It's Here! Get the Parallels Desktop Update with Coherence, Transporter, USB 2.0, and more!

After several weeks of very successful beta testing (thanks again to everyone who participated!), the Parallels Desktop for Mac Update is ready for general release!

Starting today, all registered Parallels Desktop for Mac customers can get the Update COMPLETELY FREE. Just make sure that "auto-update" is turned on (menu bar -> Help -> Check for Updates), and you'll get the new build automatically. If you prefer to download it manually, you can get the Update here. Look for Build 3186.

Of course, our 15-day free, fully-functional trial still applies, so if you're a new user and want to check our Desktop for Mac, you can get a trial key and the application at the Desktop for Mac Main Download Page.

There's a ton of new stuff in the Update. Here are a few of the most important features:

• Coherence: Our coolest new feature! With Coherence, you can run Windows applications on your Mac OS X desktop, just like they were native Mac applications. You can even load Windows applications directly from the Mac application dock.
  

Coherence is much cooler to see than to read about, so check out the screenshots below:

Microsoft Project for Windows XP running in Coherence
at the same time as Safari and iPhoto.


Windows applications, ready to load, in the Mac dock

• Parallels Transporter: Upgrade to a Mac, and bring your old PC with you! Transporter will move the entire contents of your Windows PC - OS, applications, files, and settings - to a Parallels virtual machine running on your Mac, meaning that even though you're moving to a new machine, you won't lose any of your data or applications, or have to go through the sometimes painful process of "starting from scratch" with a new Windows install.
  

Transporter also converts VMware and Microsoft Virtual PC images to Parallels images, so its very easy to upgrade to Parallels without losing any uptime.

• “Plug and Play” USB 2.0 support: By upgrading USB support from 1.1 to 2.0, users can now access popular USB devices like external hard drives, printers, and scanners, and use them at full native speed, simply by plugging the device into their Macs. iSight cameras built-in to MacBooks, MacBook Pros and iMacs are also fully supported in virtual machines. There is no complicated setup required to make USB devices work.

• Full-feature virtual CD/DVD drive: Now you can burn CDs and DVDs directly in virtual machines, and play any copy-protected CD or DVD just like you would on a real PC.

• Support for Boot Camp partitions: Run your entire Boot Camp installation, directly in a Parallels virtual machine! You can switch between loading Windows in Parallels Desktop or Boot Camp as often as you need to.
  
  
• True “Drag and Drop”: Easily share files between Windows and OS X by dragging documents and folders from one desktop to another. We made this feature completely customizable to maximize system security.

• Works with Windows Vista: Build a new virtual machine that runs Windows Vista, or upgrade your existing Windows XP virtual machine to Windows Vista, without losing any data or having to reinstall any applications.
  
  

There's a lot more in the Update, but this post is already getting pretty long. You can learn about everything that's new here.

Thanks again for everyone who helped make this the best Parallels Desktop for Mac version yet. We've got a lot more planned for you in 2007!

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Ask Ben Anything: Update final release, customizing fullscreen transitions, changing Parallels hotkey commands

1) When's the RC3 Update going to be released as a final version?

- Anonymous

Very, very soon. You won't have to wait much longer. Keep your "auto-update" turned on!


2) I saw a webinar that you ran where your fullscreen transition was different from mine. That a custom job or is it in Parallels somwhere and I'm just not finding it?

- Karen F.

Parallels has a number of fullscreen transitions to choose from. Click "Parallels Desktop" in your menu bar, then click "Preferences". Click the "Animation" tab, and you'll be able to customize the fullscreen transition, the transition from configuration screen to windowed mode, and if you'd like your Coherence transition animated or not.


3) Can I change the hotkey combos to go to fullscreen and coherence, etc.? I find the default ones wicked annoying and its driving me nuts! Help!

- Angela P.

You sure can. Open up the Preferences menu as described in the previous question's answer, then click the "Keyboard" tab. You can customize hotkey combos here, and select how (and if) you'd like to remap Windows key commands for cut/paste/copy to work with Mac commands.

My personal setup is:

• Fullscreen: alt+option
• Coherence: alt+option+shift
• Release Input: ctrl+shift
• Right-Click: Alt+click
• Keyboard remapping: Full

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Important change to "Ask Ben Anything"

Since I launched it a few months ago my weekly Q&A column, "Ask Ben Anything", has become very popular amongst the Parallels community. Because of the column's popularity and our rapidly growing user base, its getting harder and harder to keep track of the many questions that come in every week.

