Ubuntu 9.10 parallels tool

jrock2004

Member
So I decided to try Ubuntu 9.10 and again I am struggling getting parallels tools installed. Has anyone got this to work?
 
Nope. I spent about 2 hours last week trying to patch some of their code, but I couldn't get it to work. The problem is that the newer linux kernel no long supports "net_device" struct.

Here's my error log (anyone from Parallels care to comment?):
Thu Oct 29 15:02:59 EDT 2009
Start installation or upgrade of Guest Tools
Installed Guest Tools were not found
Perform installation into the /usr/lib/parallels-tools directory
Start installation of prl_eth kernel module
make -C /lib/modules/2.6.31-14-generic/build M=/usr/lib/parallels-tools/kmods/prl_eth/pvmnet
make[1]: Entering directory `/usr/src/linux-headers-2.6.31-14-generic'
LD /usr/lib/parallels-tools/kmods/prl_eth/pvmnet/built-in.o
CC [M] /usr/lib/parallels-tools/kmods/prl_eth/pvmnet/pvmnet.o
In file included from /usr/lib/parallels-tools/kmods/prl_eth/pvmnet/ApiNet.h:21,
from /usr/lib/parallels-tools/kmods/prl_eth/pvmnet/pvmeth.h:11,
from /usr/lib/parallels-tools/kmods/prl_eth/pvmnet/pvmnet.c:37:
/usr/lib/parallels-tools/kmods/prl_eth/pvmnet/ParallelsTypes.h:120:7: warning: "_MSC_VER" is not defined
/usr/lib/parallels-tools/kmods/prl_eth/pvmnet/pvmnet.c: In function ‘pvmnet_setup’:
/usr/lib/parallels-tools/kmods/prl_eth/pvmnet/pvmnet.c:382: error: ‘struct net_device’ has no member named ‘hard_start_xmit’
/usr/lib/parallels-tools/kmods/prl_eth/pvmnet/pvmnet.c:383: error: ‘struct net_device’ has no member named ‘get_stats’
/usr/lib/parallels-tools/kmods/prl_eth/pvmnet/pvmnet.c:385: error: ‘struct net_device’ has no member named ‘open’
/usr/lib/parallels-tools/kmods/prl_eth/pvmnet/pvmnet.c:386: error: ‘struct net_device’ has no member named ‘stop’
/usr/lib/parallels-tools/kmods/prl_eth/pvmnet/pvmnet.c:387: error: ‘struct net_device’ has no member named ‘init’
/usr/lib/parallels-tools/kmods/prl_eth/pvmnet/pvmnet.c:389: error: ‘struct net_device’ has no member named ‘set_multicast_lis
t’
make[2]: *** [/usr/lib/parallels-tools/kmods/prl_eth/pvmnet/pvmnet.o] Error 1
make[1]: *** [_module_/usr/lib/parallels-tools/kmods/prl_eth/pvmnet] Error 2
make[1]: Leaving directory `/usr/src/linux-headers-2.6.31-14-generic'
make: *** [all] Error 2
Error: could not build prl_eth kernel module
Error: failed to install kernel modules
 
I modified a little bit the sources and works as a temporary patch... But in the forum doesn't appear my solution... :(
 
Does this problem only concern transferring an existing Ubuntu 9.10 System, or do I have also probs while installing it from the scratch (CD)?

regards
 
It'd be really nice if someone from the Parallels team could chime in and at least say something so people don't flood their support - you know if they have some kind of ETA when this issue will be fixed.
 
Works with PD 5

I have installed Parallels Desktop 5 yesterday. The tools appear to be working in Ubuntu 9.10 (Fullscreen, mousesharing, filesharing and so on).
 
Seemst to work on Parallels 5.0

I've had similar problems recently with Ubuntu 9.10 and parallels tools. So when Parallels Desktop 5.0 came out I figured it would be worth trying.

It was.

My experience:

0. Upgrade to Parallels Desktop 5.0
0.1 Get networking to work. I'm still not sure why I have problems with this -- nobody else seems to.

1. I tried twice to install Parallels Tools without success. First of all, I saw no item on the disk with the name "install", so I was confused. I saw two items: installer.x86_32 and installer.x86_64. I tried the appropriate one and it ran, but it failed when it couldn't figure out where gcc was. It asked if it could download some stuff, I said okay, and it said I needed to install make, gcc and the kernel sources (all of which were already installed)
1.1 It turns out the image of the parallels tools CD was not the new one from Parallels 5.0

2. Uninstall Parallels Tools. The installer.x86_32 script gave me two options: Upgrade, and Remove. This time, I selected "Remove"
3. Unmount the parallels tools disk image
4. In the Parallels Virtual Machine menu, choose "Install Parallels Tools". This of course re-mounts the parallels tools image. But for me, this image was different than the one that was automatically mounted on my guest os. Of note, this image contains a script called "install" (just like the instructions explain)
5. Follow the instructions for installing parallels tools.

The installer does, indeed need to go download some stuff, so you do need networking to be functional.

