Brief Hands-On Report--Parallels Desktop for Mac 3.0 Build 5120 Beta 2

Parallels released a new build of its Desktop for Mac 3.0 Beta 2 (Build 5120). Note that this build is still a beta and not a final version. The last "final" build remains as 4560. Build 5120 is available for download via MacUpdate or from this Parallels Web page.

The most important fixes and improvements include:

Primary OS support

• Leopard (only build 9a499) may become unusable after installing Parallels Desktop - fixed
  

Stability and resources usage

• Kernel Panics on Mac Mini when VT-x is disabled - fixed
  
• Memory allocation errors - fixed
  
• Running 3D applications may freeze iMac with ATI Radeon 2600 graphic card - fixed
  
• Fatal error E064.07.010 on virtual machine startup - fixed
  
• Memory leak in llipd - fixed
  

Coherence

• Transparent windows display incorrectly - fixed
  
• Incorrect Z-order - fixed
  
• Windows moving speed - improved
  
• Double-clicking the Windows application icon in Dock doesn't bring its window to foreground - fixed
  
• Issues during windows moving - fixed
  
• Tooltips slowness - fixed
  
• Cascade and Tile Windows work with artifacts and windows falls - fixed
  

Parallels Tools Center

• CPU usage - optimized
  
• Parallels Tools Center in Windows 95 can't be started due to a missing symbol - fixed
  

Applications sharing and SmartSelect

• Incorrect Shared Web Applications state after build upgrade - fixed
  
• Can't edit SmartSelect options for paused virtual machine - fixed
  
• Other SmartSelect improvements
  

Video and 3D

• OpenGL performance - improved
  
• Parallels Desktop window resizing issues - fixed
  
• Java applications don't work in VM - fixed
  
• Many DirectX and OpenGL fixes
  

Snapshots

• Check for available free disk space on Mac for snapshots reverting/deleting - added
  

Parallels Image Tool

• Problem with converting old virtual disk image file format to new (BSOD on prlfs.sys in Vista) - fixed
  

Parallels Explorer&Mounter

• Drag-and-drop issues due to some Unicode problems - fixed
  Other fixes
  

Parallels Compressor

• Compressor doesn't execute compacting stage - fixed

That's a lot but there are still known issues with Build 5120. They are:

Stability and resources usage

• In some rare cases, fatal error E054.01.002 may occur on virtual machine startup
  

Coherence

• Windows desktop may show up when transparent windows are used
  
• Transparent windows may be displayed incorrectly
  
• Small artifacts in Expose may appear
  
• In some cases, selected applications may refuse to move to foreground
  
• Automatically bring to front for Windows applications works wrong
  
• Problems with VirtueDesktops
  
• Leopard Spaces are not fully supported
  

Parallels Tools

• Mouse scroll works wrong in Acrobat 8
  
• Parallels Tools Center may use 100% CPU after drag-and-drop operation
  

Disks and folders sharing

• Error may occur during Windows disk mounting to Finder
  

Snapshots

• Segmentation fault may occur while reverting to specific snapshot
  

Parallels Explorer&Mounter

• Some problems during drag-and-drop operations still may occur
  
• Incorrect disk size may be showed

We uninstalled Build 5060 and downloaded and installed Build 5120. Then we updated Parallels Tools in our Windows XP SP2 and Vista Ultimate virtual machines. No problems were encountered in the process. Build 5120 proposes a number of shared folders, a new feature, when the virtual machine is started. From our experience, we recommend unchecking all of the boxes until you know what you want to do. Moving or changing something shared on your virtual machine performs the same operation on your Mac.

We encountered no problems while installing Windows updates on either virtual machine nor during brief use: Web browsing, email and Office 2007. However, remember that Build 5120 is still a beta and there are known issues. [Bill Fox]