Workaround for using Verizon V640 ExpressCard in Parallels...

J

JoeVerde

Bit poster
**NOTE: This will DISABLE the card (and possibly any other ExpressCards) from working on the Mac side, and will ONLY work on the Windows side.**

If you have a Verizon V640 ExpressCard and Parallels, I'm sure you've discovered that it is impossible to get Parallels to use the card, because the MacOS grabs it first, and you get that incredibly annoying "in use" error that Parallel throws at you.

To work around this, navigate to System/Library/Extensions/ and copy IOSerialFamily.kext to your desktop, then delete it from the Extensions folder. Then reboot.

Before inserting the ExpressCard, launch Parallels (and ensure that Autoconnect USB is ON). Then run Verizon's VZAccess Manager, go through all the steps of the wizard, and insert the card when prompted. Voila! You're connected.

And with Bridged Networking, you can still plug in your Ethernet or Airport as normal and both the Mac and Parallels will pick it up; it will supercede the ExpressCard internet connection.

**ANOTHER NOTE: With any system update that Mac releases, this .kext file will undoubtedly be replaced and you will have to manually remove it each time the system is updated.

FEATURE REQUEST TO THE PARALLELS TEAM: Please do not limit the Bridged Ethernet feature to Ethernet and Airport. We need support for bluetooth modems, PCMCIA cards, ExpressCards, etc.! Internet Sharing is not sufficient.
 
Re: V640

Out of sheer curiosity when is internet sharing not enough? I'm assuming when you say "internet sharing" you are talking about going into the OS X prefs and sharing the EVDO connection to en2 (the Parallels host only adapter).
 
Like you said, in order to use Internet Sharing, you have to tell the Mac side to share the EVDO connection to en2. And that requires you to change Parallels' Network Adapter to Host-Only Networking.

Doing that is fine as long as you only ever use that one connection method for connecting to the internet! But as soon as you want to access the internet via, say, Ethernet or Airport through Parallels, you're SOL.

You then either have to stop the guest OS and change Network Adapters, or go into Mac's Internet Sharing, stop the service, and then change which internet connection is being shared. Either way, it's messy. Ideally it should happen dynamically, just like switching between Ethernet and Airport under Bridged Ethernet.

Just my two cents, of course.
 
I find the info you have provided very useful as I am currently using the Verizon PCMCIA card with my Powerbook and was wondering when VZ was going to come out with this newer card.

I do have a question for you though. If this v640 card works in Mac OSX then what would you need it to work in Windows for, or any other OS that Parallels is compatible with.

This question is not intended to bash or flame your info, but I am tech oriented and am wanting to know what if any advantage there might be to having this card work in the Parallels VM software. Thanks for any light you can shed on the subject.

Went back and reread your original post. I see where Parallels disables the card in OSX. :D
 
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joe:can i still use rhe v40 express card in apple just buy dragging the .kext file to the original location.thanks
 
I tried the above technique and was unable to get the card to be recognized in Parallels (in the windows side). It never registered that the card was powered on.

I replaced the IOSerialFamily.kext file, rebooted, and tried to install on the Mac side and it told me the extension wasn't properly installed, so it didn't work either.

I could probably spend the rest of my afternoon/evening picking this apart and debugging it, but I simply don't have the time. I got the card specifically to use in a hotel meeting suite during CTIA this week, where I'm supposed to be demonstrating both Mac and PC software. The MacBook Pro and Parallels is the most elegant solution for demonstrating the software, I was hoping this card would provide the same elegant solution for reliable connectivity.

I agree with JoeVerde - if Parallels supported Bridged Ethernet for ExpressCards, this would be a plug and play thing.

Until then, it looks like I'm going to have to reinstall OSX to get the card to work on the Mac side (or wait for a system update), or wait for it to be compatible on the windows side. As it stands, the card is an expensive paperweight to me now, as I don't have time for either.

:-(
 
pjk,

I did the same thing as you and now I can not get the Mac to recognize the Expresscard port at all. I re-installed the 10.4.7 OSX update which put back the ioserialfamily.kext file but it still does not see the expresscard port. Were you able to get it to work again? If so, how did you do it?

Tnx
 
v640 and internet sharing

If anyone can help...

I had the working previously but cannot for the life of me get it going again.

