From my inbox
by Volker Weber
Mark writes:
After updating my latest Parallels 3 installation to build 5060 (beta) and installing the Parallels Tools I now have no start button or taskbar on startup with windows xp. Have already sent mail to support. The only solution at the moment is to download the latest release and to reinstall.
I cannot comment since I use Fusion.
Comments
Well, it is a Beta. Not to be mean, but if people aren't prepared for something to go wrong, they really should stick to actual releases.
As for the issue itself, is it fundamentally the beta or was it the upgrade of the VM? If he restored the VM (again, it's a Beta, so there IS a backup, isn't there?), that might help.
/happy Parallels user since first beta release
One of the new features of Parallels V3 Build 5060 Beta is the ability to load a VM into Coherence Mode silently, this may be hiding the startbar as the idea is to be able to load windows apps from the dock without showing that windows is starting up.
I'd suggest looking at http://forums.parallels.com for more information.
no such problem here, but I´ve read the post as well. Actually, I find a number of postings in the forum to be harsh and unfair. I wonder if there is an interest behind some of the ranting I sometimes find.
Often, the ranters refer to Fusion as the better product (which even may be true - but why rant in Parallels forums, then?)
I have been using Parallels for several months ... NO BETA releases :-)
And I have been pretty happy and savvy with version 2 (or 2006 as it was called if I recall correctly).
However, since I moved to version 3 (after it was officially released), I had some severe problems. The last two were heavy stuff:
a) the Snapshot manager would not start when I needed to go back to an earlier version of the VM as the Windows installation had crashed heavily.
b) after I had woken up my MacBook Pro from sleep (i.e. put it to sleep, left work, at home wanted to continue working), ALL of my days work was gone, i.e. I had a system state from that morning e.g. files on my desktop that I definitely had deleted (no, not drunk and not on drugs). After I rebooted the VM, I could restore some of the data, but the Windows registry was corrupt.
... no response from Parallels support on that one within a week.
I agree that some of the postings in the Parallels forum are insulting and beside the point. However, if you experience stuff like I did in the last week, it's somewhat hard to stay calm and friendly.
Despite the money I've paid for both versions, I now went onto Fusion (which IS Beta, but a RC ... we'll see).
@Stefan: As I am using my Bootcamp partition, I always (mostly, that is) close Parallels before putting my MBP to sleep. I am using all the Betas in production, but have several Backups to return to a stable system, if ever needed.
Doing that with Apples Disk Utility, as tere is no sensible Windows Backup SW on the market, that suits my needs (I would like to be able to restore as well ;-) ). The best solution there is needs to boot from CD into a Linux-Kernel to do backup and it does not run with the MBP.
Why is it so difficult to back up under Windows? Strange....
Nevertheless, in a situation as depicted, I can understand the feeling of being fooled. Nevertheless, I attribute most problems more to Microsoft, than to Parallels. And to crubly software installed inside the Win VM (like in my case some strange Novell-stuff my company insists on).
