How do I install Windows XP on my Mac with Parallels Desktop?I read through your splendid tutorial on installing Windows XP with Apple's Boot Camp product (see boot camp help) but that's not for me. I don't want to have to reboot each time I want to try something out with a Windows app on my Mac. I've read about something called the Parallels Desktop and am hoping you can explain how to install it and how to use it so I can run Windows in parallel with Mac OS X? Thanks. I have to admit, I've been using Macs since the digital stone age and still get frustrated that I have to buy PCs so I can run Windows with any decent results. I've run Microsoft's Virtual PC, for example, but it's a dog and even when you have lots of patience it's pretty difficult to work within that environment even if you have the most powerful computer and least demanding application. Further, I think that Apple's Boot Camp program is incredibly smart and have been dual booting Macs for quite a while, though usually into different flavors of Linux or related. I even had my tri-booting Mac laptop make it to the cover of a Linux magazine! Still, though, the idea of running Windows -- or another OS -- within Mac OS X through what's called a "virtual machine" or "virtualization" solution, is too good to miss. That's why I was thrilled when Parallels released its Parallels Desktop, a full Windows-capable virtualization package for less than $80. Nice! Just like with Apple's Boot Camp, there are some specific requirements that you need to meet before you can use Parallels Desktop, however, chief among them the requirement that you have an Intel-based Macintosh. You'll also want at least a few gig of free disk space and at least 1GB of memory for performance reasons. They also recommend you have the very latest version of Mac OS X, which is easily done with the Software Update capability on the Macs. Let's Get Started! Your first step isn't to download the application, believe it or not, but rather to decide whether you want to get a free 15-day product key or go ahead and buy the program and get a full product key. I suggest the latter, honestly, because it's very cool and well worth the money. Now, download Parallels Desktop. Once you get the 23MB disk image, open it up and you'll see a pretty typical set of icons:  Don't just click on the installer, however. Spend a few minutes reading through the User Guide included to double-check that everything's compatible with your configuration. Then you'll find that the installer is quite typical of Mac installers, with a license to accept, a hard disk to select for the installation target, and a few buttons to click. It's so typical I'm not going to even include a screenshot here! Once the installation is finished, it's time to start the application, which you'll find in a folder called "Parallels" in your Application directory. Click on the program and you'll see a rather intimidating first screen:  Don't panic. Instead, click on the "New VM..." button on the bottom left to launch the New VM Wizard. (VM = virtual machine, remember).  This will help you through the steps necessary to create a new "virtual" computer that will let you install the operating system of your choice, Microsoft Windows XP. Your first decision will be to determine if you want to create a typical VM, create a custom VM, or create a blank VM:  As the wizard recommends, I also encourage you to choose the default configuration. It's easy to tweak things afterwards, after all. Since we're doing a default configuration, we need to specify the OS type and version:  Poke around here a bit, you'll be astonished at the number of different operating systems the Parallels Desktop supports!! Oh, and not to state anything too obvious, but remember that these are just default preferences. You still need the OS itself for installation. Almost done with the Wizard. You need to specify the name of your virtual machine, and where it should be stored on your disk:  Since this is your first VM, Parallels will need to create some directories too, as you'll quickly learn:  No worries. Click "OK" and the virtual machine for Windows XP will be created and ready to install. Ready to Install Ah, well, we're almost ready to install, as you can now see when you quit the Wizard and get back to the main Parallels Desktop view:  What's wrong? Too little memory (RAM) allocated for my tastes. Easily fixed, by clicking on the word "Memory", which takes you to the darn useful Configuration Editor:  Slide the control along to the recommended amount (or more, your call), and we're finally ready to roll! Installing Windows XP, Really The first step to actually installing an OS is to insert the Windows install CD (DVD, actually) into your computer, then push the "play" button (rightward-facing triangle) in Parallels to start up the program with the new VM system. The system will prompt for a Parallels Desktop license code (which you did remember to request, right?). Enter that, and after a minute or two, your screen will look like this as you're welcomed to the Windows XP Setup program:  This should already seem pretty cool if you're a Mac person, because this is running within Mac OS X, yeah! Now you can step through the standard steps of a Windows XP install in fairly short order:  You can work with the one unpartitioned space as-is, and when you get to the next screen I recommend you choose NTFS rather than FAT so that you have a higher performance Windows virtual machine. Note, however, that FAT is the file system that Mac OS X can more easily navigate if you want to actually access files within the Parallels virtual partition. Continuing along...  