After upgrade to Parallels 5 and Snow Leopard, WinXP VM won't load on iMac

I've upgraded Parallels from 3 to the latest 5 (5.0.9220), and OSX to Snow Leopard 10.6.2. I cannot get the WinXP VM to start up on my 20" iMac (mid 07, 2.4 core 2 duo, 4gb ram) although the same upgrades were no problem on my Mini (early 06, core duo 1.66) or 13" aluminum MacBook (late 08, 2.4 core 2 duo). I've compared settings among the 3 Macs and all seem to be the same.

On each of the Macs I first upgraded Parallels from 3 to 5, while running Leopard 10.5. First the Mini, then MacBook, then iMac. Each worked fine including the iMac. Then I upgraded each to Snow Leopard, first with 10.6 DVD, then upped to 10.6.2. As I said, the Mini and MacBook went OK, but not the iMac. I had uninstalled Parallels off the Mini, so I went back and reinstall P5 on the new existing 10.6.2 and again it ran fine.

On the iMac, I don't think this is the same slow startup issue some people are having, and I am not getting the BSOD. Parallels Desktop starts up right away but the VM will not start up after any length of time. It stays stuck on the black screen with the Parallels version of the spinning beach ball. This is true with either my existing VM or with trying to start a new VM. I have uninstalled and re-installed Parallels several times including the complete wipe referenced here:

http://kb.parallels.com/en/6904

A couple other quirks on the iMac. When I start the P Desktop and go to prefs, I get "The network settings are misconfigured and will now be automatically corrected by Parallels Desktop." in the Network pref. I hit OK and it does nothing. I hit Restore Defaults, say Yes, and it does nothing. I close the prefs, reopen prefs, and the Network settings (I assume the defaults) match the Mini and MacBook, and hit OK. I quit the Desktop, reopen it, go to prefs, and get the same "misconfigured" notice.

Another quirk when trying to create a new VM on the iMac. First Parallels will not recognize the disk drive with the WinXP install disk (it does show in Finder). I made an image file of the install disk and this is recognized. I enter the Windows product code and hit continue. On the next screen I hit Create and get "Success.The operation was successfully completed." OK goes back to the Create screen. On that screen I hit the Advanced button where I increase the allocated memory to 256mb and get "Are you sure you want to allocate 256 MB of memory to the virtual machine? Allocating more than 0 MB of memory to a virtual machine may significantly decrease its performance." I say Yes, then hit the Create button again. Now it says the VM was successfully created and click Start to install the OS.

At this point I'm back to black screen spinning "beachball" and the install never gets Windows loaded to begin.

I'm very frustrated. As I said, the same upgrades of Parallels and OSX completed without a problem on my Mini and MacBook. All 3 are on the same network going through the same Linksys router and Motorola modem to Conmcast cable (MacBook via Airport). Something is different with the iMac.

Any ideas? Thanks!

p.s. Several days ago I sent in a Parallels report ID #1116436

p.p.s. For the record, yes, I am installing the same copy of Parallels on 3 different computers. The installs on the Mini and MacBook were meant as tests. I need Parallels to work on my iMac, and will uninstall off the other 2 once the iMac install is working.

 

Hello,

Sorry it's already known problem which affects several our customers. By some reasons invalid adapter name appears at your system network settings: "PCI Ethernet Slot @
A, Port 2" and it's cause of problem. In order to fix problem you can do follow:

1. wait for the nearest update which will contain fix for the problem;
2. contact with our support;
3. or resolve problem by yourself - in order to do this please do follow: open System Preferences->Network; select mentioned network service, perform Rename Service action and specify some valid name on your choice ("Adapter 1" for example)

 

I need help!

My left menu doesn't show up in the preview or when I publish it, is there something I need to do to activate it?? I have tried Everything!

 

Alexander,

Thanks for the quick reply. However, your #3 solution did not work for me.

