Ok, this is an odd problem. I'm connected to the net via Airport at work. My Mac is connected to our network via VPN. With Parallels running, I can browse the web no problem. However, Microsoft's website (and affiliated sites like MSN.com) won't load. Normally, I wouldn't care about visiting their site, but I need to upgrade to IE7, and can't do that without hitting their site. The strange part is, I can load microsoft.com (and msn.com) on the Mac side with zero problems. I've flushed the DNS on the Windows VM, and I've renewed the DHCP lease in the System Preferences on both Parallels Host-Guest and Parallels NAT. Still nothing. Anybody have any ideas?
If you can get to the net, it shouldn't be a Parallels problem. Is your workplace blocking the Microsoft Upgrade site to prevent bandwidth problems?
No, I can get to the Microsoft site just fine on the Mac side. On the Parallels side, I can't get to any Microsoft page - home page, upgrade pages, msn, etc.
Then I would suspect something inside your Windows setup. I'm not very smart about Windows things like this.
I am having this very same problem! I can also access the ENTIRE internet except for any Microsoft sites (Microsoft, MSN, Hotmail). I do not care except that any updates cannot be accessed or any support sites cannot be reached on the Windows side. I have never been able to reach any Microsoft sites from the very first day of installation. I spent over an hour last night chatting with Microsoft tech support and they claim it must be a Parallels problem because it most certainly cannot be a Windows issue. (I am not so convinced.) When I try to retrieve updates I get an error 80072EFE which seems to relate to a firewall issue, but I do not have any firewall set up nor I do nor use a router. I can ping Microsoft.com, but IE7 as well as Firefox just won't load. All sites can be accessed on the MAC side, and I am using Shared Networking. Any ideas?
You should still check with your admin. I know many companies have content filter setup to block unknown MAC addresses from visiting certain web sites. Since Parallels generates its own MAC for the virtual NIC, it may get blocked.
Welcome to the forum. I wish I had something positive to tell you and perhaps one of the other users will, we have several who are very knowledgeable and such. The bad news is, you will get nothing from the Parallels folks themselves. Just letting you know this up front so that you do not come back in days and think you alone are being ignored. A quick search of the forum will uncover hundreds of post for which no reply of even the most basic standards of customer service apply. If you do get a reply it will be the canned "reinstall" or worse. I wish you the best in your quest and if you do discover a solution please, post it and help the other poor lost souls here.
Disambiguate the problem with a simple test. Use your telnet tool in Windows to diagnose the connection. Simple instructions can be found here: http://usertools.plus.net/tutorials/id/21 under the section about web servers. This will remove any questions about IE and Firefox as it is a raw connection to their server that you can see happen.
