Hi board members ! I'm currently trying Parallels Desktop 3, with a Windows XP virtual machine, and it is nearly perfect for my uses. But I still have two problems that I can't solve by myself : - Is it possible to create shortcuts to Windows documents in MacOS X ? I've found how to create shortcut to Windows applications (and even add them to the dock), but I'm still wondering how to do the same with documents. For example, I'm using a Microsoft Access database and need to open it several times every day. Is there a way to have it on my Dock or on my Desktop ? - I have an USB printer connected to my Mac. I need it on both MacOS X and virtual machine but every time I want to print from on machine, I need to capture (or "de-capture") it using Parallels Device menu. This is very painful because I print a lot of things from both OS. Is there a way to have the printer dynamically captured by the Parallels Virtual Machine and automatically returned to MacOS X when it is done with it ? Or is there another way to solve this problem (maybe by sharing the printer) ? Thanks by advance.
Yes to both. With Parallels running and Access running, you should see an Access icon in the dock on the right. Right click, and select "Keep in Dock." You you can "share" your printer by making the Mac a print server and having the VM print to it through the virtual ethernet cable that connects the two machines. For details see this Knowledgebase article on how to install Bonjour Printing
Great news about the printer. Thanks, I'll try this !!! About Access, unfortunately, keeping the Access icon on the dock only open Access and not the document. I did try this before asking. For now, I have make an alias of my document, from the "C" network disk, but it only works when Parallels is running. Not a big deal though.
Based on all the complaints from users who click on email attachments and other files that to their great dislike then launch Parallels and Windows, it must be possible. Right click or Ctrl-click on a particular file and examine the Info. One of the options there is "Open with...". Explore that.
Very SIMPLE procedure, as long as the file cannot be associated with a program that uses a Mac program. I use this for PageMaker 7.0. If it can be associated with a Mac program you will also need to change the association. After opening the Access document in Windows do a SAVE AS and save it to one of your shared folders or Mapped drives! Exit Windows and Parallels. Go to the OSX drive where you saved the document and make the typical ALIAS! You are now done! Now when you click or double click that alias, Parallels will start, Windows will open, and the document will be loaded! ajm
