Is Coherence Supposed to Work?

K

KirinDave

Bit poster
Hi. I've got a macbook pro 17" (the new core 2 ones), and I cannot, under any circumstances, get coherence mode to work.

I'm using WIndows XP SP2, and it doesn't matter how much RAM I allocate or how many times I re-install, I click the coherence button and nothing happens at all. There is no error output sent to the console by which I might figure out something. I thought maybe the fact that I installed this WInXP image with a much older version of parallels might have something to do with it, but subsequent installs don't fix the problem.

Does anyone know what I can do to get it working? It's the reason I bought parallels, and its silent refusal to work is more than a little frustrating.
 
What version are you using? If it is 1970, Coherence did not become available until after 1970. You will need to download one of the later releases, which are in BETA and one RC. For my uses, the latest RC is quite stable, and though you can get help on this user forum.

I had some issues using Coherence with my Bootcamp partition. From this forum we figured out what needs to happen, so when the opportunity comes, I may fix my installation. But right now, having to switch from the Parallels window to OS X is perfectly fine with me.
 
Yes, coherence should be working, I use it all the time.

here are some things to check, (when you first start the guest and you see the configuration, click on configuration and click on coherence,
I have:
Windows Task Bar:
[x] Show
Working area
[x] Exclude doc

Under Video
[x] Enable custom screen resolutions
and no custom setups

I dont have any set screen settings in XP

Hope this helps
 
I had precisely this problem when I upgraded Parallels to RC1 from an earlier beta. I fixed it by doing the following:

1. Launch the VM and log in to Windows
2. Uninstall Parallels Tools, using the Control Panel
3. Shut down Windows
4. Launch Windows again
5. Install Parallels Tools via Actions > Install Parallels Tools

I don't know why this works, exactly, but perhaps it's worth a shot.
 
Last edited:
This worked! Thank you! Coherence mode now does something! :)

Really, it would be nice if there was some sort of feedback when you press the Coherence button and something goes wrong.
 
I have uninstalled, rebooted, and installed Parallels tools, i've uninstalled the cohrence service, rebooted, and installed the cohrence service.

For the life of me I cannot get the Windows desktop to disappear. The VM will switch to coherence mode but I still see the Windows desktop which covers my Mac destop.

Any suggestions?
 
The only thing I can suggest is that when I first upgraded to 3094 coherence didn't work. I tried everything too. What worked for me was to revert to a backed up copy of my VM and first uninstall parallels tools, then re-install. That solved it for me.

That process of uninstall/reinstall did not work on a VM which the automatic parallels tools update had been allowed to run. That was why I manually restored the backup VM and tried manually uninstalling then reinstalling Parallels tools.
 
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