Somehow, "exciting new look" probably isn't intended to refer to the fact that we're installing Windows XP within the Mac OS X environment, but it's amusing nonetheless, isn't it? At this point you'll go through some rudimentary Windows XP configuration questions, about language, region, and related. Finally, you'll hit the second of the legal interludes in this process:  If you don't have a valid product key for Windows XP (or whatever OS you're installing) you'll be stuck here, though you can try running for the 30 days allowed before you have to register your OS product. A few more simple configuration options about timezone, current date and time, and you're finally into the installation phase of Windows XP, which can take anywhere from 30 minutes to a few hours. I don't have the patience to time it, so I'm not sure. Instead, it's a great time for a chai break at Starbucks :-) When I come back, Windows is mostly installed and it's just a matter of specifying a few more configuration changes. One thing that happens is that the virtual machine reboots itself and then automatically adjusts the screen resolution to escape the 640x480 hell that we were confined to for the initial installation process. Now we get a glorious Windows logo and boot screen within Parallels Desktop itself:  Now you need to do just a wee bit more Windows configuration, including what I consider a critical step:  You always want to select "automatic update" unless you're a complete Windows guru and know exactly what you're doing. Next you'll need to indicate if you want to register your version of Windows XP with Microsoft. If you're going to use this for a long period of time, you might as well do that. Otherwise, select "no" and you'll be reminded later when you're perhaps ready to do so. That's basically all there is to it. We're done. In just a few seconds Windows XP reboots and you end up with the familiar background screen, task bar, START button, and much more. All within the world of Mac OS X. Sweet indeed:  It's not quite as snappy as Apple's Boot Camp, as I'd expect, but it's certainly a big improvement over the old sluggish world of Virtual PC. That should get you going with Parallels Desktop. Questions? You might want to check out the Parallels Blog or pop into the Parallels Forum where users and developers compare notes. Hope you're up and running. I know that I'm delighted to have Parallels Desktop on my computer, finally. Oh, and once you do have it running, don't forget to also install Parallels Tools, a must-include package of utilities. Learn how here: Install Parallels Tools on Intel Mac.
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Never miss another useful Q&A article again! Subscribe to AskDaveTaylor with Google Reader. Hey, thanks for the writeup. It's always good to get some kind of confirmation that you're doing something the right way. You may also want to go over setting up the Install Parallels Tools and the Run Parallels Compressor in other tutorials. The tools are invaluable I've found... Posted by: Mike Lane at June 27, 2006 5:57 PMYor site is extremely useful. One problem -- I installed the Windows XP disk, it started loadning drivers agaisnt the blue screen, successfully, and then when it asked me if I wanted to install Windows, and I said yes, it tried but told me I didnt have an authorized copy of windows or the disk was no good. I tried this with two different copies of Windows XP that I had lying around that I had used successfully on their own computers before, so I know that the disks were probably ok. Any ideas? Thanks. rob Posted by: Rob at June 29, 2006 6:53 AMDave, This may be a crazy question but...is it possible to use XP that comes with VPC or do I need to buy a stand along version? If it's possible, how do I do it???? Posted by: Sue at July 10, 2006 2:23 PMSteve, I asked the folks at Parallels and they answered: "The VM works as a single core machine...SMP support is planned for the next version of Desktop. Personally, I have found that Pro works a bit faster than Home, mainly due to the better security and networking." Sue, I don't know, but if you have a full, licensed copy of XP with a license code, you should indeed be able to use that version. Try it, let us know how it goes! Posted by: Dave Taylor at July 11, 2006 9:16 PMI am having trouble getting any tech support from Parallels. I have to install my printer everytime I open the program to run Windows. Any suggestions as to what I need to do? Thanks for your help. In regards to the printer problems in Parallels... Bonjour for Windows from Apple should solve that problem by letting the Virtual machine use the printer connected to the host. http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/bonjourforwindows103.html /Mikael Posted by: Mikael Fransson at July 18, 2006 12:14 PMI had some interesting troubles getting Windows XP to install under Parallels on a new MacBook Pro, mostly involving errors reading the CD, but the second try worked. Then it had trouble reading the CD again when installing a HP printer driver, but again it worked on the seccond try. I think there may be a bug there. Now I have it running and it is working great. Here is a copy of the email I sent to parallels (note: their web comment form is not working as of this writing -- you may get a server error). I purchased Parallels in the hope that I could replace my Windows laptop altogether with a MacBook. It seems like I can get pretty close. Here are some feature requests: 1. Not being able to use a USB 2.0 flash drive is a real drawback. Windows sees a USB 1.0 device but does not display it as a drive. Completely useless in this area. I have yet to see anybody address the issue of how to create a VM that is accessible to all users (each of which has admin privileges) on the Mac. I put the VM files in /Library/Parallels/winxp/ rather than under my home directory thinking that would do the trick but when another user logs in and tries to access the VM they get messages like "Unable to lock out the configuration file /Library/Parallels/winxp/winxp.pvs". Methinks it's a permission issue but I'm not sure how to fix it. Any ideas? Posted by: Craig Heilman at July 20, 2006 11:18 AMNo trouble installing XP Home under Parallels. However, having major problems getting my HP All-in-One 2410 USB printer to install. Downloaded lastest HP drivers (364MB!). Starts installing driver, then about 20% installed, hangs up forever, then quits. The HP site can detect the printer, and device manager shows it. However the USB section on hardware has yellow exclamation points everywhere. Can't get the driver to install. On another printing note. When Macbook was brought home, all settings transferred over from old PB G4 with no problem. Wireless printing worked fine. Since Parallels installed, Mac side