Things seem to be working, but it is early :)
 
9.10 is giving problems even to non-VM users:
http://linux.slashdot.org/story/09/...pters-Stung-By-Ubuntus-Karmic-Koala?art_pos=5

"Ubuntu 9.10 is causing outrage and frustration, with early adopters wishing they'd stuck with previous versions of the Linux distro. Blank and flickering screens, failure to recognize hard drives, defaulting to the old 2.6.28 Linux kernel, and failure to get encryption running are taking their toll, as early adopters turn to the web for answers and log fresh bug reports in Ubuntu forums."
 
I've had similar problems recently with Ubuntu 9.10 and parallels tools. So when Parallels Desktop 5.0 came out I figured it would be worth trying.

It was.

My experience:

0. Upgrade to Parallels Desktop 5.0
0.1 Get networking to work. I'm still not sure why I have problems with this -- nobody else seems to.

1. I tried twice to install Parallels Tools without success. First of all, I saw no item on the disk with the name "install", so I was confused. I saw two items: installer.x86_32 and installer.x86_64. I tried the appropriate one and it ran, but it failed when it couldn't figure out where gcc was. It asked if it could download some stuff, I said okay, and it said I needed to install make, gcc and the kernel sources (all of which were already installed)
1.1 It turns out the image of the parallels tools CD was not the new one from Parallels 5.0

2. Uninstall Parallels Tools. The installer.x86_32 script gave me two options: Upgrade, and Remove. This time, I selected "Remove"
3. Unmount the parallels tools disk image
4. In the Parallels Virtual Machine menu, choose "Install Parallels Tools". This of course re-mounts the parallels tools image. But for me, this image was different than the one that was automatically mounted on my guest os. Of note, this image contains a script called "install" (just like the instructions explain)
5. Follow the instructions for installing parallels tools.

The installer does, indeed need to go download some stuff, so you do need networking to be functional.

Things seem to be working, but it is early :)

Thanks. Got to full screen by giving more than 3MB memory to video (selected 16MB, but maybe 8MB is enough).

VM Tools install fails. Will try your suggestion to remove and install again via menu item. We'll see.
 
Parallels 5 works beautifully with a fresh install of Ubuntu 9.10
The only glitch was when it rebooted after tools installation; I didn't know it was installing parallels tools or was going to reboot, so I thought it crashed, and only realized it worked because it came back up fine, and the menu item was "REinstall Parallels tools"
So please put up a note about this.
Otherwise, I seem to FINALLY have a Linux installation running under Parallels.
 
Strangely enough, even removing P Tools and reinstalling fails. I went to a backup where U 9.10 was loaded without trying to install P Tools, and it seems to already be there/installed. Hmmm...
 
Yes, same problem here.

First installing U 9.10 then the tools are autimaticaly installed. Without doing anything.

But when trying to install manually, the install fails and rebooting U 9.10 is impossible.
 
I've found that the best way to avoid the upgrade charge or the cost of the full product is to install the older (9.04) version of Ubuntu.
 
So is the bottom line that there is no way to get Parallels Tools to work under Ubuntu 9.10 without buying an upgrade to 5.0?? Feh. Sure would be nice to have some smart Johnny come up with a hack for the 4.0 version. My upgrade from 3.0 to 4.0 was nightmarish.
 
I followed the instructions in the book and online to install Parallels Tools. I just got version 5 and the new Ubuntu 9.10 and I can not install the tools.

In terminal the su command gives me an Authentication error even though I am the only admin user and have full maximum rights.

Any help to get this resolved would be great.
 
Came up with an interesting workaround that allows many of the features of Parallels tools without having to upgrade to version 5.0: FreeNX.

FreeNX is an X-Window server that you can install on your Parallels Ubuntu VM. Once you have it installed and running, you can install the free NX Client software on your Mac and use it to connect to the FreeNX server. It launches a virtual machine that can be expanded to full screen, use mouse and keyboard without 'trapping' them in the session and use the clipboard data between the Mac and the Ubuntu VM. In other words, for all intents and purposes, it is Parallels Tools. It's also pretty economical of memory -- my Activity Monitor shows that X11 is using about 36MB of real memory and NX Client is using about 26MB. I can perceive no performance degradation in the brief use I've given it so far.

To get FreeNX installed and running, start here:

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/FreeNX

. . . and NX Client is available here:

http://www.nomachine.com/download.php

The trickiest part of the process is getting the SSH server running correctly but once you have that, connecting with NX Client is a piece of cake. To simplify matters, I suggest setting the Parallels Ubuntu VM to use "Bridged Networking" to the Default Adapter so that it will obtain its IP address from your DHCP server (i.e., your router). To test whether the SSH server is running and accepting your login, figure out what the Ubuntu session's IP address is (open a terminal window and type "ifconfig" and see what's listed after "inet addr" under eth0). You can then open a terminal window on the Mac side and enter (for example):

ssh yourlogin@192.168.1.102

It'll prompt for a password and, if everything is set up correctly, you'll be in a shell on the Ubuntu VM. The same information should give you an X-Window session on NX Client. Good luck!

-- Mark
 
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