Parallels cant pass on USB devices in a Vista Host?

A

asifanwar

Bit poster
Hello all,

I have the following system:
Intel Core2Duo E6700, 2Gb RAM, two 30" Dell LCDs, Asus P5WDH mobo.
My host OS is Vista Enterprise RTM.
My guest OS is WinXP Pro SP2

I am trying to take a USB microphone from the host and pull it into the guest. I can do this fine in VMware with XP as the host and guest, but VMware is incapable of doing it in Vista and has no Vista support until Vmware6. So I thought I would give Parallels a try.

Parallels 2.2 build 2112 claims to be fully Vista compatible as guest and host, but when I install it I get driver warnings. If I allow these to pass, Parallels will install fine and can run XP perfectly. But when I pull the USB mic (or ANY USB device), it will 'unplug' it from Vista but not pass it to the guest. (the driver warnings dont bother me, I just want USB to work)

Any ideas how I can get Parallels to successfully pass along a USB device from a Vista host to an XP guest? As a long standing VMware user, I am ready to switch over to Parallels so I can use Vista as my host, as I use virtualization every day.

Any help? Thanks and kind regards.

"Help me Obi-Wan Kenobi, you're my only hope!"
 
I have Suse 10.1 and never get USB on any guest, Win 95, XP, OS2. It has never worked and I have never received any response to my support entries. I had 500+ stations considering Parallels and have even tried to call the sales number. No one calls back. This is not software for business only home hobby users. Unfortunately, Parallels was the only VM vendor to officially support OS2 so we are out of luck.
 
Thanks for the reply. I was beginning to wonder if I was the only person to have ever used USB in Parallels!
I cant wait for VMware6 to come out but was hoping for Parallels as an interim solution as they claimed it was fully Vista host/guest compatible. Seems not. Bummer.
Kind regards.
 
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Vista support, means support for the vista program. As in software support. They have never said anything about full hardware support. I guess you misread that. However, I can't imagine how you misread the vast amount of posts in these forums about usb to know that others have had problems too.
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Thanks for the reply. I understood 'vista support' to mean that all aspects of the published specs function in a Vista host. They do claim that USB devices are supported, and therefore I would expect at least ONE USB device to be able to appear in the guest.
My issue is not device specific - I cannot get ANY USB device of any kind to appear ever in the guest. It simply gets unplugged from the host and then disappears. It is not specific to my microphone, but happens with my webcam, my usb card reader, my usb printers (epson and samsung) and so I concluded that Parallels is not capable of passing along ANY USB device when running in a Vista host.
As they claim to be Vista compliant, I do consider that to be an incorrect assertion on their part. As you say, many others are also having USB issues with this software which would support my stance that it is a fundamental problem with Parallels and not my hardware.
I have pretty much given up on Parallels as a viable virtualization option, and will await VMware6.
I appreciate your help.
Kind regards.
 
I found that if I pick the device from the USB menu, it gets unplugged from the Vista OS. If I then unplug and replug the device, it shows up in the VM without any issues. I have tried this with a couple of different device.
 
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