I'm running parallels on a Mcbook Pro 2.33GHz Intel Core 2 Duo. When I restart XP I glimpse a message that "the system could not log you on etc etc" and then I see the "Windows is starting up" screen for about 20 minutes. Then the original warning reappears and I'm able to enter my password and start using XP. Does anybody know why this is happening?
I have noted that winxp is very slow to start up when logging on to the corporate network at work, but when I am at home and not on the corporate network, it is pretty fast on login with the same password etc. Also, winxp runs much faster when not on the corporate network which is windows domain. Have not had 20 minutes though. Art
Networking has also now become an issue. It was working but it stopped. I've tried switching between bridged and shared and enabled the Parallels network adapter which was for some reason disabled but still no luck. WIndows says I'm connected and shows the proper DNS addresses from my provider but Explorer and other applications can't connect.
Well, I'm going to partially answer my own question, and then ask others. Bear in mind that I'm an XP newbie: I dutifully created an XP Administrator password after installing, as the Parallel guide instructed me to. For some reason, when I boot up, Parallels(or something else?) tries to give XP a blank password. For some reason this hangs XP for 20 minutes with the "Windows is starting up" message covering the password error message. It looks like finally the WIndows screen saver kicks in and then after I wake the screen saver the password prompt appears and I can finally enter the correct password. The quick fix: I changed my password back to nothing. Now XP boots in a minute or so. New questions: Is it OK to leave the password blank? I've heard that XP passwords are not that important security-wise, at least not like the Mac. Is Parallels feeding XP a blank password? Is there a way to change the password Parallels uses?
