I have recently had a lot of trouble with starting up Windows XP Home (from my Bootcamp partition) in Parallels 3.0 (and 2.5 before that). I started it up in safe mode, in Parallels, so that was a warning. I believe I've found the main culprit: a security program called Blink! Personal, which was recommended on the Security Now! podcast with Steve Gibson, grc.com. I used it live for a couple of weeks, so when I finally tried to boot up in Parallels, I didn't immediately trace it to the new program. I disabled Blink -- which is a really different, and very strict kind of security program from eEye -- and started up successfully in Parallels. However, now I'm still losing control of the cursor -- I see two, one black one white, and I can't leave the Windows enviroment -- so it's not perfect yet. Is there any knowledge at SWSoft of this program, and how I might run both it and Parallels at the same time? While running Blink!, it seems to be rejecting the unknown "Host" operating system in some way. XP starts up and gets to loading icons in the tray; but then it stops dead.
I have this program installed with my copy of Parallels (2.5.3188) and have no problems with it. It seems to require about the same level of resources as MacAfee and Norton but isn't constantly whining about needing new signature files, wanting to protect more stuff, etc. etc. etc. If I were in your situation I would uninstall Blink using the uninstaller and then reinstall.
Thanks. Based on your inspiration -- and word from the Blink forum that they were running Blink with Parallels with no problem, I've made some progress. So here's how the problem manifested itself after I booted in Safe mode in Parallels 3.0, Windows XP: when I start up, I get the opening screen, and instantly a "New Hardware" message from Windows. (No new hardware, but Windows thinks so.) If I cancel it, it comes up again. If I click "Continue", I get endless processing and the system seizes up eventually. Eventually, if I cancel often enough, it leaves me alone. I should say that I have a unique setup, I suppose. I have a KVM switch with one monitor and keyboard. I tried many, but the simple iOGear one the size of my Mac mini works right. A previous Belkin needed a Windows keyboard to work, and that keyboard didn't really work on the Mac. Unfortunately, my new KVM doesn't switch my USB stuff over, so I bought a physical switch for the hub full of stuff there. But here's what the problem really is, I'm sure now: it's in the USB connections with printer, scanner etc. (I have 7 peripherals in all.) Parallels is detecting more things, even though it has to "look around the corner" of a switch and hub to do it. When it hangs on the mounting of peripherals, it's locking up. Tonight, I finally got the thing up and running by getting past that "Hardware detected" dialogue. Don't ask me how, but my USB stuff has been crashing all this time. The reason I'm confused is, the name on the peripheral is sane on the Mac. It recognizes it and says, "Soundsticks," or "Canoscan" or something. On Windows, it's a mess. It seems that they call the device a name that the Asian manufacturers call it, the Star 4-in-1 printer switch, which might be the hub, the switch or the KVM itself, for instance, and I have no clue what they're talking about, so I'm not sure how to configure it safely for Parallels. It'd be a super-cool feature if Parallels could use autoconfig a little more intelligently. But I notice, now, that the whole lower section of new features: Coherence, Snapshots, etc., are grayed out and don't work. So I've still got progress to make. Maybe a more expensive KVM.
