Parallels Desktop for Mac build 3036 Beta is available for download.

[pcalver]

Don Montalvo wrote:
"aside from venting, what constructive feedback have you offered? why not check your baggage at the door and list the issues in detail. ..."

I'm happy to go back to waiting for this product to work. My personal story with this version was a duplicate of all the others with Boot Camp, FAT32 Windows partition, no joy starting up the VM, as I said in my initial post, if you actually read it. I just don't like to have companies waste my time with claims of functionality that are nowhere near ready even for initial testing, let alone beta testing (of which I've done plenty, thanks).

 

[bbanet]

I installed the beta and everything worked fine. Updated Parallel Tools and it worked great until I rebooted. An error blue screen occurs every time. Booted into safe mode and uninstalled Parallel Tools and it boots fine.

iMac 24"

I found the same issue, but it went away after installing parallel tools on the mac side. You have to install the bootcamp tools in the native bootcamp boot and then install the tools from the vm menu to install all of the mac drivers in the parallel hardware profile.

 

[bbanet]

I am a Boot Camp user of Windows XP Pro on a MacBook Pro who has been waiting to use Parallels until it could coexist successfully with Boot Camp. I use my Windows partition for critical, business-related applications not available on my preferred Mac OS X platform. Boot Camp is solid, professionally developed and tested software that I am confident with. I would love to use a virtualized Windows on my Mac, but am not eager to get into the process of reauthorizing Windows, re-installing my Windows software on another machine, etc. until Parallels is ready for prime time.

Having said that, I am VERY disappointed with the Parallels development team for releasing as a purported beta version a piece of software that was found in the first 24 hours by users to be unable to perform its primary supposed new functions. If the main, trumpeted benefit of the new version, resulting in a SlashDot article, was that it could use a Boot Camp installation as the basis for a VM, why doesn't that even begin to work? Didn't anybody on the development team bother to try this software on a machine with Boot Camp installed from a store-bought, individual Windows XP license? Did they assume all of their users would have a corporate copy of WIndows, or one particular NTFS file system, like their development machine? Pardon me if I thought that was what "alpha" level testing was all about.

I'm afraid that Parallels has torn its britches on this little episode. It will be a long time before any serious Intel Mac user thinks about using the Parallels software as anything other than a toy. You need to come clean about this debacle, show some transparency in your release process, and rebuild your reputation, guys.

Huh, seems to me you should not be upset with Parallels, but be upset with MS for having an activation feature that doesn't allow users to upgrade there systems without reactivating. I am fortunate to use a corporate version at my place of employment. Everything Paralles said would work, worked for me in my trials.

 

[bbanet]

Try clearing the temp files in c:\documents and settings\%user%\local settings\temp folder. You might have to allow viewing of hidden files first. Then run the setup again. It would not hurt to delete the files in c:\temp and C:\WINDOWS\TEMP, this may require a reboot before you can delete the files.

 

[bbanet]

I cannot seem to get the Coherence feature to work. I click on the Coherence button and nothing seems to happen. Also no response using the "view" --> "coherence" menu item either.

Any help - gotta be something basic.

Did you install parallel tools and then reboot before you try the coherence feature? If not try to reinstall p-tools. It did not work for me until rebooting and it was slow the first time i used it but once it was launched it got faster.

 

[nycruza]

I just don't like to have companies waste my time with claims of functionality that are nowhere near ready even for initial testing, let alone beta testing (of which I've done plenty, thanks).

Everything within reason works for me as claimed.

I do not like having ot reactivate everytime I switch, and had to do a simple work-around of the kbdmngr.exe file. But THAT is what Beta testing is about.

Done plenty of Beta testing? Obviously not enough!

If you had been around for FLEX, OS2, OS9, and a few other relics then maybe you would understand better. Today, major companies send out PUBLIC betas that are all but ready to go! They have already spend 1000 of hours in development Beta testing with a trusted core of individuals. Their Betas are nothing more then Trial versions sent as Public Betas to build hype.

What you are now experiencing is true Beta testing.

So suck it up and and go somewhere else to whine.

ajm

 

[don montalvo]

let alone beta testing (of which I've done plenty, thanks).

haha...nice parting joke.

don

 

[Bryanmc]

I can't get an ailas in my dock. I can drag one to my desktop, but I can't get it in my dock, which is of huge importance.

Anyone else able to create an ailas in the dock?

I must be able to launch from the dock.....I MUST!!!!!

(p.s. Coherence rules.)

 

[ebernet]

What rudeness...

