Windows crashing after Parallels update

S

stevendewitt

Bit poster
Hello,

After updating my Parallels version a couple of days ago, I am having problems getting Windows to stay running. Parallels seems to start OK, but when I launch Windows XP, it shuts down almost immediately afterward with a blue screen of death. My virtual hard drive was almost full, so I have increased it from 8 GB to 15 GB, and Parallels acknowledges this, but I still have the problem. Now I see in Parallels under Video setup that it says "0 items (0 enabled)", so I am thinking there is a problem with the video. But what can I do to fix that if I can't even start Windows?

Many thanks,

Steven
 
Hi Eru,

I've tried several times, but nothing ever seems to happen. This afternoon I logged in to Windows and a dialog box appeared saying I need to update my Parallels Tools. So I clicked Actions | Update Parallels Tools. But how long is it supposed to take? Nothing stopped responding at all, and I can move my mouse around and highlight Windows icons (I don't dare try to run anything), but even 2 hours later, If I clicked on Actions again, it was as if the machine still thought it was installing Parallels Tools, because the menu still displayed "Cancel Parallels Tools installation." After hours I finally did click to cancel installation, and restarted my machine. It restarted successfully and I was able to launch Windows again, but when Windows finishes launching it still displays that I need to update Parallels Tools. Has anyone had this problem? Many thanks.
 
Simlar problem

I had a similar problem - still do.

Parallels was running fine, however after updating tools it now looks like it is going through start-up, but hangs with a black screen. Have tried to change settings to see if that helps, but to no avail.

I was reluctant to reload parallels as I do not want to have to reload all the other programs that I had just finished loading.

Not sure what to do from here - just gave up for a few days and went back to using two computers.
 
Try these please:

1) Start Windows in Safe Mode (Press F8 key during boot-up process and choose Safe Mode from the list).
2) Uninstall Parallels Tools (go to Start menu - control panel - add/remove programs - select Parallels tools - remove . Follow wizard instructions.).
3) Reboot you Windows as you normally do.
4) While Windows is running, install Parallels Tools again (on your Mac desktop go to the Actions menu on the top and choose "Install Parallels Tools..." The installation Wizard will pop-up in Windows and lead you through the process).
5) Reboot Windows again.

Best regards,
Mike
 
F8

Thanks for the advice,
When Parallels starts, I get the configuration window to begin with,
When I click the green start button, it starts to boot, the windows emblem comes up and it pretends to be starting, then it goes black and nothing happens. I can see the hard drive icon at the bottom of the Parallels window flicking green as though it was reading, but nothing happens.

When I push the F8 button on start up, it just performs as though it was an Apple key and dims the brightness on the keyboard.

Just trying to find a solution that doesn't require re-loading all the other software that I've loaded on top of parallels and winxp.

Thanks for you help - greatly appreciated.
 
Fatal Mistake

Decided to load the xp disc into the cd and changed the boot sequence to CD>Hard drive > Floppy, to see if I could get the repair icon up - thinking that it might be a windows bug.........

Unfortanetly it commenced formatting the hard drive, so it looks like windows is reinstalling...... I guess because of my own stupidity I'll have to reload all the programs again after all.........

Thanks for the advice anyway.... will see what happens this time round.
 
stevendewitt said:
Hi Eru,

I've tried several times, but nothing ever seems to happen. This afternoon I logged in to Windows and a dialog box appeared saying I need to update my Parallels Tools. So I clicked Actions | Update Parallels Tools. But how long is it supposed to take? Nothing stopped responding at all, and I can move my mouse around and highlight Windows icons (I don't dare try to run anything), but even 2 hours later, If I clicked on Actions again, it was as if the machine still thought it was installing Parallels Tools, because the menu still displayed "Cancel Parallels Tools installation." After hours I finally did click to cancel installation, and restarted my machine. It restarted successfully and I was able to launch Windows again, but when Windows finishes launching it still displays that I need to update Parallels Tools. Has anyone had this problem? Many thanks.
Click to expand...

We've seen this a few times before. The Parallels Tools package loads as if it were mounted in the CD/DVD virtual drive. If you can reproduce the situation quoted above, try opening up my computer, then browse/open the CD/DVD ROM drive and look for the setup.exe file, then run it.
 
Hello,

I have been digging in the forums and see that some other people have had similar problems and have solved it by mounting the vmtools.iso image and then launching prltools.exe manually. I am able to mount the vmtools.iso image in Parallels Desktop, and I have verified in the Desktop menu that it is connected, but Parallels Tools still does not auto-run, and I can't navigate to the EXE file myself because I have no CD-ROM icon in My Computer in Windows. When I check System Information in Windows, it acknowledges that the virtual CD-ROM drive is there but it just has a question mark on it. I made sure that I did not also have the same disk image mounted in OS X. How do I make Windows allow me to acces the contents of the disk image? Many thanks.
 
Access to CD-ROM drive in Windows

Hello,

I have still been unable to install Parallels Tools because when I click to install it, nothing happens (although the Parallels Desktop menu does change its display to "Cancel Parallels Tools Installation"). I cannot install it from a disk image or from a physical CD because Windows no longer recognizes that I have a CD-ROM drive nor will it recognize an ISO image (although it will let me select the .ISO file as the hard drive and displays that the .ISO file has been selected). I uninstalled build 3188 and re-installed build 1970 (the only other build I have used to date) successfully, and I have stopped getting the blue screen, but Parallels is totally useless unless I can install Tools so I can have shared folders again. Has anyone else had problems getting Parallels to give access to any kind of CD-ROM drive? Thanks.

Steven
 
Access to CD-ROM drive in Windows - DESPERATE

Good morning,

Summary: Build 1970 was working great for me, then I upgraded to 3188, then I started getting the blue screen of death regularly and lost access in Windows to physical CD-ROM drive or drive image. I uninstalled 3188 and Parallels Tools and re-installed 1970; no more blue screens, but clicking to install Parallels Tools in the Desktop menu does nothing, and although Parallels will allow me to select my physical drive or an ISO image as a CD-ROM drive, it will not allow me to access them. I am desperate -- without Parallels Tools, I can't even access my business file for my accounting software in Windows, and income tax returns are due on April 30 here in Canada. I am so, so, so disappointed that I sold my Windows computer and bought Parallels (additional frustration: although I purchased Parallels and have the charge on my credit card account, I never received a confirmation e-mail and activation key, and my inquiry to Support has been ignored). Very, very frustrating! Has anyone had the same problem accessing CD-ROM drive? The same problem happens in 3188, so upgrading is not useful. Help!
 
OK now

Hi,
I figured it out: I realized that I still had an Internet connection in Windows, so I FTP'd the Parallel Tools EXE file to myself. Now that I have re-installed Parallel Tools successfully, all seems stable for the time being. After this, I do not plan on updating my version anytime soon. :) Thanks to Eru for your advice.
Steven
 
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