wireless printing has gone away, and settings to get it back are greyed out? Must have USB physically plugged in now to get printing on the Mac side. Can't seem to get plug and play on Windows to recognise USB device, much less work thru the local network. Any ideas? Posted by: Linwood Stevenson at July 31, 2006 9:45 PMI am installing Win XP under Parallels. I come to a licensing screen asking me to press F8 to accept but there is no way to do this. How can I move on from here? Posted by: Alvin Perelman at August 10, 2006 5:33 PMThanks so much! Posted by: Marshall at September 4, 2006 5:49 PMHi Dave I copied all the Windows XP files from my Windows CD onto my MacBook's hard drive. How do I install Windows into Parallels from this data on my HD? When Windows Installer wants you to press F8, press Fn-F8. F8 is normally display control, so you have to press the 'fn' key at the same time to get F8 to operate as a function key. Posted by: Terry Slattery at October 14, 2006 10:03 AMI give up lol!! 25 years experience of PCs and converted to the new MacBook Pro with all the latest hi-spec hardware this last weekend. As I have critical software for work that relies on PC and Windows technology and unavailable for the Mac, I purchased Parallels. However, having read the printed simplified manual, the more detailed complicated manual and then this brilliant webpage... I still seem to be doing something very very wrong!! I have successfully installed Parallels and created the "Windows XP" VM, inserted the XP CD and clicked on the 'Play' Power on VM button. Now at this point I expected XP to start installing... NOT my lovely gorgeous Mac to crash!! I get a grey curtain fall over the screen, everything locks and I am forced according to the message on the screen to keep my finger pressed on the power button and switch off, and restart. When I return to the desktop, I am reminded Mac didn't shutdown properly... I return to Parallels... just to do the same cycle over again! ANY IDEAS FOLKS?? Answers to alongstaff@googlemail.com would be appreciated until I get my head round things. Thanks in advance... the drinks are on me :-) Andy Posted by: Andy Longstaff at November 6, 2006 2:12 PMHello, and many thanks for the website and the hard work behind it! Here is my question: Parallels problem solved folks! Apparently the version of Parallels currently shipped in stores does not work with the latest Intel Dual processor configuration... well not until you download the update! I've got it working now... and wow... what a treat! Posted by: Andy Longstaff at November 8, 2006 11:53 AMIf I already have bootcamp installed, is it possible to install parallels using my currently installed windows version? And, also save the installed app's and working files? I would like to completely remove bootcamp after installing parallels. Bootcamp is working great, but I switch back and forth between the OS's way too often to make it worth the added benefit. Posted by: John Giuliano at November 11, 2006 2:02 PMDamn Dave, I was ready to take this software to Salvation Army! Hi Dave,I get to the Install Windows XP, Really step, insert the XP disc, click on the Play button and then I get a black window saying: 640 KB Base Memory What do I do to get the blue Windows installation screen? So, ok, hi... I downloaded and purchased the license for the Parallels Desktop so I can install this windows XP on my MacBook Pro. So, I am going throught winXP installation processing hoping to go through to smoothly since windows can be a nightmare or potential of. Well, the nightmare on elm street does exist!!! So, half way through the installation process it's saying fatal error with I/O device something or rather. What ever heck that means. So, I try to eject my windows installer cd out and figure this out, it has a hard time spitting it out. I had to use my debit card to help it out as it tries to spit it out. I got it out, but I tried several attempts and still no go. I'm thinking I need to get an external Tray CD player for my laptop to see if that's works. As far as I can see, the CD doesn't feel or appear thicker or out of shape. I insert my other cds, in fact, 4 different ones that I know will sure to come out, and this is the only one having a problem.. . I'm trying this again, but anyone had this experience? Thanks Posted by: Edward Kim at December 21, 2006 8:38 PMI have the same problem with Win XP setup running smoothly until half way through install...then I get the same Fatal Error initializing due to I/O error. Followed the book to a "T" and got the same thing 3X.....I have a MacBook Pro 2.13GHz and want my PBG4 back....so many problems for a 20 year experienced Mac user....Please help.... Posted by: Suzanne Solomon at January 1, 2007 4:52 PMDoes it matter which windows xp I install for basic word operations? I see lots of discounted deals less the retail. Any I should avoid? I bought you a Chai right off the bat, Dave, just for the joy of finding this site. I made the big move from a PC to a beautiful IMAC but I had to have Windows to have access to years of documents. (Some of them transferred from a machine that was a pre-Windows PC. Which means yes, I played Dungeons and Dragons in middle school.) Everything is beautiful except for the printer but now that I've read the site I think I have a few more options. Thanks again, enjoy the Chai, I'll probably be back! Bonnie Posted by: Bonnie Ramthun at January 18, 2007 8:17 AMHere's the info for sharing Parallels with multiple users: "I want to share a VM with several user accounts on my Mac. Is it possible?" Yes, to share VM with several user accounts you need to do the following: In Finder, right-click (or Ctrl-click) on the folder with the VM and select the "Get Info" option from the pop-up menu In the opened window expand "Ownership&Permissions" group Expand "Details" group Set the access level for "Others" to "Read&Write" Hit "Apply to the enclosed items" button After it's done, each user of your Mac should be able to access the same VMs. hey Dave!! hai there, i have installed windows xp in my new mac book. intel imac 20" "usbohci.sys file is corrupted press any key to restart computer. Do you know what the problem could be? my imac runs perfectly and the