Cannout Use Coherence in New Parallels Desktop for Mac build 3120

Discussion in 'Parallels Desktop for Mac' started by rexflay, Jan 11, 2007.

  1. rexflay

    rexflay Bit poster

    Messages:
    2
    Hi,

    I just upgraded to the new parallels desktop 3120 from having used a much older version of parallels--maybe 6 months ago when i first got it.

    I am really excited about coherence but it simply doesnt work. Ive read through thte forum and cant find an answer. The coherence button isnt gray, but clickable. However, when I click it nothing happens.

    I'm using intel macbook pro.

    Thanks,

    Rex
     
  2. kongfused

    kongfused Bit poster

    Messages:
    3
    It's in the 3120 FAQ:
    You'll need to delete the cohrence service, reboot. Then re-install via command line.

    -j-
     
  3. twynne

    twynne Hunter

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    155
    I've got the same issue where Coherence is suddenly disabled in this release (and never was previously). I've looked through the 3120 release thread above, as well as the FAQ linked on the download page and can find no reference to this procedure for reinstalling the service.

    Can someone post a link please?

    Thanks,

    Tom
     
  4. twynne

    twynne Hunter

    Messages:
    155
    Ignore that

    Ignore above request - I found it in the forum under '3094 FAQ'...
     
  5. thegoofs@mac.com

    thegoofs@mac.com Junior Member

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    I don't know if I am having the same issue or not. Coherence is a selectable option in the view menu, but when I select it the Parallels window disapears and the desktop is blank. None of the applications that were on my windows desktop are visable. It as if Parallels in completely hidden. Anyone else having this problem?
    - -
    William

    PS Yes I installed the new version of Parallels Tolls in Windows
     
  6. twynne

    twynne Hunter

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    In your VM, check to see if you have a service installed called 'Parallels Coherence Service'. If so, find the forum post called 3094 FAQ and follow the instructions to reinstall. If the service doesn't exist, perform just the part of the instructions to install it. My case was the latter - the service was just missing for some reason.
     
  7. zolblu

    zolblu Bit poster

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    3
    Fixing coherence

    I had the same problem with build 3120 (see post); deleting parallels preferences, 3 files in the library folder, and reinstalling 3120 fixed the problem.

    :) zolblu
     
  8. rexflay

    rexflay Bit poster

    Messages:
    2
    cool man, im gonna try some of this stuff tomorrow. thanks a lot for the responses
     
  9. mkummer

    mkummer Member

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    51
    Obviously I am way to stupid to input the requested line "* Open Start->Run menu, type cmd and press Enter. In the console opened issue the "C:\Program Files\Parallels\Parallels Tools\cohrence" install command
    * Coherence should work again." as stated in the FAQ. I get no matter what I type a message saying any operator is not recognized.
    I enclose a screenshot, so somebody may figure out what nonsense I am making with this damn command line of DOS.
    My question: Could this not be fixed automatically with the installation of the actual Parallels Tools???
    Thanks lots for help - this is really frustrating... :(
     

    Attached Files:

  10. darkone

    darkone Forum Maven

    Messages:
    804
    youre spelling coherence correctly, whereas the application in program files\parallels\parallels toos\ is cohrence.exe

    so type

    "C:\Program Files\Parallels\Parallels Tools\cohrence" install

    (NOTE THE SPELLING OF COHERENCE AS COHRENCE)
     
  11. mkummer

    mkummer Member

    Messages:
    51
    Thank you for the quick answer. Your hint did the job! At least a part of my confidentiality in my brains is reinstalled. :) Good to get immediate help!
     
  12. neilio

    neilio Member

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    41
    When you guys are using Coherence, does it still work when you run Internet Explorer? I've managed to get it working here but if I launch Internet Explorer the Windows desktop comes back. When I quit IE it disappears.
     
  13. darkone

    darkone Forum Maven

    Messages:
    804
    works fine with ie7 on my machine.
     
  14. twynne

    twynne Hunter

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    I have seen the taskbar come back on (even though I have Parallels set to hide it) in builds prior to 3120, but I've not used the latest build long enough to comment as to whether the issue still exists.

    I also haven't been able to work out what makes it reappear, but if I go into View options and enable it, OK, then go back in and disable, it then disappears again... for a while.

