Brief Hands-On Report--Parallels Desktop for Mac 3.0 Build 5144 Beta

Parallels released a new beta build of Desktop for Mac 3.0, Build 5144, and it is available for download from MacUpdate. Build 5144 replaces Build 5120 released just over a week ago. Note that Build 5144 is still a beta, even though Parallels is calling it a "release candidate," and as such has some bugs. The current "final" Build of v3.0 is 4560.

What's New in Parallels Desktop 3.0 for Mac Release Candidate (Build 5144):

Coherence 3.0

• Bringing Windows notifications to front

The most important fixes and improvements include:

Primary OS support

• Uninstaller doesn't work on Leopard 9a499 and 9a500n - fixed
  

Stability and resources usage

• Overall CPU and memory resources usage - optimized
  
• Memory subsystem initialization error when 2048 Mb allocated to virtual machine - fixed
  

Coherence

• "Show/Hide Windows Taskbar" option - improved
  

Parallels Tools

• Virtual machine frozen after Parallels Tools update - fixed
  
• Large resolutions support - added
  
• "Hi" window on Windows shutdown problem - fixed
  
• Mouse scrolling problem in Adobe Acrobat 8 - fixed
  
• Parallels Tools Center CPU usage - optimized
  

Disks and folders sharing

• Shared folders may become unavailable after resume - fixed
  
• In some case Shared Profile can not be disabled - fixed
  
• Disabling Shared Profile causes multiple error messages - fixed
  
• Mac frozen during virtual machine startup when Shared Profile is enabled - fixed
  
• Shared Profile in Boot Camp - disabled
  

Video and 3D

• Autodesk Inventor Pro 2008 crashes - fixed
  
• Inability to use ATI Radeon 2600 graphic card with iMac in some cases - fixed
  
• DirectX and OpenGL performance - improved
  

Parallels Explorer&Mounter

• Mounter as a default application for browsing HDD files
  
• Command+Up & Command+Down support - added
  
• Columns view: listing the same column items using the keyboard shortcuts - added

As a beta, there are still some known issues, a few more than in the previous build:

Stability and resources usage

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

Coherence

• In some rare cases Vista Logoff/Login in Coherence may cause segmentation fault
  
• Windows desktop may show up when transparent windows are used
  
• Start button in Vista may become blank (just move mouse pointer over it and it will be OK)
  
• Transparent windows may be displayed incorrectly
  
• Small artefacts in Expose may appear
  
• Accidental artefacts after unminimizing windows from Dock may appear
  
• Problems with VirtueDesktops
  
• Leopard Spaces are not fully supported
  

Parallels Tools

• Parallels Tools Center may use 100% CPU after drag-and-drop operation
  
• In rare cases Coherence service may not be started
  

Disks and folders sharing

• Some slowness may be noticed during logging off in Windows guest OS
  
• Error may occur during Windows disk mounting to the 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 displayed
  
• Transmission between different columns with keyboard is not available yet

We downloaded Build 5144, uninstalled Build 5120, installed Build 5144 and installed the new Parallels Tools in each of our virtual machines, Windows XP SP2 and Vista Ultimate. No problems were encountered during installation nor during fairly extensive use over the holiday weekend. [Bill Fox]