To help ensure that your questions are getting to me, I've created a new email address - askben@parallels.com - to handle incoming email traffic about the column.

If you have a question, a comment, or a suggestion that you'd like to see in "Ask Ben Anything", please email it to askben@parallels.com. If you send it to my regular email address, I can't be sure that it'll be considered for the column or that you'll receive an answer, because chances are that it will get buried in the hundreds of messages I get every day.

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Ask Ben Anything - Moving a Win2K machine to a Mac, Working with Leopard, USB 2.0 vs. USB 1.1

Quick question. Isn't there a Parallels utility that will allow me to grab an image of my Wintel laptop drive and create a virtual machine from it rather than walking thru a complete install of Win2K plus all of the apps? Thought I'd heard of one.

- Scott T.

You're thinking of Transporter, our free migration utility. Transporter can move an entire Windows 2000, 2003, XP or Vista real PC - OS, apps, settings, files, and all - to a virtual machine running on a Mac. Transporter is in beta now, and will be bundled with the Update of Parallels Desktop for Mac. It will also be available as a stand-alone app for PC users. Transporter will be particularly useful for users looking to move to a new Vista PC, since it will enable them to use Vista, but also have the "security blanket" of their old XP box.


Is this build really compatible with Leopard? How's that possible if its not even out yet?!

- Anonymous

We, and thousands of Mac developers worldwide, have had access to developer builds of Leopard for a few months. This build is completely compatible with Leopard developer builds! When Leopard goes live, Parallels will totally compatible with that, too.


What's all the hype around USB 2.0 support? Is it really that much better than USB 1.1?

- Tanya K.

Actually, yes it is! USB 2.0 supports three data transfer rates: A Low Speed rate of up to 1.5 Mbit/s (187.5 kB/s), a Full Speed rate of up to 12 Mbit/s (1.5 MB/s), and a Hi-Speed rate of up to 480 Mbit/s (60 MB/s).

USB 1.1 only supports Low Speed and Full Speed, whereas USB 2.0 supports all three rates. In short, this means that USB 2.0 devices and ports work MUCH faster than USB 1.1 devices.

What's this mean for you as a Parallels user? By upgrading our USB support to 2.0, you're able to "plug and play" USB devices like printers, scanners, webcams, PDAs, BlackBerries, and more, and use them at full native speeds without any compatibility issues or complicated setup. It's not the flashiest feature in Desktop, but certainly one of the most important!

For more information on USB, check out the Wikipedia article on the subject. This is where I pulled the information on transfer rates.

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Upgrade your XP virtual machine to Vista with RC3

The Parallels Desktop for Mac Update RC3 is here and ready for download! RC3 includes 2 very important enhancements:

1) You can now seamlessly upgrade a Windows XP virtual machine to Windows Vista. This was a much-requested feature, and I'm really pleased to be able to include it. For more information on which versions of Vista you're able to use in a virtual machine, read my blog post on the subject.

2) We've also added new options to drag-and-drop to make it even more secure. In RC3. When you drag-and-drop a file for the first time, you'll be prompted if you'd like to enable "local" or "global" file sharing. Here's the difference

• Global Sharing shares the your entire Mac file system. It is important to note that Global Sharing is DISABLED by default.
  
• Local Sharing shares only your Home folder

It's a nice level of customization that makes it even easier to use Windows on your Mac exactly the way you want.

You can get RC3 at the Main Update Beta Testing Page. As always, share your comments, thoughts and suggestions by emailing them to the Q&A Team.
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Ask Ben Anything - working with iSight, Coherence tricks, loading DOS in a VM

I saw that you introduced iSight support for Windows in the most recent RC. When I click on it in the USB menu, it doesn't load. How do I get that working?

- Anonymous

Yes, its true that we're introducing iSight support into the Update, which should be released in its final form in the next few weeks. Below you'll see how to get your iSight camera working in Windows.

Please keep in mind before you try this that this is BETA SOFTWARE, and that there are still occasional bugs. Back up your virtual machine before upgrading to the Update Release Candidate. You can always go back to build 1970 and reconnect that image if you'd like.

