Parallels Desktop and Windows Vista Service Pack 1

I took a longer approach to Vista SP1 installation and all going well so far:
1. Uninstalled Parallels Tools, rebooted and shutdown again.
2. Removed Parallels installed files from Boot Camp partition (see Parallels Help file for method).
3. Started Vista natively in Boot Camp.
4. Used Windows Automatic Update to detect SP1 and install it.
5. Restarted in OSX 10.5.2.
6. Started Vista VM and started Vista.
7. Vista installed Parallels Tools automatically.
8. Restarted Vista VM.

Was not asked to reactivate Vista at any time during the above process.

Note: Prior to doing steps 1 and 2 above, with Vista running natively under Boot Camp, Windows (Auto) Update could not find SP1. After doing steps 1 and 2 had no problem finding SP1 with Windows Update.

 

Hello. I had the same problem: after installing service pack 1 within bootcamp native partition, I couldn't boot from virtual machine, but a few days later (and maybe some mac os updates later) it magically get through but, every time I switch from starting within VM to bootcamp and viceversa the activation message pops up and I have to enter the key and restart. If I keep starting with same method (VM or bootcamp) the OS works OK, but when I switch to the other method, it's necessary to introduce the key and restart again...

I know the Parallels team is already working on this issue, but I only wanted to point this problem since it seems that nobody has said nothing about this ;D. Regards.

 

I didn't experience any activation issues with Vista (or Office 2007) after applying Vista SP1 in native mode or running in the Parallels VM. I do however have my network adapter in the Parallels VM manually set to the same MAC address of the Atheros AR5008X Wireless N adapter found in Windows. It can be found via Command Prompt, ipconfig /all. I had to manually set the MAC address to avoid activation issues with Office 2007 (may be the same issue for Windows itself) - it's worth a try.

Robert

 

But did you use "Shared networking" "Bridged Ethernet" or "Host-only networking"? I don't know if this matters but I tried to put the same MAC, both ethernet and wireless, that I found with ipconfig in bootcamp windows and it doesn't work . Maybe I'm missing something?

 

Sorry, I meant to put that info in my previous post - I had to change from "Bridged Ethernet" to "Shared Networking" in Parallels - make sure the Parallels DHCP option is turned ON (I had to turn that option off on mine when using "Bridged Mode"). Afterwards, my Vista Bootcamp installation running as a Parallels VM automatically received a DHCP IP address from the Parallels VM IP range and it runs great, no issues accessing network resources like shared drives and printers. I chose the wireless MAC address since I typically run mine on a Wireless N network.

Did that resolve the activation issues when switching between VM and native mode?

 

Same issue here...

I've been having the same problem fr the last few days. Leopard / MacBook Pro/ Vista SP1

Although the machine degraded to a point where it was asking me to repair the vista install in native mode after 4 times entering the activation key (twice in parallels 2 times in native). WHEn I tried to repair I just got a BSoD every time.

Waiting for a chkdsk run to finish and will hopefully be able to enter the activation key for the 5th time.

I'm using shared networking and always have been - is this correct?

PLease informa when there is a resolution for this issue!

 

quick tip

the temporary solution offered on page one (in green) works, but works better if you run a disk cleanup in vista rather than deleting the files (in program files etc) manually.

 

I just wanted to post here that I installed Vista SP1 for Vista Ultimate yesterday on my Parallels version and not in bootcamp and its working fine. I rebooted a few times just to be sure and so far so good... I did make a back up of the Parallels folder just in case...

 

Hello. About windows vista validation issue, I've tried both -shared networking with same MAC and "green" steps from 1st page- solutions without success, so it doesn't work for all cases. I think it's necessary to wait for Parallels to fix the problem definitely.

 

I have 2 machines on which I installed sp1 from parallels. Neither will now boot through bootcamp. I get error 0000098.

Can I assume that this will be correctable in a future version of Parallels, and leave it for now, or am I totally screwed?

Keith

 

Unknowing of the problems between Parallels and SP1 I installed the update to find that the bootcamp version would not start. In the middle of last week I sent an email to your support team asking for help and have had no reply. Based on the first post in this thread I tried to repair Vista in bootcamp to now find that Windows will not run in either bootcamp or Parallels.
This has gone beyond annoying to really detrimental to your credibility as an organisation. When I purchased Parallels you knew about this problem but the only notification I have seen to your customers is in these forums. As Vista is stealthy about upgrading to SP1 this quite frankly is not acceptable. For me to waste hours solving this (your) problem when SP1 was in beta for months is also not acceptable.
I am now faced with reinstalling windows on this machine and going through yet more hours of nonsense because your product has a major major problem. Apologies right now are not good enough and it would be nice to get some real support without having to pay for the privilege to fix the problem that you should have seen coming.
I believe it has been 6 to 8 weeks since you knew of this issue. Where is the fix from your developers please? Also what do suggest I do right now with a VM that will not boot in either bootcamp or Parallels. What do you suggest I do to get some acceptable support from your company?

