When I insert a movie DVD into the VM - Windows XP Home - this comes up: "Windows Media Player cannot play the DVD because a compatible DVD decoder is not installed on your computer." There's no problem with playing audio CDs in Windows Media Player though. (By the way, both DVDs and CDs play just fine in OS X) I'd be grateful to know how to fix this.
Windows Media Player really doesn't have any decoder to play DVD. You can solve your problem using other player or installing DVD decoder from Microsoft.
MacBook Pro DVD trouble I discovered after hours of futzing that the MBP will not play DVDs or audio CDs while the Parallels VM is running, even if it is sitting minimized on the desktop. As soon as you suspend the VM, the mac-side DVD and CD players work perfectly. Apple tech support doesn't have a clue about this and was about to send my MBP away for repair of the dead DVD drive! Hope this helps someone.
right click the cd icon in the lower corner of the parallels window and slect "Disconnect" or in the Parallels menu bar, select Devices > CD / DVD Rom > Disconnect that will "give" the drive back to OSX
Did you click on the CD icon at the lower right in the Parallels window and select "Disconnect"? I just did, and a DVD played with no problem on my Mac Pro. I've noticed that many users who report problems with CD/DVD drive access in OS X while Parallels (or VMWare Fusion) is running have not disconnected the drive in the virtual machine; it is not possible to use an optical drive in both OS X and a VM simultaneously.
Both WMP11 and Realplayer says that I have to PAY for a DVD decoder in XP. Is there a FREE DVD decoder either for WMP11 or Realplayer?
cant help with the WMP decoder.. ive only ever found pay for ones. VLC will play DVDs without the need to purchase a decoder tho.. http://www.videolan.org
