Hi Parallels, Is there a build without Smart Select?

This thread was moved from "Windows Guest OS Discussion".
Alicia


Smart select is nothing but a problem, especially when you have like MS Office on both the Mac and the Guest VM.

I had 5160 on for a few days, I turned off all the smart select when upgraded and smart select still was there and with all turned off I would click in an email on Mac that had excel attacment and the VM excel would come up at same time as Mac. I feel now that smart select was the main cause of slow downs and crashes which got worse.

This is not so bad on build 4560 but even with all the settings I can find to turn it of it happens every now and then. where it will even try to start a new instance of parallels.

Having this on as a default is unacceptable because, before you get a chance to turn it off it has already messed up associations

Smart select needs to be able to be totally turned off.

 

In your dreams. That feature is why I never use Parallels anymore. Well, that, and rewiring all my associations without asking. Sometimes you just have to know when to say enough. They've crossed my last line.

 

Try turning the security setting in all your VMs to high, and you can use this script I developed to clear all Windows application associations. It is mostly the shared applications setting that you need to be worried about, as long as shared applications are turned off SmartSelect can't set up file associations.

 

Hello,

BenInBlack, try to turn the security level to high in your VM settings, then in "Shared Applications" tab make sure that both "Share Windows applications to Mac" and "Share Mac applications to Windows" options are disabled. Then reset all your file associations in Parallels Desktop menu: Applications->Set to Default in Smart Select section. After a window appears, holding the Apple key press "For all VMs". It's an internal feature for troubleshooting purposes so it should work. Then wait for about 5 minutes and turn off your Windows and restart Mac.

Best Regards,
Alicia.

 

brKirch,

Thanks for the script. I downloaded it. Backed up my machine and ran it and it hung. It started to scan then the small dialog disappeared but the icon for ti was in the dock and it stayed there saying "not responding" for over 3 minutes. So I killed it. I have no idea what it did. Nothing else seems broken.

 

Well then, does that mean i have to leave them off, because if i drag a file from Mac Finder to Windows with them off, its says I need them on, and this starts all over again.

I need drag and drop without Smart Select, can you please make it so smart select is not tied in. In your race against VMWare your loosing your loyal customers.

 

I totally understand, I can't run build 5160, it crashes without even a crash report, it just exits and so now I'm reverted back to build 4560 and no acknowledgment from parallels. I not sure I'm at the point your are but, I'm close.

 

The scanning takes a while (and the program will appear to hang), but it is working (the scanning starts when the dialog disappears). To confirm that it hasn't just locked up, go to Activity Monitor and look for a process called "find" (should be using ~10-30% CPU). As long as that process is running then the scan has not yet completed and the program will appear unresponsive but is still working. Fortunately though, killing the program should be harmless.

 

Maybe I am not understanding the OPs problem correctly but when Smart Select first appeared I suffered from unexpected launching of the VM and the windows Word/Excel prog, when I tried to open a Word or Excel file in the Mac.

It was solved thereafter by disabling Smart Select, and doing apple+i in the Mac on a .xls file and making sure the "open with" section specified the Mac Excel, then also ticking the "change all" bit. Same for .doc and Word.

 

brkirch Thanks for this script,

I had to go this route because
you can't get to this options with smart select off in configuration, it is grayed out.
Alicia from Parallels -> "Then reset all your file associations in Parallels Desktop menu: Applications->Set to Default in Smart Select section". I didn't want to turn it back on for fear of more associations.

 

Hello,

BenInBlack, those steps I wrote were for bringing default file associations back. To be able to transfer files from VM to Mac and vice versa you should make both "Share Windows applications to Mac" and "Share Mac applications to Windows" options enabled. But you have "Smart Select" disabled so there must not be any file associations confusion.
I hope that would help

Best Regards,
Alicia.

 

Thanks for your replys.

I used brkirch script (very cool) to reset Mac associations and it looks like there are none left in Windows. I tested the main one which was opening up .xls attachment in Mac Mail and that worked.

I'm going to do few more checks and I will probably try another update. to see if the issues was pre-existing associations prior to upgrade is a problem.

I just wish Parallels would make some acknowledgment that there were issues with 5160 and that they are almost done with new build. in this case silence is not golden

 

If Parallels does not fix the problems with SmartSelect not being completely turning off by the next beta, I'll report the problem to them until it gets fixed. I was actually quite surprised to see that the file associations aren't actually removed when SmartSelect is turned off; I had expected that the associations would be removed from the Info.plist. If there continues to be a problem with this I might try to develop a script or program to remove the associations from the Info.plist files, but I would prefer not to do so because that would really be a hack which may not work properly with future versions of Parallels Desktop.

 

Messing with associations on a grand scale like they are trying, is an almost impossible task, If someone installs a new program and it adjusts associations after Parallels does, which do you go back to.

Couple that with my Ministack, which I have set to power down when not in use and it takes a few seconds to power back up, this is fine when I'm programming because there is a lot of down time while im coding, but some of the associations where mapping to apps that were on my 2nd VM drive which sites on the MiniStack now you want to talk about slowdown.

If Parallels wants it in there, that is their choice but, don't have it automatically wipe your associations without giving you a chance to stop it before it does.