I am a Boot Camp user of Windows XP Pro on a MacBook Pro who has been waiting to use Parallels until it could coexist successfully with Boot Camp. I use my Windows partition for critical, business-related applications not available on my preferred Mac OS X platform. Boot Camp is solid, professionally developed and tested software that I am confident with. I would love to use a virtualized Windows on my Mac, but am not eager to get into the process of reauthorizing Windows, re-installing my Windows software on another machine, etc. until Parallels is ready for prime time.

Having said that, I am VERY disappointed with the Parallels development team for releasing as a purported beta version a piece of software that was found in the first 24 hours by users to be unable to perform its primary supposed new functions. If the main, trumpeted benefit of the new version, resulting in a SlashDot article, was that it could use a Boot Camp installation as the basis for a VM, why doesn't that even begin to work? Didn't anybody on the development team bother to try this software on a machine with Boot Camp installed from a store-bought, individual Windows XP license? Did they assume all of their users would have a corporate copy of WIndows, or one particular NTFS file system, like their development machine? Pardon me if I thought that was what "alpha" level testing was all about.

I'm afraid that Parallels has torn its britches on this little episode. It will be a long time before any serious Intel Mac user thinks about using the Parallels software as anything other than a toy. You need to come clean about this debacle, show some transparency in your release process, and rebuild your reputation, guys.

You are an ass. Parallels has torn is britches? You are very disappointed? Boot camp is solid and professionally developed?

Look, it is all beta. The only thing that is PROFESSIONALLY developed here is the supported version of Parallels 1970. You have a problem with that, you have a right to be the ass you are. I have joined this forum to respond to losers like you. Parallels has bent over backwards to offer things in a VERY rapid manner. Things that are for the most part very far advanced. They have VERY clear disclaimers. They are NOT selling these versions, they are not requiring you to use them. You expect their beta software, working on someone else's beta partition, to work great? Go back into the hole you crawled out of....

 

[spblat]

Quit flaming

Enough with the arguments guys. Take it to /dev/null, no one cares.

FACT: Parallels is nifty.

FACT: Everyone wants it to be even niftier.

FACT: Beta software isn't bug free, or it would be called GA.

Everybody please mellow out so that when actual issues with this beta are addressed, we'll all be able to separate the signal from the noise.

Andrew/other Parallels folks: might be time to lock this thread and start up new ones dedicated to specific beta issues:

"Coherence doesn't work"

"I can't boot Boot Camp"

Etc..

Cheers and g'nite

 

[ebernet]

Hey "buddy",

You're the one with "some nerve". Shut up and start posting some meaningful responses. I have a life, so if you don't like my comments, that's your problem, not mine. Fact is this is a problem that others have been reporting without too many replies. The USB 2.0 was a wish list item, nothing more. So shut your face.

The major issue is with the freezing of the keyboard on a MacBook Pro when booting directly into Boot Camp and seeing the Parallels for Boot Camp Config Choice screen. The only workaround it to plug in an external keyboard to the USB port, then you can choose and boot directly into the partition. And this IS a real problem.

Ok "buddy" - I am using Parallels, with Bootcamp, on my MacBook Pro, and so far I have had no problems other than the activation issue, so I have nothing to add - but I will certainly not be rude to a company that has ben very patient with people who are testing BETA software on top of BETA software...
You want to file a bug report, fine, but to be so rude to engineers doing a mighty fine job is just uncalled for...
and yes, i AM an engineer and I do NOT work for Parallels.
Eytan

 

[sebid]

Boot camp partition not regognized, solution!

Hello,

some here, including myself, have the problem, that Parallels does not let you choose Boot Camp in the settings.

On my MacBook this happens, when my external FireWire hard disk is turned on.
I have one mac and one FAT32 partition on it. That obviously confuses Parallels.

If I turn it off, Parallels lets me choose the boot camp partition.

I hope, this get's fixed in the final release.


Greetings from Germany,
Sebastian

 

[ebernet]

Sorry....

Sorry I got so worked up over a couple of people posting...
So far, I am very pleased with the beta and surprised by the robustness o its functionality. I have noticed the following glitches:

1. Sometimes drag and drop thinks I am dragging to the Windows desktop and not the mac folder/desktop I was dragging over.

2. I agree there should be an option to disable the Command Key mapping, or allow better selection over what keys to map to ctrl key equivalents

3. What should we be setting the power option on the VM to be when we are running it on a MacBook Pro? When I sleep my MacBook, I want it to properly sleep/hibernate/pause the PC - should we just leave the PC side as is?

Thank you for all your hard work. This truly is am amazing piece of work.

 

[oszillo]

Hello,

some here, including myself, have the problem, that Parallels does not let you choose Boot Camp in the settings.

On my MacBook this happens, when my external FireWire hard disk is turned on.
I have one mac and one FAT32 partition on it. That obviously confuses Parallels.

If I turn it off, Parallels lets me choose the boot camp partition.