cd is valid but now brand new. thanks hello, It appears that I properly installed parallels but when I get to the box part to install my windows xp it tells me that there is no boot device and to click enter. over and over again. no matter what I type in there. What am I doing wrong. hey guys...look i've done everything, installed parallele desktop, installed windows and installed the bootcamp driver CD to winxp and yet i have a problem with installing my display adapter and web cam drivers.....i tried to add a display adapter and a web camp to my virtual machine but i couldn't find the option for that......so if anybody knows if that's possible to do or not.......thanx anyways Posted by: Salfire at February 23, 2007 7:08 PMI have the same problem as Andy Longstaff. After pressing green play button, macbookpro crashes (black curtain comes down and i need to restart). Jake, have you tried downloading latest version of parallels and reinstalling? Worked for me.... Posted by: Karen Johnston at March 1, 2007 7:28 PMThanks for this help, it is very easy to install windows xp on mac if you fallow these steps which you did wrote Thanks! Posted by: Windows XP Tips at March 2, 2007 8:17 AMHi, I get GSODs (Gray Screen Of Death) in every Windows session (boot camp and Window installation) both with newest Parallels System 3186. When I log into XP it takes ~115% of CPU (?) and everything goes very slowly, then after 15 minutes a crash via GSOD. A complete deinstallation of Parallels (including all files with "(P)parallels" in the name and a complete fresh boot camp and new XP installation does not help at all! I have 2 system folders on my mac HD, and I want i have one question.. how can I update my graphic drivers in parallels, and can you play games with parallels..? Like warcraft III? thx :) Posted by: Igor Klein at March 7, 2007 3:03 PMi have a mac book pro. Hi, I have parallels working fine with XP Pro and Hi, I am running parallels and everything is working fine. But, I cant seem to connect to my proxy server at uni to access outside web pages. I can access university pages but nothing els. This doesnt happen when I go home, because I can access everything there. I have tried typing in the proxy in both windows and OS X but nothing seems to be working. Can you help at all? Bekky Posted by: Rebecca at March 14, 2007 9:40 PMHello, I am a pc user thinking about converting to MAC. For work i regularly use Office applications including Excel and Access. I understand i will probably have to use Parallels to use Access, but if i create an excel file in the mac OS part, will i be able to import that file into Access when using parallels? Thanks Posted by: Simon at March 16, 2007 2:23 PMHas anyone had trouble installing Windows XP Service Pack 2 on a MacBook. Reason I ask. I'm considering moving away from Windows bases computers since Vista is another OS like ME was.Junk. and after purchasing it would like to install XP Pro and SP2 Posted by: somewhereinwesterncanada at March 18, 2007 11:12 AMI had no problem with SP2 on my MacBook Pro with Boot Camp, but couldn't get SP1 to install at all with Boot Camp. I have installed both with Parallels, however. I have a few articles coming out in a few weeks that show you step-by-step how to work with Parallels and Boot Camp too, so do come back early April, please! Posted by: Dave Taylor at March 18, 2007 4:47 PMHello all, Is it possible to load a Ghost image of an XP machine on to Parallels? This is what was posted above. I didn't see an answer for this. but I want to know if I can just hook up an external firewire drive with WinXP Home on it and have parallels use that without installing XP all over again. any help would be great. :) Posted by: John Carlson at March 19, 2007 8:10 AMHi Great site very helpful. My question is that i am trying to download a game only compatible to windows, onto my Parallells, it reads the disk fine and it is able to downoad the game, but I am not able to play it . A window pops up saying that I need to insert the game disk and try again, I have done this many times. I looked into my problem deeper to find that I dont have a proper Display Device, so the game can't be played. Can ypu help me by letting me know how to set up or possibly get the display device to work, or should I just give up hope. Any info will be greatly appreatiated. Posted by: derrick at April 2, 2007 12:46 AMHi Dave,I get to the Install Windows XP, Really step, insert the XP disc, click on the Play button and then I get a black window saying: 640 KB Base Memory What do I do to get the blue Windows installation screen? Hi Dave,I get to the Install Windows XP, Really step, insert the XP disc, click on the Play button and then I get a black window saying: 640 KB Base Memory What do I do to get the blue Windows installation screen? My VM wont see the CD/DVD drive on my mac book. the settings look right but I cant save my data to a cd.any ideas Posted by: Frank at April 30, 2007 6:06 AMI installed Windows XP pro on MACBOOK with RAM 2 GB. Built in Camere not working and USB storage drive by windows not recognizing. Pls. Help Posted by: israt at May 5, 2007 5:11 PMhi dave i used this and it worked great thank you so much! Posted by: isaac at May 7, 2007 12:52 AMDave, MY question is the same as everyone else that has a MacBookPro. I just bought an iMAC and installed parallels and windows xp and it works great! NO problems at all. So I thought great, i will get the macbook pro, based on my questions to the sales rep. I purchased the macbookpro, another copy of windows xp and used the initial copy of parallels. I get to the window install screen and it say fatal error, and will not load. it does about 10 times, before I finally shut it off. Question can I install windows XP on parallels on a MacbookPro? If the answer is Yes, please explain to me how. Thank you for your time, Bill, I know that it works: that's what I run on my MacBook Pro: Parallels and Windows XP. Make sure you have the very latest version of everything including the MacBook firmware... Posted by: Dave Taylor at May 17, 2007 2:46 PMParallels installs great on a MacBook Pro...I'm running it right now. A few tips: 1) Check the Windows license and make sure that you're using a genuine copy of Windows. Success with OEM copies is spotty at best (due to the specific builds in use, and the terms of the license agreements) so we always recommend that you use a full, genuine copy of Windows. NOTE: When you install Windows, be sure to get your "O's" and zeros correct! 