First, I renamed the service to Adapter 1. No help. Then, I deactivated the adapter service. In both cases I could not open an existing VM, nor successfully start anew VM. All attempts lead to a black screen with the spinning circle.

Also, I still got the "misconfigured' notice when Desktop prefs was opened. I could force the settings in as before, but the "misconfigured" notice comes back each time opening the Desktop app.

When attempting to start a new VM, the Desktop still does not recognize the Windows install disk in the CD drive, but does see a disk image version of it.

The one thing that did change is that when I attempt to start a new VM, I no longer get the premature "success" notice when I hit the Create button. However, it still defaults to 4mb of ram unless I hit the Advanced button and increase the memory allotment.

In between various attempts to get around these issues I have restarted the iMac many times. I have also uninstalled the Desktop & settings (not the wipe solution with Terminal), and re-installed Parallels.

So that leaves solutions #2 & #3.

Solution #2--contact support--Is that pay support? I'd prefer to not have to pay to find a solution to why Parallels will not work on an iMac, but works properly on a MacMini and a MacBook.

Solution #1--wait for update fix--When can I expect that to be available? I am very anxious to have Parallels working on the machine that I most need it.

Thanks again for your attention to this issue.

Peter Barber
Minneapolis

 

Hello Peter,

1. Sorry for incomplete instructions - reboot host after service rename also required - did you try it? As lternative way it's enough to restart Parallels service with follow commands performed from Terminal app:

sudo launchctl stop com.parallels.desktop.launchdaemon
sudo launchctl start com.parallels.desktop.launchdaemon

2. about support - if you just purchased PD 5.0 you have free support period (don't exact remember how long). In any case if you have troubles with it - provide me at private messages your E-mail address and support will contact with you.

3. update will income in nearest time - can't to provide with concrete date, sorry.

 

Peter,

Sorry instructions still incomplete. I understood problem - this wrongly named service also appeared at our network configuration. To completely eliminate problem additionally to network service rename please do follow steps:

1. run Terminal application (/Applications/Utilities/Terminal)
2. perform at Terminal follow commands:

sudo launchctl stop com.parallels.desktop.launchdaemon
sudo rm -f /Library/Preferences/Parallels/network.xml
sudo launchctl start com.parallels.desktop.launchdaemon

It would be better to make delay between first two commands (at least 10 seconds). Please try and confirm whether this helped.

 

Alexander,

I have tried your suggested actions. Unfortunately, there is no change in the Parallels Desktop. Each time I open the Desktop prefs I get the "misconfigured" notice. The VMs fail to get past the black screen & spinning circle to either launch an existing Windows XP, or to get to the installer for a new one.

Yes, I had rebooted after changing the network service name. I also rebooted after I deactivated the service (its present state).

I ran the Terminal instructions as you said. I am not a Terminal expert, but as I understand it, the command sudo rm -f /Library/Preferences/Parallels/network.xml was to remove the file network.xml from the Parallels prefs in the root library. The directory did not have a file by that name. If I am looking in the right place (and I think I am) there is a file named network.desktop.xml (Macintosh HD/Library/Preferences/Parallels/network.desktop.xml). Was that the target file to remove?

About support--I ordered the update to Parallels 5 directly from Nova on 11.14.09 and received it probably about a week later. I will send you a private message with my email address so that support can contact me.

Hopefully we can solve this issue soon. I am about ready to wipe my hard drive clean and start over from scratch. I don't really want to have to do that.

Thanks,

Peter

p.s. I also have just tried the terminal commands with the re-named service in an active state. Same result.

 

yes of course - i was wrong again, sorry - please try to remove network.desktop.xml instead of network.xml as i suggested (do not forget to stop Parallels Service at first)

 

Resolved so far....

