Can't Use 2nd Hard Drive in Windows 7

I moved from Win XP to Win 7 by making a copy of the XP HDD file, and using it for the upgrade, which requires reinstalling all applications. The upgrade worked, but to help in transferring some miscellaneous files, I wanted to mount the old XP virtual drive as a second drive in the Win 7 VM. Both HDDs are expanding type, and the XP one was completely shut down (not suspended). Using configure I can assign the old HDD file as a second drive, but Win 7 does not show it under "Computer", so I cannot access it. Win 7's device manager shows it, but with no assigned drive letter. How can I make the old XP HDD available within Win 7?

MacBook Pro 17", 2.33GHz Core 2 Duo 3GB, MacOSX 10.6.1, PD ver 4.0.3848.

Bill Halberstadt

 

More information

I can now add an observation which makes the problem larger, but easier to explain or demonstrate. I cannot get a functional 2nd drive in Windows 7 even if I just create an empty new virtual drive (using "Configure"). Configure says there are two drives, both enabled, but only the 1st drive shows up in Windows 7.

Any ideas? Can anyone else get 2 working drives under MacOSX 10.6.1, Parallels 4.0.3848 and Windows 7 guest?

Bill Halberstadt

 

Problem still here in PD Ver 5

I was hoping the new version 5 (I'm now using 5.0.9220) would fix this problem, but it's still exactly the same after upgrading from version 4.x. It sure would help if anyone would comment on whether they can or cannot get a 2nd functional virtual hard drive in Win 7 under MacOSX 10.6.1 and PD 5. I am not using Boot Camp, and both drives are "expanding".

Bill Halberstadt

 

Problem Still Here with MACOSX 10.6.2

I'm still hoping someone using MacOSX 10.6.x and Parallels Desktop 5.x with Windows 7 will simply create a second hard drive using "Configure" and see if it is visible within Windows. I just upgraded my MacOSX to 10.6.2 and the problem is still there. Seems like a pretty basic problem, so I'm puzzled why it is not mentioned elsewhere in this forum, or why no one else has reported that it doesn't happen for them.