How to use USB HDD with Parallels?

[kuebler]

I'm using my WinXP Bootcamp partition on my Macbook under Parallels and would like to access an external USB hard disk from within Windows. Unfortunately I didn't get this to run (got strange nondeterminictic messages).

Is this possible at all? Can anybody kindly point me into the right direction? Thank you.

 

[Hugh Watkins]

use shared folders under devices

Hugh W

 

[kuebler]

use shared folders under devices

Hugh W

This doesn't help, because already plugging in the USB disk raises various error messages, so that the devices/shared folders menu cannot be used for them.

And if I have the USB disk already plugged in when starting Parallels, then I get other error messages.

It's really a miserable situation

 

[wesley]

Normally, plugging in a USB disk doesn't raise any problems, so I think the first course of action is to try to see what specific errors you're facing. Perhaps you could reproduce the contents of the error messages here?

 

[kuebler]

Normally, plugging in a USB disk doesn't raise any problems, so I think the first course of action is to try to see what specific errors you're facing. Perhaps you could reproduce the contents of the error messages here?

Your are totally right, I should be more systematic. Here we go:

a) My Parallels is set to USB Autoconnect On. The following is true in the same way for an USB stick (recognized by Parallels as "USBDrive2.0") and for an external USB HDD (recognized as "USB2.0 Storage Device"). I won't differentiate in the following.

b) when I plug in either I get the following message in my running Parallels WinXP: "USB device you are trying to connect to the virtual machine is being used by another application. Close that application ...".

c) when I click Ok to that message, then immediately the device gets recognized in the MacOS finder, and accordingly, it's not displayed in the Parallels' Windows Explorer.

d) when I press Eject in the finder then nothing happens. When I then set the checkmark for the device in the Parallels/Devices/USB menu, then for a moment something happens in the Windows Explorer, but immediately the above "USB device you are trying..." message pops up again and the device is lost from within Windows, and instead it becomes occupied again by the MacOS finder.

So there appears no way to connect any USB storage device directly to the virtual machine.

After some experiments I found, that I need to switch Autoconnect to Off and define the USB HDD via the standard Shared Folders Mechanism of Parallels.

After doing so, the behavior is different between the USB stick and the USB HDD: The USB stick can be invoked into Windows by setting the according Parallels/Devices/USB/USBDrive2.0 device active. When I do so, the stick disappears from the finder and appears in the Windows Explorer. The same is not possible with the USB HDD: it disappears from the Finder, but does not appear in the Windows Explorer.

Complex, isn't it? A further downside of the Autoconnect being switched off may be, that some complicated USB devices like mobile phones may not be recognized correctly. But that is now only speculation on my side...

 

[kuebler]

...
Complex, isn't it? A further downside of the Autoconnect being switched off may be, that some complicated USB devices like mobile phones may not be recognized correctly. But that is now only speculation on my side...

I'm afraid my pessimism was well substantiated

Without Autoconnect the phone (a Nokia N95) does not connect. When I set the checkmark at Parallels/Devices/USB/Nokia N95, then I get the famous message "USB device you are trying to connect to the virtual machine is being used by another application. Close that application ...". While I let this message stay, the USB connection process and the installation of the Nokia N95 drivers start and finish successfully. So the phne connects. It's just that I cannot do anything else, because the message wants to be clicked away...

When I click the meaage Ok, then the phone immediately disconnects again

This means that I can access either the external USB drive (with Autoconnect Off) or the Nokia phone (with Autoconnect On).

But the whole exercise was because the external disk contains Music data, which I wanted to transfer to the phone, with a Nokia utitility which is available only under Windows.

The world sure will not perish from this problem, but I'm not so enthused

I hope that at least my description can help somebody otherwise doing fruitless work on a similar problem

 

[darkone]

soo... mount the drive in osx, then in your VMs configuration add it as a shared folder. It will then appear in the \\.PSF shortcut and not have to be mounted in windows. This will stop the "device in use" errors,and not need to worry about auto connect or any of that stuff...

 

[kuebler]

soo... mount the drive in osx, then in your VMs configuration add it as a shared folder. It will then appear in the \\.PSF shortcut and not have to be mounted in windows. This will stop the "device in use" errors,and not need to worry about auto connect or any of that stuff...

Thank you for your help. I was not aware that I hadn't yet tried this variant of the procedure. It worked without problems. So the USB HDD problem because of which I started the thread is solved.

Unfortunately, however, I found out now, that the Nokia phone also doesn't work with Autoconnect set to On. It doesn't connect by itself, and I have to manually checkmark it in Parallels/Devices/USB/Nokia N95. But then I'm lost again, because of the same old problem:

I get the famous message "USB device you are trying to connect to the virtual machine is being used by another application. Close that application ...". While I let this message stay, the USB connection process and the installation of the Nokia N95 drivers start and finish successfully. So the phone connects. It's just that I cannot do anything else, because the message wants to be clicked away...

When I click the message Ok, then the phone immediately disconnects again

This seems to be independent from the Autoconnect setting, and it looks like I have to resort to booting from Bootcamp

 

[darkone]

try bluetooth for the mobile syncing.. get the bootcamp drivers disk and install them into your parallels vm. Conect the bluetooth device by selecting Apple-Wireless in the USB devices list.

 

[kuebler]

At the end all works!

try bluetooth for the mobile syncing.. get the bootcamp drivers disk and install them into your parallels vm. Conect the bluetooth device by selecting Apple-Wireless in the USB devices list.

I have Bluetooth enabled for syncing and this works fine an the MacOS with a plugin supplied by Nokia, but it's way too slow for music syncing (1..2 Gbyte!)

But by chance I found out something unexpected: when I connect the Nokia to the Macbook before I start Parallels (with Autoconnect On), then after Windows runs, I can manually checkmark the phone in Parallels/Devices/USB/Nokia N95, and voilà, the phone connects and can be accessed even in the complex USB mode which the Nokia PC Suite requires.

One never learns out, as we say here in Germany

I don't understand it, but I also will not debate it

So the rule in this case was: put Parallels-USB to Autoconnect, and connect already everything which you need later before you start Parallels. i thought that thus the MacOS would grab the devices and distort the process, but to the opposite, it was the only feasable procedure.

Thanks again for your help.