1. Make sure that you're working with the most recent build of the Parallels Desktop for Mac Update.
2. Install Mac Drivers for Windows into your guest OS. You can get these by downloading the Boot Camp installation package, which is available at the Apple Boot Camp site.
   
3. Reboot when prompted.
4. Connect iSight as a USB device to Parallels Desktop. You'll find it labeled as "Built-In iSight" in the USB menu.
   
5. Wait a bit while it is installed.
6. Go to My Computer and see the Apple Built-In iSight shortcut. Double-click it. Enjoy your face :)

I've been using Coherence for a while now, and I've decided that its just wrong to see the Windows taskbar on my OS X machine. But, when the taskbar's hidden, I can't access my start menu or my programs without going back to windowed mode or fullscreen mode. Any workaround for this?

- Jarred L.

Two, actually. First, you can set the Windows taskbar to be visible in Coherence, but set it to "auto-hide" so its only visible when you mouse over it. You can set the taskbar to auto-hide by right-clicking it in windows, clicking "properties" then selecting auto-hide.

Or, if the taskbar is set to be hidden in Coherence mode, you can still access the Windows Start menu by clicking the Parallels Desktop icon in your application dock.


I'm a 62 year old physician, and my office scheduling software runs in DOS. I know, I'm a dinosaur, but I can't justify spending tens of thousands of dollars to upgrade the system to Windows XP. I read that you can run DOS in Parallels. True?

- Bob R.

Absolutely! I actually have DOS running in a VM on my Mac to run Masque Blackjack, a circa 1990 card game program that I've been devoted to since I was in junior highschool.

To load DOS, you'll need to use the Parallels Image tool (or any third party imaging tool) to convert the DOS floppies to .fdd floppy images that can be read on your Mac. Just connect the .fdd to the virtual floppy drive and install as normal. Good luck!

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More on the Parallels/SWsoft relationship

To learn a bit more about the Parallels/SWsoft relationship, and why its great for consumers and for virtualization technology, listen to my recent podcast interview with Brian Ducharme, Editor in Chief of Virtual Strategy Magazine.

To listen, just click on the podcast banner below:


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The Great Parallels Video Testimonial - Our First Winner!

Congratulations to Eric Morales of Fairfax, VA, who was selected by me and my team as the first winner of the Great Parallels Video Testimonial Contest.

Eric has type I diabetes, and uses an insulin pump to control his condition. As with many medical devices, the software that powers it is Windows-only. Eric has a Mac. Rather than buy a new computer, Eric uses Windows XP in Parallels Desktop to keep his insulin pump running, and keep himself healthy.

Hear him talk about it in his own words. He explains it much better than me!




Thanks for a great video Eric, and I hope you enjoy the box of Parallels swag!


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Ask Ben Anything - Vista compliance, managing Windows applications in Coherence, GA version of the Update

I've got build 1848 of Parallels Desktop for Mac, and when I tried to install my new copy of Vista Ultimate, I got told that my machine isn't ACPI compliant and the installation failed. I thought I saw on the blog that Parallels does run Vista, so what's going on?

- Andy K.

Parallels Desktop does run Vista in a virtual machine, but you'll need to upgrade to our most recent publicly available build, build #1970. You can get it here.

In the future, make sure that you have auto-update enabled so you get new builds the minute they come out. You can turn this feature on by clicking "Help" in the Parallels menu bar, then clicking "check for updates". There's a checkbox in there to select auto-updates.



Is there an easy way to add/remove Windows apps from my dock in Coherence? Kind of a pain to go to Windowed mode, open an app, then select "keep in dock".

- Elena N.

There are two easy ways, actually. If you go into your Windows virtual machine file (located in home -> library -> Parallels), you'll now see a folder called "Windows Applications." This folder houses a shortcut to every Windows app you've opened in your VM. Just drag an icon to your application dock and you're set.

There's also a very cool third-party application called Valet which offers easy access to all of your applications, Windows or Mac. Valet will inutively learn which apps you use most, and help you organize them into categories for easier access. I've been playing with Valet on my Mac for some time, and I find it indispensible for quick access to my Windows and Mac applications, especially when working in Coherence. You can learn more about Valet and try it out here.


When will the Update be out of beta?

- Anonymous

Very soon. Development is going well, testing is coming along nicely and we're working hard, so expect this in the next few weeks. Thanks again to everyone who's participating in the beta and helping us make this the best Parallels Desktop version yet.
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