 

2 failed attempts

I have attempted to install SP1 in boot camp, only to have it blown up and just keep restarting, BSOD, restart, BSOD and on and on....
So, I deleted the boot camp installation and partition, installed Vista again in Parallels (no boot camp this time), and tried again. Same problem, but after letting it go for a few days, Vista finally figured out that the installation of SP1 didn't go so well, so it reverted itself back. I shut off auto install of updates, and continue to wait for Parallels to play catch-up on something that should have been done long ago. Might be time to consider other options since Parallels always seems to be lagging way behind (Vista, OS 10.5, Vista SP1, etc.)

 

OMG, still broken???

I have to agree with the last 2 posters. This is the second time that I've tried to get Vista SP1 to play nice with Parallels. Parallels keeps breaking Vista activation. I've followed all the previously posted suggestions to no avail. With such a long lead time to "get it right" before SP1 was distributed, it's really awful that Parallels STILL hasn't responded with a fix. This happened before when Leopard had a dot upgrade and it took Parallels too long to fix it then too. If I'm expected to wait months for Parallels to get their act together every time Msoft or Apple does an upgrade, then their software is essentially useless to me. I guess it's time to go over to VMware. What a shame.

 

I'm in the same boat.
If I fix the Vista activation in parallels, it breaks bootcamp, if I fix bootcamp it breaks parallels.
I,m spending more time fixing, than doing anything else.
So parallels is not being used, as I need the graphics power in bootcamp more.
Before I updated to SP1, I had everything working fine.

 

Solution found

I've solved the problem with Parallels breaking activation on Windows Vista SP1. It's called VMware Fusion.

After repeated attempts to solve this vexing problem and following every fix posted in the forums, I decided to just chuck it all and move to Fusion. On my setup, it works without a hitch.

Since I need the rapid switching capability that virtualization affords, I cannot wait any longer for Parallels to fix this problem; especially after waiting so long for the last issue of not being able to drag-and-drop files or copy-paste between OSs. This happened with Parallels and XP when Leopard was rev'd.

Parallels simply does not move quickly enough in addressing these show-stopping issues. They need to improve their ability to identify problems and conflicts between their software and the host and guest OSs and get fixes out rapidly. After all, that's the whole reason to use virtualization software, OS compatibility.

Until Parallels improves this situation, this is one user who will be moving over to a competitors product out of need and sheer frustration.

 

Update

Well after following the advice of Xenos in this thread and trying to repair Vista, both ways of accessing Vista stopped working immediately. After a couple of days of trying to get either Parallels or Bootcamp to start up I finally got to a restore point where Parallels seemed to work. Unfortunately Vista would not let Activation occur at all. Only solution was to completely reinstall Windows Vista and start again. Am currently running only on Bootcamp and have uninstalled Parallels completely. I spoke to their Customer Service side and spoke to a very nice man called Craig but have had zero follow up since. It's like they are dysfunctional! Almost zero communication on this issue (apart from on this sticky) which has a potentially devastating effect on people's computers. It certainly crashed mine to a point where it was unrecoverable and took many many hours to recover. I laughed because I got an email from another tech support person saying that Vista SP1 was not supported but offering no other help...... BEWARE OF USING THIS PRODUCT OR THIS COMPANY, NEITHER SEEM TO WORK AS EXPECTED!

 

Since I'm tired of waiting for Parallels to provide us with an update to fix this problem, I just tried the fix suggested by karmicscorpio and it WORKED! That is, using shared networking and then entering the MAC address of the network adapter as given by ipconfig/ all from the Command Prompt in Boot Camp. Since I changed the MAC address in the Virtual Machine configuration, I've successfully booted back and forth between Boot Camp and Parallels without an problem. That being said, I'm a little nervous about the fact that I get an "Activation Successful" message each time I reboot via Boot Camp. I'm hoping that I don't get too many of these messages and thereby un-activate Vista in either Boot Camp or Parallels. If I do, I'll be sure to leave a message here. In the meantime, users may want to try this fix while awaiting the (currently vaporous) update.

And thanks karmicscorpio!

 

Don't do it.

It doesn't matter which way you install SP1, it's bad combination for Boot Camp/Parallels.

I installed SP1 while natively in the Boot Camp partition, along will all post boot clean up steps. Now, regardless of which way I boot into Vista (through Parallels or Boot Camp) it says it has an invalid license and has locked it down.

Pretty decent way to mess up a perfectly good Vista partition.

My advice is just don't do it. If I could, I'd remove Parallels completely from the Vista install, but since it's now locked I guess I get to stare at a unusable partition until I can load my mission critical data off of it.

Good work Parallels.

 

Have a look at http://forum.parallels.com/showthread.php?p=102688#post102688

Had same problem as you and got around it this way. You still have to reactivate each time you switch between VM and Boot Camp.

 

Well, it worked for me in the end. But booting into BootCamp is an interesting experience now. Luckily I have two activation keys . . so if it asks me to reactivate I use my secondary key when booting into BootCamp and my primary when in parallels....

What a pain in the rumpus.