unfortunately, there's a known issue with Windows 98 - it will crash when suspending. The problem will be fixed in the next public release)

 

Garmin USB not working

While I appreciate the work that is being done to get this to GA, I'm disappointed to see that my Garmin GPSr devices are still not working in RC2.
I will once again submit a report.

 

I'm in the same boat. I want to be able to use Garmin's WebUpdater and Training Center with my Garmin ForeRunner 305. I keep getting a message that the device is in use.

 

This message means that your device is opened by primary Mac OS X and VM not allowed to access it.

Try boot guest OS inside VM and after that plug-in device. Autoconnect USB device option should be on.

 

I've tried that and still have the same problem. The only application that would be using the device is Safari (there is a plugin that reads data from the device), but I've quit Safari, unplugged the device, launched Parallels, and still get the message. I have no other application (or kernel extension) that is talking to the device. Any other suggestions?

Thanks.

 

I tried that. Makes no difference.

Vendor Specific 091E:0003 is listed with the USB devices. When clicking on it, the error message comes up. I can unplug the device and it eventually disappears from the list. However, plugging it back in results the same.
At one time, I got the GPS to show up in device manager. It still would not communicate though. Now, I can't seem to get that far.

Thanks.

 

This seems to have also had some effect on the command.com issue; at least now, when it's sitting idle at the prompt it seems to be ok. But as soon as I type anything the CPU maxes out and it becomes very unresponsive. I tried running the DOS application that is my primary need for Parallels, and unfortunately it brought the VM to a complete halt such that I had to power it off.

I understand that this is not a major issue for a lot of people, but sadly for me, it is 99% of what I need Parallels for.. if it doesn't work, I have to go back to keeping a Windows machine around. Any progress would be most appreciated.

 

Quick notes on RC2. After full uninstall of Tools and than RC1 itself I did MBP reboot (just to be sure . Not installed RC2 and the Tools. It looks ok so far I see no problems. It feels faster to me. It does boots faster. Also since I am very interested in iSight I try enabling the iSight by selecting the iSight from available USB devices. This did worked better this time than RC1. But still no support. Oh well I was just trying to see if our dev guys did some magic . Also Looks to me that the CPU usage is better / lower when running XP (idle). So far so good. I am running in 16 bit mode and no artifacts as reported by Andrew. Also Full screen switch with Virtue is back and working just like B6. So far running 2 hr and no problems..

Andrew, One question for you. Do you guy will ever get the iSight deriver in windows working? Is there a plan for this? If it is great I will wait. If not I will be looking into different solution .. possibly getting new web cam. Great job so far guy. Thank you

 

Chrismasto,

I hate recommending this, but please try disabling VT-x. To do so, shut down the VM, click the "Acceleration" link and and unset the "Enable Intel VT-x support" checkbox. This will make things better.

 

That does it.. I figured that out just a minute ago. Are there any prospects for being able to use VT-x in the future, or is this limitation unlikely to be fixed?

 

It seems like the integration with Virtue could still use some work. It SORT OF works for me.

Yes, I'm running RC2. Yes, I upgraded Parallels Tools.

There seem to be two different cases:
Not in Fullscreen mode:
Basically, when Parallels has focus and I am not in Fullscreen mode (with a VM running), I am completely unable to switch desktops with Virtue (ctrl+shift+{Left or Right Arrow}) until my mouse leaves the Parallels window.

In Fullscreen mode:
Once I have entered Fullscreen, if I do NOT click anywhere in the VM, I am able to switch desktops. However, once I click inside the VM, I am completely unable to switch focus away from Parallels until I leave Fullscreen mode manually (via alt+enter) and then click somewhere else.

Also, when I AM able to switch desktops right after opening fullscreen mode, my menubar and dock are gone until I click something to force Parallels to loose focus.

There is also STILL a problem with USB support that I have yet to see mentioned by anyone else. I have submitted bugs on it with every release. Basically, while Parallels is running a VM, it completely takes over both USB and the CD/DVD drive. I would expect it to behave that way when it has focus, but when it does not have focus, it should allow what DOES have focus (namely OS X) to handle these devices (clearly, this only makes sense when first connecting the device, once a device is connected it could stay with whatever OS had focus when it was connected).

As long as this issue persists, I have to completly shut down Parallels in order to read something off a CD or my external drive (or to sync my Treo, etc). I know that I can disable USB support, but sometimes (read: often), I DO want to use some USB device or CD drive inside my virtual machine. An example of how I would like it to work can be seen with that other Virtuilization product for Windows/Linux.

As usual, I'll submit bugs on these things so they can be officially tracked.

-dbingham

 

Do you have "System Preferences -> Universal Access -> Enable Access for assistive devices" enabled ?