I hope, this get's fixed in the final release.


Greetings from Germany,
Sebastian

This worked for me too! Thanks for the tipp, Sebastian!

 

[lasse@christiansens.net]

Error when installing Ubuntu 6.10 on 3036

Hi,

When i install Ubuntu server on 6.10 (from an external ipod) then right after installation i got the error while booting:

"Unknown interrupt or fault at EIP ...."

Whyen trying to install 6.06 i get the same error right after booting from the .iso image !

Did not get that error in the last version.

 

[Yonael]

I try to unplug my firewire disk and so my washing machine and my coffee-maker
damn, this not work for me!

 

[bbanet]

These are some great features!

I am running into some issues, though.

I have a Mac Pro, 2Gb memory, Radeon X1900 card, and two LCD displays.

I have things set up so that Parallels starts on my left-hand screen, and my Mac menu bar is on the right-hand screen.

Whenever I start my old virtual machine (the one set up under my store-bought Parallels), the desktop on my right screen gets corrupted momentarily with scrambled video data from other parts of the desktop -- fragments of window contents and so on replacing the wallpaper briefly.

The Coherence button doesn't seem to do anything, at least not under my old virtual machine.

I've tried setting up a virtual machine to run off my Boot Camp partition, but it doesn't seem to be working. When I start it, give it my password, and it comes back with "Unable to open disk image Boot Camp".

Of course, I don't want it to open a disk image, but a separate partition; I don't know if that's just that the error message hasn't been updated for the new functionality or if it's actually trying to do the wrong thing.

(On a tangentially related note, has anyone else had problems installing ATI drivers on a Mac Pro in boot camp? It keeps telling me it needs the standard VGA driver, which I can't find anywhere!)

I found the same issue with the bootcamp driver disk. My solution was to download a tool from microsoft called windows installer cleanup. I went to the control panel and unistalled the drivers and it failed so I ran the utility and removed the bootcamp drivers entry. The driver installed successfully after that. I also removed the folders and any files starting with ati. You may need to go to the device manager and double click the display driver and then go to update driver, select install the driver manually, choose my device and make it a standard display adapter. It is a lot to do, but ATI adapter drivers can be a bear to remove and reinstall. Delete your temp files as well.

 

[bbanet]

I can't get an ailas in my dock. I can drag one to my desktop, but I can't get it in my dock, which is of huge importance.

Anyone else able to create an ailas in the dock?

I must be able to launch from the dock.....I MUST!!!!!

(p.s. Coherence rules.)

The bootcamp parallels icon is just that an alias, it can only be put in the dock next to the trash can just like you would put a shortcut to any folder. You can alternately put the new .app file in the doc. They changed the name of the file so you will need to get rid of the old one first.

 

[bbanet]

Windows XP Desktop not showing!

I saw some posts about the desktop files not being available, a couple of solutions to this are simple. First you can add a 2 new tool bars to your start bar/menu, right click any blank spot on the bar then tool bars and add Quick Launch and then repeat the steps and add Desktop. This gives you 2 option to get to those desktop files. First is click on the desktop arrows and up pops a menu with all of your shortcuts and files. Next cool thing that parallels has done is make the show desktop icon (the little plotter icon on the quick launch menu) put the desktop over all of your windows when you need it. Just click it again to put it back to not showing the desktop. It may take a few seconds to bring up the desktop menu. Nice job Parallels!!!!

 

[iobuffa]

BSOD on update.sys (me too)

I installed the new beta, booted my VM and the uninstalled the old Parallel tools.

Everything works fine until I install the new Parallel Tools.
Once I reboot to complete the install Windows crashes very early during startup.

I get the message that an attempt was made to write to a read-only memory.

Technical Information:

*** Stop: 0x000000BE (0xF721C000, 0x058CD860, 0xF76E9900, 0x0000000E)
*** update.sys - Address F721C000 base at F721A000, DateStamp 00000000

I can only boot in Safe Mode. Uninstalling Parallel Tools doesn't ork as I get the msg that I have to complete the install before uninstalling or upgrading.

I had to restore to a previous restore point to be able to boot in std mode again.

I tried to reinstall Parallel tools after the restore, but I get the same problem. I also tried to avoid installing all the custom features in Parallel tools, but that didn't solve the issue either.

Killko

I get this exact same error except it was working before. Here's what happened:

1. I installed the beta update, booted my image
2. Installed parallel tools, coherence, everything working
3. Windows automatically updated and rebooted
4. I get BSOD
5. I go to Last Known Configuration, try to reinstall Parallel Tools
6. Reboot to BSOD
7. Rinse and Repeat

I got a taste of Coherence and I want it back! If anyone has any ideas what's causing this, please give a shout.