    Are you referring to just the taskbar or the whole desktop (windowed mode)?
     
  15. compchat

    compchat Junior Member

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    So I tried to upgrade from 3036 to 3120. Something went wrong so I went back to 3036 and was able to get everything to work but coherence. If I try to upgrade to 3120 with the current Parallels files I just get a black screen after the windows logo.

    What I've discovered using 3036 is that coherence service doesn't start. The error message is "cannot find specified file" (referring to cohrence.exe) when trying to start coherence service. So I think if I could get a copy of cohrence.exe and put it in the correct place I could use 3036 and also upgrade to 3120 (which refuses to load past windows logo).

    Am I correct on this ? Can someone send me a copy of cohrence.exe ?

    :

    Thanks
     
    Last edited: Jan 22, 2007
  16. compchat

    compchat Junior Member

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    I fixed the problem. Apparantly upgrading from 3036 to 3120 changes the name of the coherence Service. Trying to go back to 3036 does not work unless you manually delete the coherence sevice.
    Steps:
    1. Remove Coherence Program from control panel/add/remove programs
    2. Reboot
    3. Go to command prompt and type SC delete cohrence
    4. Reboot
    5. Reinstall Tools (V 3036) from Parallels Menu File

    From what I can determine the name of the service was changed from prtwindowservice.exe (in 3036) to cohrence.exe (in 3120). The installer gets confused when trying to roll back.

    Thanks
     
    Last edited: Jan 23, 2007
  17. logandzwon

    logandzwon Member

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    27
    this worked for me;


    C:\Program Files\Parallels\Parallels Tools>cohrence.exe install
     
  18. compchat

    compchat Junior Member

    Messages:
    15
    That wouldn't work in my situation because there is no cohrence.exe in the c:\programfiles\parallels.... directory.

    My situation was slightly diferent. I upgraded. I downgraded. I think the Registry Key for the coherence service is not erased when downgrading and hence it is broken. The trick was to remove the broken registray key which called for the non-existent file...cohrence.exe

    My belief, and maybe someone could check this, is that when one upgrades from 3036 to 3120 the service registry key for coherence is changed from prtwindowservice.exe to cohrence.exe and the installer for 3036 doesn't change it back (why would it...who downgrades anyway?)
     
  19. jcoireangus

    jcoireangus Bit poster

    Messages:
    7
    Coherence problem and "an illegal instruction"

    All was well until yesterday when I decided to see if I could extend the VM to use both monitors in a dual monitor set up. I just clicked around looking for a setting. But after restarting the VM I found that the OS Window button on the right side was now permanently selected and if I clicked on coherence, nothing happened.

    I've tried removing parallel tools (successfully) and reinstalling. However, the install fails unless I do a custom install and leave out the coherence service. If I follow the instructions in the FAQ, I get this message when I try to add coherence via the command line:

    The NTVDM CPU has encountered an illegal instruction CS:0552 IP:ebcc OP:OF 04 00 00 00

    So clearly I've got a problem with coherence...

    I did try a complete reinstallation of Parallels then using my existing VM. Didn't help.

    Any suggestions? I'm not a PC user, so please be very explicit if I need to do any command line stuff.

    Thanks!

    And a word to the wise. If you get everything working, clone your VM and keep it as a backup. If I had done this, I'd be able to use the clone and all should have been well.

    Jim
     
  20. jcoireangus

    jcoireangus Bit poster

    Messages:
    7
    coherence is restored AND it is now using both monitors...

    So while waiting for solutions, I decided to try a few more things. I figured the coherence.exe must be bad and I needed to delete it. So I went to the program menu and searched for the term "coherence" and found one in the parallels tools folder. Of course when I browsed to this folder, it wasn't there... so I thought, it must have been "invisible". So I deleted it, rebooted then reinstalled parallel tools from the Mac menu.

    Now I have coherence back and the XP task bar extends across both monitors, so I expect I somehow resolved my initial issue. The gods smiled down upon me.

    I now hypothesize that during all of this, I downloaded and installed a new version of the parallels tools, one which supports dual monitors. So it probably wasn't a brilliant action on my part.

    Next step: CLONE the VM in case I mess it up again!

    I hope this story helps someone. I know I couldn't have fixed this without trying bits and pieces of many of the postings on this thread.

    Jim
     

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