I just recently upgraded to version 4 and suffered through the AUTOCHK.EXE debacle. One of the things I found in researching this issue is that Parallels' Tech Support adamantly maintains that if you are using a Boot Camp install you must boot to Windows before applying any Microsoft updates. To put it mildly, this is a real pain. Regardless of Microsoft's claimed schedule of updates, I find that I am receiving notices up updates several times a week. One of the major reasons for purchasing Parallels was so that I didn't have to reboot my Mac, so that I could just work in the Mac world and let Windows reboot as needed. I applaud Parallels for finally resolving the hassle of having to authenticate as an administrator to start up the VM. Perhaps they can resolve this as well. <end rant mode>
I Also Had The AUTOCHK.EXE Problem. For Me It Was Just The XP SP3 Update That Needed To Be Done In Bootcamp. I've Since Done Other Windows Updates In PD3 Without Issue.
The problem is, how does one know which can be done from within Parallels and which must be done booted from Boot Camp. If you guess wrong and ask for help, Parallels will say "But we told you...". I had to blow away my Boot Camp partition and start from scratch. I'm on a Macbook Pro and you can't do a repair install, or at least I haven't figured out how to, because the keyboard isn't recognized by the Windows install CD. And as I right this, Microsoft just told me it wants to update my .NET Framework. Grrrrrr.