I read Joe's solution but am a bit uncomfortable moving the file he mentions around based on some of posts that discuss reverting back.

I enabled "host only" in parallels and config'd sharing of the "Parallels Host-Guest adapter"..

I can connect, ping browse etc.. in OS X, but not from XP.
I can ping the VM address which is 192.168.2.4 from OS X terminal and I can ping my OS X en2 interface of 192.168.2.1from within XP which is listed as the default GW, dhcp srv, DNS etc.. via ipconfig in XP.

But cannot get out...

Questions I have...

1) did something change in the latest update?
2) should USB be set to auto connect
3) could installing a MS usb mouse (laser mouse 6000) hose me?
4) should I be sharing the "Novatel Wireless EXPD CMDA" vs. "Parallels Host-guest adapter"?
5) is there a particular sequence to follow when bringing it up? i.e. establish evdo connectivity 1st before starting XP in parallels....

Does anyone have this working since the latest parallels update?

I really don't mind the minor config changes to revert back to airport connectivity if I can get this to work again...

Any and all responses appreciated!!

*** PARALLELS TEAM PLEASE ADD NATIVE INTERFACE SUPPORT for EVDO EXPRESS CARDS!****

t.
 
Disabling and Reverting

If you are using the solution that requires moving the .kext file around you may find that the file permissions get hosed when you copy the kext file back. I think some of you may be fighting with getting it going under OS X again after playing with it. After you copy it back you are probably going to have to reset the permissions:

Code: 
sudo chown -R root:wheel /System/Library/Extensions/IOSerialFamily.kext

Reboot and you should get support back under OS X.

If anyone is interested in collaborating I am working on an Automator that will switch support back and forth. I am pretty new to some of this stuff so right now I have two Automator apps. One that enables and one that disables. They perform the file copy, delete and permissions functions.
 
would love to collaborate. I am doing the same thing with the Blackberry 8700g. so an automator script would be fantastic!
 
Scripting problems.

If anyone of you are scripting gurus, I am running into the following trouble:

If in automator I run a script line like so:

Code: 
do shell script "sudo cp " & driverfile & " " & backupfile password "<AdminPassword>" with administrator privileges

I will be prompted for the password and it works correctly. If I run that same code as just a plain old AppleScript I get an Authentication Error.

Does anyone know how to run a straight up AppleScript with admin privs?

I was originally working on an automator but decided just scripting it would be a little simpler. If I decide to get REALLY ambitious I may take a stab at an AppleScript Studio App. But l want to get the basics down first.
 
here is a snippet of some code that was posted (somewhere... alex king's website I think..) for applescript:


on unload_kext()
do shell script "kextunload /System/Library/Extensions/BlackberryUSB.kext" with administrator privileges
return 1
end unload_kext

on load_kext()
do shell script "kextload /System/Library/Extensions/BlackberryUSB.kext" with administrator privileges
return 1
end load_kext

display dialog "Click Unload to unload the offending Kext. Click Load to reload the Kext as if PM did something" buttons ["Unload", "Load"] default button 1

if button returned of result = "Unload" then
unload_kext()
else
load_kext()
end if



However the kextunload part did not work for me...

SO I am manually moving the files to /var/root and then manually moving them back and chown'ing them using:

chown -R 0 BlackberryUSBDev.kext/ BlackberryUSB.kext/
chown -R :0 BlackberryUSBDev.kext/ BlackberryUSB.kext/

so I am trying to build and automater script that, stops PocketMac, moves the .kext files and then a second one that moves the .kext files and restarts PocketMac....
 
Sharing your EVDO Connection - Mac OSX

Once you connect with your EVDO Card (Novatel V640 ExpressCard or Franklin CDU-550) on your Mac, Parallels wouldn't "see" the internet, so you couldn't access the internet under Parallels.

The tech note below, will step you through the simple configuration changes to allow a single EVDO card to be shared on your Mac and Parallels:

Sharing Your EVDO Connection with Parallels - EVDOinfo.com
 
Solved by build 1970?

Now that build 1970 includes Shared Networking, isn't this issue solved?

I know that my VPN/AirPort/Built-in Ethernet are all able to serve my VM's when they are configured with Shared Networking... An EVDO card should get the same effect.
 
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