2) Make sure you are running Parallels Desktop for Mac build 3188. This is the most recent build of Parallels Desktop, and it is the most stable, powerful version we've released so far. This build works great on every Mac in production, from the entry-level Core Solo Mini to the highest-end 8-core Mac Pro. 3) Make sure you have sufficient RAM to run your guest operating system (for most of you, this will be Windows). I recommend 2GB of total RAM, which will give you plenty to allocate to both Windows and OSX. Posted by: Benjamin Rudolph at May 17, 2007 3:55 PMwhile installing windows xp the blue screen error message stop error : 0*000000ed. Posted by: karthickeyan .v at May 17, 2007 11:05 PMI have the same problem as others here: 640 KB Base Memory What do I do to get the blue Windows installation screen? What is the solution? alex Posted by: alex at May 22, 2007 12:11 PMHi, I read the info on how to share a VM with multiple users. Very clear instructions. However, when I start the VM in other user accounts, I get a message saying that no OS is installed. Have I done something wrong here? Has anybody else suffered this problem? Please help! Many thanks... Posted by: James Sowden at May 24, 2007 6:38 AMHello, I just bought the new MacBook, and trying to install the Parallels. WHAT SHOULD I DO??? Posted by: Daphna at May 27, 2007 3:59 AMI just bought a new black Macbook, 2.16 gig and upgraded the ram to 2 gigs. I ordered a full version of Parallels from Amazon and ds Posted by: David Safir at May 30, 2007 5:46 PMHi Dave, I am having a problem with a printer. I have a canon MP600 printer and it works perfectly on my Macbook Pro. I have windows xp installed in parallels and I was wanting to use the printer on that too. The problem is that I can install all the programs but when it comes to recognising the printer it says it is not plugged in. I have had other usb things plugged in using windows and they work but my printer does not, do you know why? thanks jo Hi, My question is possibly just semantics but expensive ones. Paralells says you must install a full version of XP, not an oem one. They say the oem is the one that comes with a new pc. I have found full versions of XP online that say they require a clean install, no previous copy of windows, for like $80.00 online. but they call it oem. Hi just got parallels and vista for my MacBook Pro. Problem can't surf the web error stated that I have no network device. I have a small home network connected to Netgear router. Can connect through Mac OS any ideas? Posted by: Terry Harper at July 10, 2007 5:00 AMHi, I have a MacBook Pro 2.4, 4gb ram 160gb hd. I installed Parallels 3.0 and Windows XP Pro SP2 full edition. I need to uninstall XP and install Vista home premuium full version. Parallels tech support tells me there is license agreement that you cannot run Vista Home Premium with their software? I cannot believe that this is true.. I need any assistance you can provide. Thank you in advance. hi, thanx, shawn Posted by: shamil at July 12, 2007 5:15 PMI recently bought a macbook and intstalled Parallels with no problem. I than installed Windows XP home edition and everything was loading until it came to the screen staiting load windows. It than said there was an error in reading windows and I could not load it from there. Any suggestions or hints on what I need to do to? Posted by: Becker at July 13, 2007 6:33 PMFolks, I have 3 words for you... Don't use Parallels! Try using VMWare Fusion 1.0 instead. I was one of Selected Beta Testers for VMWare Fusion for the past 6 months and I can tell you that the released version 1.0 is STABLE and WORKS with all versions of Windows 98, 2000, XP, Linux - Ubuntu, Red Hat, SuSE10, Mandrake, and Debian. You can download the last beta version for FREE!!! YES FREE!! OR You can prepay $39.99 and VMWare will allow you to download the released version prior to store release. When released to stores next month it will be 79.99. I have installed several .NET based and Active X applications and all work great. Even those which are audio intensive. There are a few tweaks that I will recommend to anyone installing the software. 1- Make sure that your system has at least 2GB of RAM. You will be able to use any devices which are attached to the Mac OS by installing VMWare Tools Appliance which is also FREE by the way to users of the software. This includes NIC, USB, CD/DVD etc. If anyone would like to contact me directly, you may do so at my email address and I will help you out. BTW the website for VMWare is: http://www.vmware.com/download/fusion/ Cheers, Keith Posted by: Keith Deininger at July 15, 2007 7:31 PM I'm trying to load XP Professional, but it was bundled originally with Virtual PC. So Parallels doesn't "see" the XP OS and won't load. Any help is appreciated. Others have asked this, but no answers so far. Posted by: Jeff at August 1, 2007 9:22 PMhey all!. i'm having major issues with my uncle's iMac. he's already installed Parallels desktop, but for some reason, his USB printer won't show up. i've looked in Windows > Start > Control Panel > System > Device Manager and the printer isn't available. as well, the USB drive shows up in the Mac desktop, but when i try and select it, it says that another program is already using it. does anyone know how to set up this computer so that he can print in both the Mac and the XP desktops? any feedback is GREATLY appreciated. Posted by: jessica at August 2, 2007 11:27 AMHi i have a mac Book i have just installed parallels do run windows xp i was excited tht now i wuold be able to use web cam with msn now but is does not recognise the in built web cam can i fix this, Help please!!! Posted by: Jac at August 8, 2007 6:59 AMDave, I am new to MAC-new to computers actually and your sight has been very helpful. I was trying to load windows XP home basic sp2 using parallels-not 3.0 ver-and had the same problem with a critical error just after starting the windows download. I was