Parallels Desktop for Mac build 3094 Beta 2 is available for download.

OK - I have a MacPro and just purchased Parallels to make use of my Bootcamp installation while in OS X.

I installed the 3094 per the instructions, but Parallels VM does nothing on attempt to boot the VM. The CPU is pegged for quite a while but nothing is happening in the bios window.

I have 2 hard disks, the second hard disk has XP on it (essentially a standard windows install with Bootcamp drivers). My other disk is OS X 10.4.8 with a small partition in FAT32 for transfering files back and forth. In disk utility, the windows XP disk (NTFS) shows up first.

I have Windows XP Pro 32 bit retail.

When I try to run the VM, the small FAT32 partition is unmounted. Nothing else happens. SInce then, I have rebooted into XP using bootcamp and it is OK. There is no Parallels option. I went back into OS X and now it unmounts the FAT32 partition and does not return it when I close Parallels. I can remount it when I use disk utility.

It seems like Parallels is trying to find XP on the small partition I made (using Bootcamp) instead of the second disk I made installing XP like on a PC.

My mount info:

/dev/disk0s2 on / (local, journaled)
devfs on /dev (local)
fdesc on /dev (union)
<volfs> on /.vol
/dev/disk1s1 on /Volumes/WinXP_Pro (local, read-only)
automount -nsl [174] on /Network (automounted)
automount -fstab [181] on /automount/Servers (automounted)
automount -static [181] on /automount/static (automounted)
/dev/disk0s3 on /Volumes/TRANSFER (local)

Hope I can get a procedure for when I return from the break.

Thanks for any help.

 

Not such a great upgrade for me

I replaced the previous beta with this one. I can confirm two issues that others have reported:

Hotsync with Palm Treo 650 is not working. Windows detects the USB device (I hear the new-device sound effect) but the Hotsync Manager doesn't fire up. This didn't work under the previous beta either, but does work on the release build.

Coherence mode on dual monitors is broken. When I switch from OS Window to Coherence mode, the window slides from my second monitor over to the main one then turns completely black.

This is on a 17" C2D MBP hooked up to a 30" LCD.

 

3 internal Hard Drives + 1 Firewire (that is usually not on)

It is on disk0s2 (The second physical drive)

Windows XP SP2 (32-bit)

/dev/disk1s2 on / (local, journaled)
devfs on /dev (local)
fdesc on /dev (union)
<volfs> on /.vol
/dev/disk2s2 on /Volumes/Z (local, journaled)
automount -nsl [238] on /Network (automounted)
automount -fstab [245] on /automount/Servers (automounted)
automount -static [245] on /automount/static (automounted)
/dev/disk0s2 on /Volumes/Untitled (local, read-only)

 

Coherence isn't working for me now either. Core Duo Macbook, 2GB RAM, running off of an NTFS Boot Camp partition. Am not able to enable the option in Parallels Tools Center, and when clicking on the options in the menu/sidebar, Parallels does nothing.

Not that I'm ungrateful or anything - but these extra tweaks such as Favorites, combined with Coherence, means I can finally ignore the Windows desktop and Start bar for good!

 

Greyed-out Boot Camp

Here's my hard disk configuration:

mount
/dev/disk0s2 on / (local, journaled)
devfs on /dev (local)
fdesc on /dev (union)
<volfs> on /.vol
/dev/disk1s1 on /Volumes/Windows (local, read-only)
/dev/disk1s2 on /Volumes/FAT32 (local)
automount -nsl [205] on /Network (automounted)
automount -fstab [214] on /automount/Servers (automounted)
automount -static [214] on /automount/static (automounted)
/dev/disk2s6 on /Volumes/LaCie Disk (local, nodev, nosuid)

I was wondering if my FAT32 partition on my second hard drive might be the clue. Then again, perhaps you should consider the incidence of the partitioning scheme itself. For instance, the partitioning scheme for Intel Macs is GPT (GUID Partition Table); however, my second hard disk, the one with Windows on a first NTFS partition, has a MBR (Master Boot Record), as it came from a normal Windows PC!

