Problems with XP in Parallels

R

RWhit

Bit poster
Left my two year old MacBook (2G/Leopard) on all day (unused) with XP running and when I went to shut it down, XP was locked up. Shut down Parallels and didn't think much about it. Next day, XP would boot up and allow a couple of clicks, then freeze. Mouse would move around on the screen but not open XP icons.

Switching from window to full screen in Parallels resulted in black screen in VM window and obvious problems. Now that I think about it, I've been getting messages recently about my screen resolution being off and needing to change. There is a red x in the XP system tray, I suspect, indicating resolution problems. Any time I boot up XP now I get a couple of effective clicks then a frozen screen. Then I have to force quit Parallels.

Here's what I've done so far to no avail. Removed/Reinstalled Parallels 6.0. Attempted a System Restore in XP but it freezes. Attempted a Safe Mode boot in XP but can't get there with (Fn) F8 at boot up (command ignored).

My next idea is to reinstall 6.0 again because that is the only time I was able to get to Windows Safe Mode. Then try a System Restore back to a good date. Also I saw where someone recommended going to OSX and changing the resolution.

Thanks. Any ideas would be appreciated.
 
Hi,

I was wondering if your problem was related to Win XP looking for a peripheral that isn't there at the moment, e.g., a CD drive. Depending upon you configuration, a peripheral may be dedicated to Win XP, and perhaps there is a program in your "PC" that is waiting for it. I know that my CD drive is always assigned to Parallels when Parallels is running, and I have to quit Parallels to be able to eject the disk. You might review your hardware assignments to see which are assigned to the Mac and which to Parallels.

Do you have sufficient space on your Mac hard drive? I have been having problems lately with running out of space. Parallels seems to be taking a lot of hard drive space - but I have been getting warning messages from Parallels when that happens. I found a lot of *.sos files, which seem to be some sort of Parallels backup files, and they can be quite large. Also there is a file called, "Windows XP.pvm", which I think is the virtual hard drive, even though it is called, "winxp.hdd" in the Parallels Configuration setup; it is 128GB! I have set up my virtual hard drive for 64GB, expanding; so I am not sure why this file is so big.

Bob
 
Success

Looks like it had something to do with the resolution on the Mac and maybe the most recent update of Parallels 6 too. Also read several posts about Windows standby not working well with Parallels. Once I adjusted the resolution, Windows XP stabilized enough for me to reboot in safe mode and restore back to a good date. Also reinstalled Parallels 6 a couple of times. Now works like a charm. But it took several hours of trial and error.

Thanks for responding..
 
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