doing the download in express mode. After several tries i tried downloading it in typical mode and it worked no problem. In express mode the download screen does not show the files being loaded at the bottom of the screen. hope this helps. Posted by: clint jonsson at August 22, 2007 4:38 PMThis isn't really as much a question as it is a long and boring comment: As an experienced PC user, I can help Dave help people running and using Windows, even in a virtualizer such as Parallels, but first, a little Mac user running Windows humor :-) : After upgrading a probably busted computer from Windows 3.11, to Windows 98, down to Windows 95, up to Windows Me, up to Windows XP, almost causing it to explode and eventually making it explode trying to re-upgrade it to Windows Vista; PC users are used to the infamous Setup program. Only as each version of Windows gets more complicated, so does the setup process. The only thing is that in order to use a PC, you have to expect what a PC user expects. For example, a PC user's computer gives him "the blue screen of death." Their reaction will most likely be to either: A.) Simply restart their computer and forget about it. B.) Scream obscenities at the computer in the hopes that this will never happen again. or... C.) Finally get fed up with their PC, throw it in the trash and spend his life savings on a Mac, only to realize that none of his software actually works on it. A die-hard Mac user (using Parallels) who has never used a PC before or has never even had his Mac crash will look at this and either: A.) Panic B.) Panic C.) Attempt to actually solve the problem D.) Restart the computer and accidentally boot into "Safe Mode" and wonder: "What is 'Safe Mode'?" E.) Panic some more F.) Close the Parallels window and immediately uninstall the virtualizer and try to forget that they tried to use Windows in the first place even though the traumatizing experience will haunt him in his dreams. G.) Panic some more or... H.) Call a thousand tech-support people when all they have to look forward to is getting told: "This is normal for Windows to crash like this. Just deal with it." 1. If the Windows CD ISO image won't boot on its own, quickly download a bootable disk image (yes, it is free and legal!) and boot from there. If you are using a Windows 98 and above boot disk, make sure you select "Start computer with CD-ROM support". In the DOS prompt, type the following: (If installing Windows 95, 98, ME) (If installing Windows 2000 or XP) (replace "D" with the letter of your CD drive) 2. I acutally recommend using Windows 2000 Professional over Windows XP Professional. It is more secure, easier to use, has the best program support and is the most stable. Don't confuse it for its awful unstable non-NT counterpart: Windows ME. 3. If you have to format your virtual hard disk, for Windows 95, 98 and ME, format as a FAT32 drive. For Windows 2000 and XP, format as a NTFS drive. 4. Recommended Virtual System Configuration for Installing Windows XP (To upgrade to Windows XP, you should be running Windows 98 SE, ME, or 2000) 5. With any Windows installation, having the latest service pack will always come in handy. Don't know what service pack to get? It all depends on what Windows you're running: Windows NT 4.0 Workstation: Service Pack 6 6. Should there be a rare occurance where something go wrong and your computer crashes, restart your virtual machine and hold down F8. This should take you to the boot menu and select "Safe Mode". What is Safe Mode? The certain Windows boot method where all but necessary drivers are disabled so you can diagnose the problem, or have Windows do it for you :-). Should Safe Mode not help, try System Restore. This little program, like the soon to be released with Mac OS X Leopard "Time Machine", actually restores your Windows configuration to a point in time before it got messed up. The default restore points will most likely be at times when you installed new drivers. Don't worry, this program DOES NOT hurt your documents. Posted by: TechSupportGeek at August 24, 2007 12:48 AMProblems with USB port error message-port already in use. There is an update to fix this-build 3214 is the update that clears this problem. Posted by: clint jonson at August 26, 2007 4:50 PMi bought a macbook pro and parallels, is there a specific version of windows xp i should buy. Posted by: mat nayman at September 11, 2007 1:25 PMMat, yes, you must get SP2 version of Windows XP. Fortunately, unlike Vista, there aren't a zillion different versions of XP: I think I installed the personal edition and it works just fine... Posted by: Dave Taylor at September 11, 2007 8:47 PMHi, I'M TRYING TO INSTALL WINDOWS USING BOOT-CAM INTO MY MAC, but unfortunately its saying DISC ERROR, when I use Windows option to reboot, can someone assist please? Posted by: Anks at September 19, 2007 10:26 PMYour set up comments are definitely better than the standard booklet that comes with parallels! I have a copy (i.e. on CD-R) of windows XP SP2 given to me by my university, which works on a PC and is recognised in normal view by my mac (which just opens the folder). I am having some of the same problems as others. As soon as I click the play button (green arrow) my screen scrolls and I get a multi-language message saying that I need to hold down the power button to restart. Any thoughts? I have winXP installed via boot camp. Can you not have a Mac that is both boot camp and parallels capable? Thanks. Posted by: Tim Morrissey at October 13, 2007 5:49 PMI installed parralels and windows xp pro without any problems (thank you very much), but now I am having trouble installing other programs into windows xp. I keep getting the same error message: error 1606.could not access network location\\.psf\.home\pictures\. And the installation fails. I got the same error message with 2 different programs. Any ideas? Posted by: Jason Heffron at October 22, 2007 10:11 AMGetting Parallels to share between multiple user accounts on a mac... I managed to do this by simply moving the parallels folder to the shared folder rather than my user folder. Then I ctrl clicked on the parallels folder and the in the info window I set permissions to read and write for others, and also clicked apply to