I have a USB Flash Drive that mounts to the Mac side of my computer. How do I get it to mount on the Windows side? I'm new to this software, any help would be appreciated.
Here is how to do it: With your Windows VM running, you should see the Parallels drop down menu at the top of the screen. (If not, click on something in Parallels to give it the focus). Click on Devices/USB. You should see your flash drive in the list of devices. Click it to place a check mark next to it. You should hear a chime as it is disconnected from OSX and connects to your VM. Now, to see your Flash Drive in Windows, go to "My Computer". Your flash drive should be there. If the above did not work, try the following. Eject the flash drive from the Mac and remove it. Restart the Virtual Machine. While the VM is running, insert the flash drive into a USB port. Now look at Parallels/Devices/USB to see your device in the list and click on it to place a check mark next to it. I find all this works smoother if you have Autoconnect OFF for USB.
USB drives can be used by Parallels/Window or OS X but not both at the same time. To make it available to Windows you need to first eject it from OS X. Now that OS X has released it you need to tell Parallels to present it to Windows. Open the Device -> USB menu in the Parallels tool bar. You should see your USB device there. Click on it. Windows' device manager should now attach it and it should be seen in a Windows Explorer window. From scratch, install it, attach it to Windows, remove it: 1. Insert USB drive in USB port. 2. Eject it from OS X using Finder. 3. Open the Parallels Devices -> USB menu and select the device. 4. Explore it with Windows Explorer. 5. Release it from Windows as you would any USB device. 6. Remove the USB device from the USB port.
Great idea...but it doesn't work. I keep getting the error USB is being used by another device. I can't see it in OS X or Parallels. I am running OS X 10.4.10 & Parallels Build 3188 with WinXP sp2 from a boot camp partition. Any other suggestions other than upgrading? Why upgrade it isn't going to work either? Draklorien
You should upgrade to the latest 2.5 release. This is a known issue woth 10.4.10 that is resolved with the latest release.
