Works on OS X (10.4.7), details follow
I am using a MacBook 1.87 GHz, 2GB of RAM running XP SP1. Autoconnect is on.
I am able to connect a Nokia 6682 with PC Suite as well as their new firmware updater program!!
In order to stop the OS X system from keeping the USB device busy I simply followed the instructions above, but rather than delete any important system files, I used a simple backup procedure which seems pretty common in the Unix/Linux world. For any beginners, you need to use the terminal program located in Applications->Utilities.
once in the terminal I proceeded to the
/System/Library/Extensions/IOUSBFamily.kext/Contents/PlugIns
directory:
cd /System/Library/Extensions/IOUSBFamily.kext/Contents/PlugIns
Then I moved any file with USBCDC in the filename using the following command:
sudo mv USBCDC.kext USBCDC.kext.bak
This way, if my system was hosed I could use the disc that came with the Mac to get into the system and revert the files back to their original names just by reverting their names running the command in reverse, ie:
sudo mv USBCDC.kext.bak USBCDC.kext
There were about 6-10 files I had to use this command on. What happens here is the file is simply renamed with a .bak extension on the end, meaning it won't be found when the system looks for the original file name, which ends in .kext. sudo is required because these are system files, which shouldn't be changed lightly. You should not run into problems requiring reinstalling OS X using the method above. In fact, I was still able to connect a USB flash drive with no issues under OS X while running the VM. I don't use any tethered modems since my phone has bluetooth, so no issues should come up, but of course YMMV. If I do end up with issues from Bluetooth I'll let you know, but iSync worked beautifully for me as well following this hack, indicating that this won't interfere with the bluetooth connection either.
What I needed this functionality for was Nokia came out with software to update my phone's firmware directly from my PC, but required a USB connection. And of course the software is Windows only. Now, I know updating cell phone firmware can be tricky, so if this worked for me under Parallels than I say good job Parallels team. Of course, it would be nice to complete this task without a hack to system files on my MacBook, but I can hardly blame that on a third party developer! Hopefully USB compatibility will increase as newer versions are released. In the meantime, I have no problem renaming a few files that are non-essential, for me anyway.
Last edited: Aug 31, 2006