enclosing items... Make sure that you have done this to the enclosing folder as it took me a while to realise this. It all works fine now. Posted by: Petra at October 23, 2007 3:42 PMA comprehensive step-by-step guide for installing a Windows 98SE virtual machine under Parallels can be found here: http://robsnotebook.com/parallels_win98 Posted by: Rob at November 3, 2007 8:38 PMI've got an XP formatted external hard drive I hoped would work under a XP virtual machine in Parallels. I've been ignoring OSX's message of an unreadable disk, and XP does pick it up and install without any issues, BUT the device does not show up under My Computer!!! Not happy, what's goin on? Posted by: Geoff DeGrasse at November 13, 2007 10:36 PMThanks I downloaded it with success but one big problem, when i connect my Sony handycam , windows came up with error msg that it is being used by another application. No other apps are running. Why is this so? Posted by: cheryl at November 18, 2007 12:09 PMif i install Vista in my new MacBook will its great size decrease the performance of my Mac? Posted by: Mehran Heravi at November 29, 2007 2:14 PM Hi Thus allowing me to use XP via boot camp and via Parallels but with XP installed folders? Posted by: Yunus at November 30, 2007 8:47 AMI found making images of the cd before you install using disk utility made the install go snappy fast. Posted by: slicenglide at December 31, 2007 12:49 AMI have a MAC Pro running Parallels, with Windows XP. Do you have any suggestions? Help! Posted by: DIRK NELSON at January 5, 2008 2:25 PMThanks for this wonderfully helpful page, Dave! Greatly appreciated! Posted by: Julie Thorpe at January 8, 2008 3:08 AMI tried doing this this morning and at some point I screw something up... I entered the windows key, and got the blue screen... then ( forgot what happened) Now when I try to get into the windows installation, I getthe windows XP parrallels desktop. It says windows XP and below it says stopped. Then if I hit the play button on the cd the screen flips over (which is pretty cool) but I get a black DOS screen... 640 KB Base Memory then nothing happens... I think it wants a boot disk, but being new to MAC i have no Idea how to do this... Please Help... -Paul Great site by btw Posted by: Pauljcpa at January 23, 2008 3:32 PMIs it better to run Parallels (Windows XP) off an external hard drive as opposed to partitioning the Mac hard drive? We are getting ready to install this and thought we'd see if it's even possible or a good idea to run on an external drive - or would this not enable it to communicate with each other? Does that make any sense? Posted by: Rachel at January 27, 2008 5:37 PMI just bought an imac pro. I need to have office xp on my mac computer, I have read about the parallel installation but it sounds very difficult to a novice like myself. So my question is can I not buy office XP for the mac? If the answer is no then my next question is can I just install my existing version of office xp on the mac? Help! Posted by: Karen Nwaobi at January 27, 2008 5:38 PMOn my MacBook Pro with OS 10.4, I've been running Windows XP on Parallels 3.0 for months without a problem. This morning I woke to find my computer shut down. When I restarted it and went to open Windows XP, I received an error screen (failed to boot) giving me the option to start in safe mode or 'start normally'. Neither works. It will make the attempt to boot, and then it will quickly flash a blue screen with an error message that goes by so fast I can't read it. Then it goes back to the screen with options to start in safe mode, etc. I can't get past that screen. It seems not to be able to access my hard drive. I've tried to reinstall Windows XP from my original disk, but it won't complete. Do I need to re-install Parallels? And then Windows XP? What happens to all my software and files I had installed on my original Windows? Can I access them or are they lost? Thanks! Posted by: Ray at January 27, 2008 9:26 PMThis is an answer to Rachel. U can buy the MAC version of the Office. I am using 2004 version. They just released 2008 recently, so u might try that. The xls files on the "shld" be compatible to the PC. Posted by: Jeremy at January 31, 2008 5:55 PMI just want to know that do I have to buy a copy of window xp or i can intall it by the 1 I got with my dell. Please answer! Hello ! I have downloaded Parallels 3.0 5582 but I have NOT installed yet. I want to run my TV software from the windows Xp installation in Parallels Destop. But this software needs to recognize a PCI Card connected to my PC ( I forgot to say, my Mac is an Intel PC installation, Kallaway and BrazilMac used) DOES the Windows System installed in the Parallels Desktop will recognize my PCI TV Card to install the drivers and all the software needed to get my TV Software working ????? Can anyone help me please ?????? Thank you so much in advance Eduardo Posted by: Eduardo Rivero at February 16, 2008 2:00 PMHello my name is Gonzalo, and pe installed Parallels 3.0 5582, and Windows 2000 SP 4, eh installed Parallels Tools, and I go any property, install games but when it comes to making them not let me run and came up with a black screen and then white and stays there. I need Thank Truth is I forgot my MAc is a Mac Pro. Dave, What abut Vista on a Mac? Posted by: Dwayne Fluellen at March 23, 2008 2:06 PMI recently bought a macbook and parallels. I have a windows xp disc that came on a dell that i had earlier. Can i install windows xp from that disc? I seem to get errors when I try this. Posted by: Steve Prine at March 26, 2008 1:27 PMhi i downloaded the parallel software, but when i tried to install it, it says make sure your mac meets the requirements, and i can't install it. I have at least 1 GB free and latest mac version Posted by: Justin at March 26, 2008 4:11 PMHi Dave Thank you very much for the info about the F8 key. You saved my day!! Posted by: Mattias Andersson at April 17, 2008 8:15 AMThis is it I have a MAC mini and I'm trying to load Windows XP Pro SP2 on it with Parallel Desktop. When I have went thru all the steps from placing the cd in the mac to clicking the final step to start the final process and error in a black box white writing wants me to reboot the machine. WHY