Drag & Drop from Mac to VM not working

[Leverett]

I recently updated my Windows 8 Volume Licensed Parallels VM install to Windows 8.1. That seemed to go fine.
I'm using Parallels Desktop for Mac Build 8.0.18608 (Revision 898384; July 17, 2013).
Now when using Drag & Drop from Mac to VM, a window pops up for Language Preferences instead of copying.

I tried to reinstall Parallels tools and it failed.
I tried to follow this KB article yet I don't have a Windows 8.1 listed.
Any help is greatly appreciated.

 

[Leverett]

I tried to uninstall/reinstall parallels tools and the process failed and asked me to restart. When I restarted, Windows 8.1 refused to boot and sent me to repair options instead. I reverted to an earlier snapshot... How do I get Parallels tools reinstalled??

 

[Leverett]

Just tried to install Parallels tools again and it killed my VM. It refuses to boot so I have to revert to snapshot again.

 

[svanas]

I'm having the exact same problem. Parallels Desktop for Mac 8.0.18608. Windows 8.1 running inside the VM. Drag-and-drop from the Mac desktop to the VM is dead. A clean re-install of Parallels Tools does not help.

 

[Leverett]

I'm having the exact same problem. Parallels Desktop for Mac 8.0.18608. Windows 8.1 running inside the VM. Drag-and-drop from the Mac desktop to the VM is dead. A clean re-install of Parallels Tools does not help.

I contacted Parallels support and their suggestion below didnt help. It actually hosed my Win 8.1 Pro VM so that it was again unrecoverable:

Step #1. Completely uninstall your Security/Anti Virus Software. There are cases wherein Security Software prevents complete installation of Parallels Tools. To better isolate the issue, please uninstall Parallels Tools first.

Step #2. Uninstall any optimization Software. Optimization Software such as Robust, etc. complicates with the Parallels Tools installation. Please remove it prior to Parallels Tools installation.

Step #3. Disable Startup items on Windows.
1. Start Parallels Desktop and Windows virtual machine.
2. Click on Start and type msconfig then hit Enter
3. Click the Startup tab and click Disable all.
4. Restart Windows virtual machine

Step #4. Manually install Parallels Tools. When you hit Install Parallels Tools, Parallels Tools image is mounted on the CD/DVD drive, try to manually install it following the procedures below
1. Right click on CD/DVD-Parallels Tools
2. Hit Explore
3. Double click on Setup.exe
4. Parallels Tools will manually install. Wait for the process to complete.

What worked for me was reverting to a snapshot and then using Windows to restore the last known good restore point...
All seems good now as all Parallels tools features are working again.

 

[svanas]

What worked for me was reverting to a snapshot and then using Windows to restore the last known good restore point. All seems good now as all Parallels tools features are working again.

Are you running Windows 8 or Windows 8.1 now?

Here's the problem I'm having. I'm running Parallels Desktop for Mac 8.0.18608. I have upgraded my VM from Windows 8 to Windows 8.1. At first, a lot of things didn't work but a clean re-install of Parallels Tools fixed (almost) everything.

There is one thing that does not work, and I believe this to be a reproducible problem with Parallels 8 and Windows 8.1: when you drag something from the Mac desktop to the Windows 8.1 VM, then it won't drop. It brings up the Windows Language Preferences: