Windows 7 to XP networking

E

EBB

Bit poster
I had Windows XP Home edition SP3 installed in Parallels 4 on a MacBook Pro with OS X version 10.5.8 with shared networking. Worked fine with networking to the other machines on my home or office network, all running Windows XP Professional or Media Center editions SP3.

I installed Windows 7 Home edition on a new virtual machine, and it ran BUT would not recognize any of the XP machines on the home or office networks. I installed Link-Layer Topology Discovery Responder as a protocol on all the XP machines (via HotFix), but no change. I can ping the machines from Windows 7 with good response, but they don't show up on the network list and searching for them in network places doesn't find them.

I tried disabling Windows 7 Firewall, no change. I spent the $50 and upgraded to Parallels 5.0 but still can't see any of the XP computers in Windows 7, and now when I run Windows Explorer or Avanquest Power Desk Pro 7 in XP, right clicking on any file or double clicking on a data file (like a TXT file) often just freezes Explorer or Power Desk and I have to use task manager to shut it down.

Any suggestions? Is this a Windows problem or a Parallels issue?
 
I can't help with freeze (this deserves separate posting), but this is what I have about networking problem:

Are you sure that XP machines were really in Shared Networking? I believe In shared networking other machines cannot be visible. But it should be possible to open the remote shares directly by entering \\ip_of_machine in explorer (e.g. if other machine have IP 192.168.0.12, \\192.168.0.12) or \\machine_name

If you are unable to open other machines even using its IPs, it is likely Windows issue.. For XP the most common reason was stopped Network Browser service. But I'm unsure what it can be in Win7
 
Tried but even though Ping works, typing IP address in Network Search doesn't show computers. Thing is, I don't have this problem when running Windows XP in Parallels, so I'm sure it's something to do with Win 7.

Maybe this will be helpful: when I type ipconfig in a cmd window in XP, I get the usual DHCP address like 192.168.2.101with default gateway of 192.168.2.1, which is the router address. When I type it in Win 7, I get a much different set of addresses: IPv4 10.211.55.6 with the default gateway of 10.211.55.1, which is the address that comes up under the Parallels>Preferences>Network window under shared networking. Any thoughts? Why does Win XP get DHCP from the router and Win 7 from the Parallels Shared Network setting?
 
EBB said:
Maybe this will be helpful: when I type ipconfig in a cmd window in XP, I get the usual DHCP address like 192.168.2.101with default gateway of 192.168.2.1, which is the router address. When I type it in Win 7, I get a much different set of addresses: IPv4 10.211.55.6 with the default gateway of 10.211.55.1, which is the address that comes up under the Parallels>Preferences>Network window under shared networking. Any thoughts? Why does Win XP get DHCP from the router and Win 7 from the Parallels Shared Network setting?
Click to expand...
This confirms my assumption that XP is in Bridged Networking..
 
Forgive my ignorance but I'm not an IT professional. All the computers are connected directly to the router, so I never set anything up to be "bridged" or "shared" networks. I assumed that Parallels would take care of all networking issues between virtual machines and the network connections on the Mac, just like OS X seems to figure out how to connect itself to the network and recognize all computers when I plug it in and connect it at home or in the office.

I can't be the only one with this issue, or maybe I'm the only one enough to want to get Windows 7 running when XP does the job fine. How do I fix the problem?
 
EBB said:
All the computers are connected directly to the router, so I never set anything up to be "bridged" or "shared" networks.
Click to expand...
There are in reality much more complications... I believe our TechWriters have tried to describe them in documentation, but likely it is not possible at all..

EBB said:
I assumed that Parallels would take care of all networking issues between virtual machines and the network connections on the Mac, just like OS X seems to figure out how to connect itself to the network and recognize all computers when I plug it in and connect it at home or in the office.
Click to expand...
Actually, Shared networking is default. In most environments it is the only way of networking (but bridged is prefferable in the office-network).

But due to minor issue, if someone deletes the network adapter from VM and adds new network adapter, it becomes Bridged instead of Shared. So, likely due to this the XP vm has this type of networking.

EBB said:
I can't be the only one with this issue, or maybe I'm the only one enough to want to get Windows 7 running when XP does the job fine. How do I fix the problem?
Click to expand...
This issue is not a Windows or Parallels fault. It is just a place where several conditions have met.
 
And forgot to mention:
to switch from Shared to Bridged (or back), open the VM Configuration -> Hardware -> Network and choose proper networking type.

Or, if you are in Windowed-mode of Parallels, just click the network icon in Status-bar and select the mode
 
Both the Windows XP and Windows 7 virtual machines have "Shared networking" as the setting in Networks under Parallels preferences. The only other choice in both is "Host-only networking" - there is no "Bridged networking" choice. I never touched the networking settings since I installed Parallels 4 - I took all the default settings for the networks when setting it up and it worked fine for XP. I didn't change anything when I upgraded to Parallels 5.

The Windows 7 VM recognizes the Mac computer on the network but not the XP machines on the network (which the Mac recognizes) and not the Win XP VM if I run it at the same time.

Any suggestions? Anything I settings I need to change on the XP machines?
 
Please make sure that XP VM is in focus and send a problem report using menu of Parallels Desktop "Help" -> "Report a Problem" and post here its number
 
Took a while but I figured it out. The Preferences Network only had Shared and Host-only as options. I found the Network1 option under Virtual Machine Configure, and under Network Adapter 1, Type: on the dropdown list, I clicked "Default Adapter" under Bridged Networking. Now it works. [I posted this so if anyone else reads the thread, they will see how to do it]

I then went to the same menu on Windows XP, and sure enough, Default adapter under bridged networking was the option checked. But interestingly, when I changed it to Shared Networking, I was still able to see the networked computers that I had set as mapped drives in Explorer. BUT... clicking on the "Home" under Microsoft Windows Network in Explorer told me I didn't have permission to access the network when I used Shared Networking.

As has always been my experience with Windows networking, that was very painful. Thanks so much for the help.
 
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