Once Parallels can run my Boot Camp copy of Windows, I'll be ready to delete my Vista Virtual Machine. I'm very impressed with this beta of Boot Camp. As far as I can perceive, it only has one shortcoming: it should allow for dragging and dropping files and/or folders to be copied or moved from any Finder window and any Windows Explorer window, not just to the Windows desktop. It seems to be working all right in the opposite direction.

Besides, everything seems to be working with Vista now!

Other than that, there's only one big thing to accomplish: 3D acceleration. When will that arrive?

You've produced an impressive peace of software, Parallels team. Congratulations!

 

No problems here with the upgrade. I notice a significant performance boost especially with coherency mode on this update from the previous version. I'm still a bit skeptical on throwing my bootcamp partition at Parallels at this time. Have they *definitely* fixed the activation issue as claimed?

 

No problems yet

Can't get over how many things were fixed in this beta:

1) FAT32 access to Boot Camp Partition works.
2) No reactivation, except for first launch into Boot Camp via Parallels.
3) Seems to work faster.
4) Obvious increase in speed with USB.
5) No video problems with Coherence on 24" iMac.

EVERYTHING looks and works better. This is a monumental improvement over Beta 1, and even with the issues that dogged Beta 1 THAT release was pretty darned good.

Guys, keep up the outstanding work!!!!

 

I too have the "Error loading operating system" problem.

4 hard drives
Boot Camp on its own disk (third slot of my Mac Pro)
I have Windows XP Home 32-bit installed
mount output:
/dev/disk3s2 on / (local, journaled)
devfs on /dev (local)
fdesc on /dev (union)
<volfs> on /.vol
/dev/disk0s2 on /Volumes/Stuff (local, journaled)
/dev/disk1s2 on /Users (local, journaled)
/dev/disk4s2 on /Volumes/Emergency (local, nodev, nosuid, journaled)
/dev/disk4s3 on /Volumes/BootBackup (local, nodev, nosuid, journaled)
/dev/disk4s4 on /Volumes/Junk (local, nodev, nosuid, journaled)
automount -nsl [187] on /Network (automounted)
automount -fstab [193] on /automount/Servers (automounted)
automount -static [193] on /automount/static (automounted)
/dev/disk6s2 on /Volumes/iDisk (local, nodev, nosuid, journaled, mounted by derik)
http://idisk.mac.com/ddelong/ on /Volumes/ddelong (nodev, noexec, nosuid, mounted by derik)
/dev/disk5s2 on /Volumes/Parallels Desktop (local, nodev, nosuid, read-only, journaled, mounted by derik)
/dev/disk2s2 on /Volumes/Windows (local, read-only)

(The command was run after Parallels was quit.)

 

Vista RTM Hangs on startup

I just installed the new beta. Vista RTM seems to hang on the startup screen (Black background with green status bar).

Vista will boot properly in safe mode, I'm not sure what's causing it to freeze up in normal mode. (Is there a verbose mode?)

I had this problem in beta 1 with Vista RC2 - it started working after a while.

 

USB 2.0 Works great

I just installed build 3094. Works flawlessly. The big problem I had with Beta 1 was that XP did not recognize my USB memory stick. This version recognizes it immediately.

The graphics seem noticeably faster on my Imac 20 core 2 duo.

Great job, team.

Larry

 

upon booting a parallels VM using bootcamp (fat32), it sits on the login screen and I can't use the mouse or keyboard. It's completley unresponsive. Neither Parallels tools for bootcamp, nor parallels tools were installed into my bootcamp before.

Anybody else experiencing this?

Otherwise, things are looking mighty fine. EXEs in the dock is cool, but I might want this disabled now and again, is there an option somewhere for this? all the closing/opening of windows apps is nauseating with the dock sliding about

 

Can't boot Boot Camp directly

I get two choices in Boot Camp - Profile 1 and Parallels.

In Parallels, I can use the down arrow to select Paralles profile and boot.

In Boot Camp, keyboard is unresponsive and can't press enter to select Profile 1.

Any ideas how I can boot into Boot Camp directly in order to remove the Parallels tools?

