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TICKET ARCHIVE -> Parallels using Boot Camp problem.

inaminit - Mar 1, 2007 - 10:44 pm

I've been using Parallels for a little while now to run a couple of apps I can't get for OS X. I wanted to play some games, but quickly found out that some of my games don't want to run through parallels. About this time, Parallels began supporting using WinXP installed on a Boot Camp partition. I downloaded and installed build 3120, and reinstalled WinXP on a Boot Camp partition, and everything was working great. I could run my apps through Parallels, and when I wanted to play a game, I could boot into Boot Camp and the game ran fine.

Along comes build 3150, and all of a sudden Parallels won't use the Boot Camp partition. All I get is the following message:

More than one Windows partitions are found. This is not a standard Boot Camp configuration. Please refer to the Parallels Desktop for Mac User Guide, Using Boot Camp Windows XP Installation chapter for instructions on how to configure Parallels virtual machine in case of a non-standard Boot Camp configuration on your Macintosh computer.

In the first place, there is only one Windows partition on my iMac. I even deleted the partition, and then recreated it with a fresh Windows installation, and still get the same message. Also, there is nothing in the "Parallels Desktop for Mac User Guide" about using a non-standard Boot Camp configuration.

I upgraded to build 3170 when it came out, but got the same problem. I just upgraded to build 3186, and the problem persists. I emailed Parallels about this problem, but can't get them to respond to me.

Have you heard of this problem? Got any ideas on how to fix it? I know a lot of people are happy with Parallels Desktop, but I'm beginning to wonder if I bought a red herring when I bought this software. Mainly because there dosen't seem to be anyone answering email there. Any help you could give me would be much appreciated.

ishan - Mar 4, 2007 - 10:07 am

You might want to completely uninstall Parallels before installing a new version. There is an uninstaller on the .dmg Parallels file. I've had the same problem and that's what the Parallels folks suggested.

Parallels is an amazing piece of software (as is VMWare Fusion) but there are lots and lots of bugs yet to be resolved, and as you already know, hardware acceleration is not an option (yet). I've given up on both Parallels and Fusion for now, despite their utility, and use BootCamp. BootCamp has its problems too...

Hope that helps and please let us know what happens. Thanks.

inaminit - Mar 5, 2007 - 10:28 pm

I tried the complete uninstall, but the problem is still there.

inaminit - Mar 7, 2007 - 12:45 pm

Still not able to use Parallels to access Boot Camp.

inaminit - Mar 8, 2007 - 1:57 pm

Downloaded build 3188 last night. I used the uninstall that came with the packge, and installed the newer version. It to fails to boot windows through BootCamp.