Brief Hands-On Report--Parallels Desktop for Mac 2.5 Build 3188 is Out

Parallels Desktop for Mac 2.5 Build 3188 is available for download from this Parallels Web page and, at least theoretically, via Check for updates in the application. But we have Build 3186 and, for some reason, the Check for updates menu reported that our Desktop for Mac is up to date.

We couldn't find out what has been changed but we downloaded the stand-alone updater anyway. We follow this procedure for a so far trouble-free installation:

1. Use the Uninstaller in the opened .dmg file to uninstall Desktop for Mac Build 3186.

2. Run the Installer to install Build 3188.

3. Launch each virtual machine in sequence (we have Windows XP SP2 and Vista Ultimate.

4. The Parallels Tools installer pops up so run it. If it doesn't automatically appear (this time it did for both of our virtual machines), select "Install Parallels Tools" from the Action menu. When done, restart the virtual machine.

5. Run Windows Update.

We did this for both virtual machines and they were updated flawlessly. Both ran without a hitch. [Bill Fox]