IN THE HECK DOES IT DO THIS> Please HELP ME. I do not know what else to do. and yes this is my email address. THANk YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR HELP IN ADVANCE. Posted by: Chad Harris at April 18, 2008 11:37 PMCan I run dual monitors and have with mac and one running xp Posted by: Dave Berg at April 29, 2008 8:07 AMQuestion ... I have a copy of Parallels 3.0, an old install copy of Windows 98, and an upgrade Version of Windows XP Home Edition. Can install the XP upgrade version successfully, without having to buy the full version? Posted by: Steve at May 9, 2008 7:59 AMi installed windowsxp in my macbook2.0 every thing was fine but wgen i tried using windows track pad doesnt work properly as well as my web cam an wifi in windows ...can anyone give me solution for this???????? Posted by: roshan at May 18, 2008 11:51 AMI have recently upgraded my windows XP by using genuine windowz xp SP2. No problems were encountered whilst upgrading/installation but after that I simply can't go to my desk top. Once I log in the computer shows the background of my desk top and within seconds it says "logging off" saving your settings. I have upgraded the SD ram from 128 to 256 MB assuming that may be the reason but in futile. Will u please help me and tell how to get access to my desk top or how to get the upgraded version un-installed so that I can use the earlier one which worked properly. Great site for help Dave. I recently sold my PBG4 and acquired MacBook Pro with 2GB so that I could run XP and OS. I have parallels and I tried to install XP. Halfway through but at one point XP says it needs to restart. And when it restarts it goes back to the black screen with boot configuration and restarts again. Can you please help? Thanks in advance! Sherap, Kathmandu Posted by: Sherap Sherpa at May 30, 2008 7:11 PMDave, where did you get the windows startup disk? Posted by: Luigi at June 3, 2008 4:21 AMI still have the F8 issue. Am trying to use it with iMac keyboard, and there is no "fn" key! I have tried pressing F8 with command key, with alt key, with shift key, and with the 'control' key, yet nothing works. Any idea? Please email me at phoenix.kiula [*at] gmail [*dot] com. Thanks! Posted by: PKiula at June 30, 2008 3:37 AMThis is probably a stupid question but when you say, "The system will prompt for a Parallels Desktop license code (which you did remember to request, right?)." what do you mean? will the license code automatically come with parallels when i buy it? Thanks Posted by: Alex at July 15, 2008 8:28 AMAlex, sorry, you're right. If you buy the software, you'll have the license code you need in the box. I was working with a downloadable demo version. Luigi and others, I bought Windows XP to install within Parallels. Finally, a note to everyone: if you're having problems getting WinXP to install in Parallels, make sure you have the latest version of everything, including the latest version of XP. For sure "SP1" and the original old XP versions will not work within Parallels. Posted by: Dave Taylor at July 15, 2008 11:48 AMAlright. so I've gotten a few errors so far that have been stated here, so I'm thinking that I just need to update this version as I have version 1848. How exactly do I go about updating? I tried clicking the update button in "help" inside parallels but nothing ever gets updated. Is there a website to download the most recent version? Posted by: Lydia at August 12, 2008 12:05 AMI get the following msg when i try to open parallels desktop : The hard disk 1 is set to use the Boot Camp while Boot Camp is not installed on this computer. Please help to proceed. Posted by: Sameer Sheriff at August 23, 2008 9:16 AMI installed parallels and got stuck mid-installation of Windows XP - wrong disk/product code combination. I tried uninstalling and reinstalling parallels to start over, but it now goes straight to asking for the product code again, and I can't start over with a new windows disk/product code. Any suggestions on how to clean the partially installed windows software so I can start over? I have Paralells installed on my Mac and would like to uninstall it. I have lost the disk. is there a possiblityyou can help me. I have Parallels installed on my 24" iMac & recently IE 7 (Internet Explorer) has been crashing as soon as I open the application...IE will open the search engine (Google) but as soon as I go to a website it crashes & disappears bringing me back to my desktop screen...I have tried to upgrade to IE 8 & re-download IE 7 again in windows as well as remove the program & reinstalled it but no luck it still crashes...can you proide me with any help?...Thanks Posted by: Rich at September 24, 2008 7:27 AMI have the same problem as described by more than a few people. So I just pasted the best explaination: Now when I try to get into the windows installation, I get the windows XP parrallels desktop. It says windows XP and below it says stopped. Then if I hit the play button on the cd the screen flips over (which is pretty cool) but I get a black DOS screen... 640 KB Base Memory then nothing happens... I think it wants a boot disk, but being new to MAC i have no Idea how to do this... Please Help... -Paul Posted by: John Ennis at September 25, 2008 6:54 PMHi, I have installed XP using Boot Camp. Do I still need to install XP again within Parallels if I want seamless integration? Posted by: ADS at September 27, 2008 10:12 AMDave, when I click on windows xp the error message in the virtual machine screen is non system disc error message File/Users/tanyamorris/Documents/Parallels/Windows/winxp.hdd seems to be not a valid Parallels virtual machine configuration file. Hi Dave, Thanks for the help Posted by: Angel at September 30, 2008 12:58 PMHi, Dave. I installed parallels on my 20'' intel mac. Evertything was fine until the blue screen. At this time, light in my house went out. Started the mac again and tried to open parallels to continue with the installation of windows xp. I receive an error message, asking me to restart the program. I restart parallels but the error message pops again. What should I do to install parallels again without this arror? Do I have to install Mac OS again?
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