Hi, my question seems to be identical to the initial user above, but your reasonable reply doesn't seem to work.
I've just upgraded to Parallels Desktop 3.0 build 4128. I setup my Win XP volume in my Admin account just to test it out. Everything works fine there. However, it is my intention to place a copy of this tested configuration/HD in the Shared folder for the individual user accounts on the laptop to use as needed. I don't want to MOVE the working volume into the shared folder, so I will have a way to replace the users Win XP volume when they damage it eventually (which I expect they will).
I created the following folder for the common Parallels Desktop environment:
/Users/Shared/Parallels/Windows XP/
and copied the following files from my Admin account into it:
Microsoft Windows XP.pvs
unattended.fdd
Windows Applications (Folder)
winxp.hdd
I changed all the permissions in this shared folder to:
Owner: system (Read & Write)
Group: wheel (Read & Write)
Others: Read & Write
I've tried various permissions and owners options, with no success. I opened the pvs file in Text Edit to check on any paths in there, and found only one for the fdd, so I changed it to this shared folder location.
When I attempt to open this new Shared folder Parallels environment by double clicking on the pvs file while logged into my Admin account, it opens up the duplicated winxp.hdd volume just fine, so I know the copied volume was not damaged when it was copied.
When I log out of the Admin account, log into the Guest account (with either admin or standard permissions enabled for this user), go to the /Users/Shared/Parallels/Microsoft Windows XP/Microsoft Windows XP.pvs file, and double click on it, Parallels starts up.
However, it immediately displays the following error message:
"Virtual machine cannot be started because of the following problem:
Parallels Desktop is unable to access the virtual hard disk image file
/Users/Shared/Parallels/Microsoft Windows XP/winxp.hdd. The file is missing, corrupted, or used by another application. OK"
If I click on the Hard Disk 1 configuration setting, it shows the correct path to the volume. If I Remove the Hard Disk 1 image file from the configuration, and select Add to add it back to the configuration, it applies the update correctly, so it's accepting the winxp.hdd as a real image file.
Trying to startup with the pvs file again, returns the same error. Logging out, back into the Admin account, and double clicking on the Shared pvs file, starts up Windows XP just fine.
I considered that something might be amiss with the Guest account, so I created a third Temp account, logged into it, double clicked on the Shared pvs file, and received the same error message as for the Guest account.
This is clearly a permissions error of some sort, but the permissions seem to be set correctly (i.e., ALL set to Read & Write).
I'm trying this on a MacBook Pro (first generation Core 2 Duo) with 2GB RAM, running MacOS X 10.4.9. Everything is up to date and clean on this laptop (i.e., Disk Utility, Disk Warrior find nothing wrong with it).
So, any other ideas? The only thing that should be different here between the accounts is that the installation occurred in the Admin account. Are there any other files in the Admin account's Library that I need to copy over to the Guest user's Library? I've even tried copying the Admin account's ~/Library/Preferences/com.parallels.Parallels.plist file over, with no benefit.