I had a similar problem, but there was no misnamed system network setting; PD5 simply froze while it kept attempting to connect to my office machine (no idea why). I followed the suggestions

I noticed that the network.xml file was immediately recreated. Then when I launched PD5, Windows XP did indeed boot up. We'll see how it goes from here. Cheers,
--
Gib Henry

 

Alexander,

I ran the following instructions in Terminal:

sudo launchctl stop com.parallels.desktop.launchdaemon
sudo rm -f /Library/Preferences/Parallels/network.desktop.xml
sudo launchctl start com.parallels.desktop.launchdaemon

I first ran the instructions (the file WAS removed from the directory) and then rebooted the iMac. The 2nd time I ran the instructions and did not reboot.

After both times I opened the Parallels Desktop, went to Prefs, and got the same "misconfigured" notice. I closed the prefs, and when I re-open prefs, the settings are at the defaults. Desktop will not open an existing VM. When I try to start a new VM, it still will not recognize the CD drive, but will recognize a disk image of the Windows XP installer CD. The install then gets hung on the black screen with the spinning circle, and does not load.

I have been contacted by support (Thanks!) and will pass this latest information along to them per their request.

Peter

 

Now screen size & resolution inalterably reset to minimum

Uh...not very. After Parallels Tools updated, the screen size and resolution reverted to minimums and no effort at resetting them will stick, so to me, PD5 is now useless. Any solution?



Cheers,
--
Gib

 

Dear GibH,

It seems to be the issue is in Parallels Video driver.

Open Device Manager (Start -> Run -> devmgmt.msc) -> and expand display adapters -> try to update Parallels Video adapter driver and then check the issue again.

 

Cause: Parallels Tools; requests invalid volume

Thanks for the reply. However, it appears that Parallels Tools was the culprit. After uninstalling Parallels Tools, video was restored. I then reinstalled Parallels Tools and fixed that problem.

However, now a few minutes after logging in, I still get this dialog from the Mac (Boss is my previous office machine):



Parallels Desktop (not just the VM) will freeze until the dialog is dismissed...but eventually it will return; sometimes it's difficult to locate the dialog box (PD5 is frozen, so it will not hide), and thus PD5 is unusable unless/until the dialog is cleared...but it keeps returning! Boss was replaced about 2 years ago, so it's no surprise that the Mac can't mount it! But why does PD5 keep asking for it? Cheers,
--
Gib Henry

 

Must force-quit to clear dialog behind PD5

Let me clarify the above post (which is still awaiting approval so I can't see it): if I inadvertently click in the VM's window before clearing the dialog, then it's impossible to clear the dialog because PD5 is frozen and thus I can neither move the window nor hide the program. The only solution is to force-quit PD5--a very undesirable work-around.

And there's nothing I can see in the Parallels log regarding what's going on....Suggestions? Cheers,
--
Gib Henry

 

To follow up, I have "solved" the issue I was having with the Parallels 5 and Snow Leopard updates on my iMac by wiping the hard drive clean and re-installing OS & P5. The iMac had been delivered with Tiger 10.4 and updated through the various versions of Leopard 10.5. It would seem that somewhere along the process some sort of file corruption prevented a successful update to 10.6.2 and P5.

I wiped the drive with Apple's Disk Utility and installed a fresh copy of Snow Leopard 10.6 without any settings or file migration. Before doing any OS updates to 10.6.2, I installed Parallels 5 v5.0.9220.531073. I started a new Windows XP VM and it installed and opened perfectly. Parallels did not exhibit any of the odd issues I had before:

-no odd-named networking service in the OS (that may have been the ultimate problem)
-no "misconfigured" notice in Parallels network prefs
-Parallels recognized the optical drive with the Windows install disk loaded
-proper allocation of memory to the VM to be installed

The new VM installed and ran properly. I then updated the OS to 10.6.2 and the VM continued to be OK. Then I copied from a backup the Windows XP I had been using with Parallels 3, and it loaded up & ran perfectly. And now that I have copied over most files and apps from a backup, everything is still OK.

One further note, in the Library/Preferences/Parallels folder, I still get a file named "network.desktop.xml", not "network.xml".

Thanks,

Peter