 

Same problem here. Any solutions?

 

Hey Don,

Sorry to hear that but glad I'm not the only one. I'm trying to find out if there's a verbose startup mode right now (besides safe mode). As of right now, it's a bit tricky to find Vista troubleshooting documentation. The last think to load is crcdisk.sys. It seems like safe mode&networking doesn't work. I'll come back if I find anything else out.

Well, after trying a normal boot, and then going into safe mode, I see this as one of the entries in the event log: "AMLI: ACPI BIOS is attempting to write to an illegal IO port address (0x70), which lies in the 0x70 - 0x71 protected address range. This could lead to system instability. Please contact your system vendor for technical assistance."

As to whether that error is the cause of the failed boot or not, I do not know.

 

- How many HDDs does your Mac have?

Mac Pro with 4 disks, each has 1 partition

- Where is your Boot Camp partition located?

On one of the four disk (labeled Windows). Uses the entire partition.

- What is the OS installed on Boot Camp exact name and version? Is it 64-bit one or 32-bit one?

32-bit Windows XP Professional SP 2

- open Terminal, issue the "mount" command and post its output here please

/dev/disk1s2 on / (local, journaled)
devfs on /dev (local)
fdesc on /dev (union)
<volfs> on /.vol
/dev/disk0s2 on /Volumes/Data (local, journaled)
/dev/disk3s2 on /Volumes/Windows (local, read-only)
/dev/disk2s2 on /Volumes/Share (local)
/dev/disk4s2 on /Volumes/Backup (local, nodev, nosuid, journaled)

Notes:
1) Backup is a LaCie firewire/usb drive.
2) On occassion, the /dev/disk#s# changes if the drives are moved around in the bays. Mac OS X and Boot Camp do not seem affected by changing the disk order even if the disk/slice #'s change.

 

Coherence - specific application not showing up on the dock

Hello,

I installed the new build and everything is working fine - my applications are showing on the OS X dock, except one. The application is Dynacom Accounting - http://www.download.com/Dynacom-Accounting-Startup-Edition/3000-2066_4-10600326.html)

I assume that this is just a slight bug or a design problem with the application, but since it works perfectly with all my other Windows apps I guess that this can be fixed!

Thank you, and Parallels is incredible!

 

activation question

I have just recently purchased parallels and installed the new beta to try out the boot camp abilities. Parallels works great as far as i can tell. (aside from locking up my machine twice, due to windows trying to scan the HD at startup) I am really impressed with the functionality so far, but Windows will not allow me to reactivate.

for those of us who already had a windows installation in boot camp that was activated, is there any way to "deactivate" that installation and reactivate it within Parallels? And, if that is possible, will that make my boot camp installation no longer usable as a "dual boot" OS?

I am somewhat of a newcomer to the virtualization arena, so i apologize if this is a dumb question.
any info would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

 

Windows Activation Problem

Like an earlier poster, I'm also having WIndows Activation issues. I'm running Parallels off an already-created and already-activated XP Pro SP2 Boot Camp partition (NTFS 80 GBytes....total HDD size is 160 GBytes). I get prompted to activate when I launch Windows in Parallels from the Boot Camp partition....and my already-activated Windows 25-digit product key is not accepted "According to our records, the number of times you can activate Windows with this product key has been exceeded.....". Help, please! And no, 'buy another product key' isn't an acceptable answer ;-)

 

I second that motion! Actually, it would be great if coherence could pay attention to any custom window mask used by applications like Windows Media Player. Its only slightly annoying to see the background on the corners rounded windows, but it's really bad when you try to use Windows Media player and the whole window area that is supposed to be masked off shows up as the background. There are other applications that do this too but WMP is the most obvious example.

 

How do you define new application shortcuts?

Hello,

The new beta is working great for me on my MPB - but I can't for the life of me figure out how to define the application shortucts that should show up under the new 'Applications' menu. Any suggestions?

And please - please consider allowing CMD-tab to fall through to the MacOS (maybe as an option) the way that CMD-, does so I can switch away from my coherence apps as easily as I do regular Mac apps.

Thanks,

--Alexis