Attention AUTOCAD and MicroStation users!

[skink]

I recently install parrallels 5 on a MACBOOK PRO 2010, I'm running windows 7. I am a student studying Computer Aided Drafting (CAD). That's the reason for installing windows, I have AUTOCAD 2011, and MicroStatin V8 installed. My problem is all of my drawings are saved as Microstion, even if they are AOTOCAD drawings. It's not a big problem to open them up, I just do the "open with...". The problem is all of my AUTOCAD drawings have the double red bars of Micro Station on them, so when I turn a drawing in I loose points for file management. Obviously I did something wrong when setting up Paralles, but I don't have any idea what. I guess it's some default setting, but I can't find any way to make any changes to Paralles: i.e., a control panel of some sort? I know I must sound like an idiot, and when it comes to computers I am!
I am a 50 year old "dis-located worker" in the process (or I should say attempting retraing). Before this I only surfed the internet, so your help and patients will be greatly appreciated.

 

[joevt]

I don't understand the problem. Perhaps a screen shot would help? How can a document created and saved by one program (AutoCAD) be saved as something else (MicroStation)? Do the programs use the same file extension? Set your preferences in Windows Explorer and Mac OS X Finder to show file extensions. Are AutoCAD and MicroStation both Windows apps?

What does "the double red bars of Micro Station" mean? I know that all Windows apps and documents have double vertical red bars on their icons when Parallels is installed but that only affects their icons and only in the Mac OS X Finder - it has nothing to do with the file content/data. The icons are unchanged when viewed from in Windows Explorer. Parallels Desktop creates small Mac helper apps with the icon from Windows and the vertical red bars (which is actually the Parallels logo) in the lower right corner. This means the "double red bars" are actually "of Parallels Desktop". To find the helper apps go to /Applications in the Finder, then open the Windows Applications alias. To find out what file extensions the helper apps will open, right click the helper app, select Show Package Contents, then open the info.plist file in a text editor or in Property List Editor, and look at the Documents types list.

If the problem is just that the apps use the same file extensions for their documents then it's a non-issue and you shouldn't loose points for it because it's not under your control (you did nothing wrong), and this problem shouldn't occur for the person marking the drawings unless they're using the same setup (Mac, Parallels, AutoCAD, MicroStation) and are completely ignorant.

You could try adjusting the settings at Virtual Machine -> Configure -> Options -> Shared Applications -> SmartSelect Associations.

If you're opening a document from the Finder, you can use Get Info, then change the "Opens With:" option, then click the "Change All..." button.

 

[JeeA]

How did you get it to work? my parellels program just crashes every time i open any microstation drawing

anyone got any ideas?