 

TI USB to Serial = no joy

I've posted a bug report on this. USB support is better but still not there. I no longer get the "Device is being possesed by some supernatural being" message. However, the device connects with two Ka-blink sounds and disconnects with one ka-blonk sound over and over and over ad nauseum. Turning off auto-connect doesn't help. When I select the device in the menu, I get two ka-blinks and one ka-blonk and the device isn't there. Starting with the device unplugged doesn't help. Starting with the device plugged and powered doesn't help either.

Please don't make me have to use Bootcamp and back up my machine every time I want to run Windows. (that was actual adivce from an Apple Store employee)

 

Apparently I did. I could have sworn I turned that off with a previous release, but perhaps not. Anyway, turning that off fixes most of the problems. It still seems like my menubar and dock are gone until I give something else focus, specifically. That isn't a major issue, but it can be a minor annoyance if I switch to an empty desktop and want to quickly fire something up off the dock. If the desktop I switch to already has something on it, that is given focus and the menubar and dock are visible.

Come to think of it, maybe thats an issue for the author of Virtue.

As expected, this had no effect on the USB issues I mentioned.

Thanks for the tip!

-dbingham

 

Am i missing something with the virtue compatibility

Hi,

When i discovered the RC2 release i immediately downloaded and installed. Only one (well actually two) of my issues seem to remain.

Issue number one is the virtue integration. I did as instructed and disabled the "Exit Fullscreen on focus lost" checkbox.

But how do i allow the hotkeys CTRL+SHIFT+<right> or <left> keypads to pass to OSX in order to let virtue switch ? Or what am i missing here ?

My second issue is shared folders. I looked at the "what new and whats fixd for RC2" and was really pleased that shared folder performance had been increased. Unfortunately when ever i click on something it still takes about 10 seconds for the action to perform (i would still love drag and drop capabilities).

Apart from that. A very solid release (with my current limited testing), and i'm really please with the fact that it automatically resizes the VM when i go from fullscreen to windowed mode ...

Keep up the amazing work,

Lasse,

 

This should simply work as Virtue intercepts these keys before Parallels. If it doesn't try to update your version of Virtue. We've verified it on version 0.52 (138) of VirtueDesktops.

 

Man, i did not see that one coming

In your reply to dbingham you stated.
Do you have "System Preferences -> Universal Access -> Enable Access for assistive devices" enabled ?

Just like him i apparantly had it enabled (could also have sworn that i'd disabled it)

 

I still get the message… "This device can perform faster…if you connect it to a Hi Speed USB 2.0 port…" when I plug in my SanDisk Cruzer USB flash memory stick. I get the icon in the task bar that lets me "Safely Remove Hardware" and it correctly identifies the SanDisk Cruzer Titanium USB Device as attached (as USB Mass Storage Device) and will let me click the "Stop" button to remove the drive - but the drive and its contents are not displayed in any window I can open in Windows to try to see them - including not in the My Computer window. When I click "Stop" it tell me I can safely remove the Cruzer and the icon disappears from the Task Bar. If I plug the Cruzer back in, I get the "can perform faster" message again.

I'm running on a MacBook Pro and both of my USB ports are supposed to be USB 2 ports.

I get the same message about going faster if I use a Hi Speed port when I plug in my Lexmark P915.

Do I need to install a HI-SPEED USB host controller on my virtual machine? If so, how do I go about doing it correctly?

This is one of only 2 problems I'm having with Parallels presently. The other has to do with Microsoft Access - when I use a database created by others here at work and close any of the windows, they don't always disappear, or if they do, they don't disappear completely (if there's another window behind the one I close, there will either be artifacts from the one I just closed left on top of the still open one that was behind it, or the one behind it will now be plain white and I'll have to minimize and remax the window to see and use it again - this only happens in Parallels - I can use the same database with Boot Camp and not have this problem at all…at work I'd much rather use Parallels though…

Thanks for the great product, and the awesome response to the issues we raise - I really appreciate Parallels and hope these last couple of things get worked out in the near future!


PS - just forgot the one other issue I have with Parallels and this might already have an answer that I just haven't found yet. When I launch Parallels, I get this message before Windows itself launches (waiting for me to reply before Windows is started)…

The virtual machine being started is going to switch VMX mode on. Parallels Desktop has detected that VMX mode is already activated by another running application. If that application will stop VMX, the virtual machine may behave unpredictably. Click Ok to start the virtual macine with VMX support, or click Cancel and edit VT-x settings.

What other application might have activated VMX mode - how do I find out what's causing this in order to fix it?

Thanks again!!

 

After installing RC2, it crashes right away. This is what I found on the log created becaquse of the crash:

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Parallels Desktop 2.2 Release Candidate 2 for Mac OS X version 2.2 Build 1842.7 from 2006-05-29
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Received SIGBUS: Bus error
Access to fault address: 0x0
unknown signal sender: 2
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Any ideas why this might happen?

 

I also am concerned about USB 2.0 support. I think the reason my printer won't fully work is that it needs USB 2.0. I can't try it yet with RC2, but when I do I will report back.