Brief Hands-On Report--Parallels Desktop for Mac 3.0 Build 5158 Release Candidate 2

Parallels released a new build of Desktop for Mac 3.0, Release Candidate 2, and it is available for download from MacUpdate or from this Parallels Web page. This is still a beta. The last final release was build 4560.

What's new in Build 5158

• Recycle Bin integration - Ability to drag and drop files from Windows to Mac OS X trash bin

Bugfixes and improvements in Build 5158

Stability and resources usage

• Overall CPU and memory resources usage - optimized
  
• Random kernel panics on virtual machine startup - fixed
  
• Choppy sound in Windows Media Player 11 in Vista Ð fixed
  

Coherence

• "Show/Hide Windows Taskbar" option - improved
  
• In some rare cases Vista Logoff/Login in Coherence may cause segmentation fault - fixed
  

Parallels Tools

• 'Hi' window sometimes appeares on Windows shutdown - fixed
  
• SIW program crashes Parallels Tools Center - fixed
  
• Drag-n-drop sometimes works incorrectly - fixed
  
• Parallels Tools Center CPU usage - optimized
  

Disks and folders sharing

• Problem with Shared Profile synchronization after reverting to snapshot Ð fixed
  
• Shared Profile - Windows Desktop and Explorer's windows refresh - improved
  

Video and 3D

• Force Suspend for OpenGL Ð added (you can suspend virtual machine with running or crashed OpenGL applications)
  

Other

• F8 key added to virtual keyboard and Send Keys menu

Known issues in Build 5158

Stability and resources usage

• Leopard may be frozen during guest OS installation
  
• In some cases, fatal error E054.01.002 may occur on virtual machine startup
  
• In specific case message about corrupted disk may be shown (just restart virtual machine and it will be OK)
  
• Kernel panic may occur during suspending virtual machine with running OpenGL application
  

Coherence

• Visual Studio may become frozen in specific case
  
• 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

• In some specific case Shared Profile may not be enabled
  
• Some slowness may be noticed during logging off in Windows guest OS
  
• Error may occur during Windows disk mounting to the Finder
  

Boot Camp

• Dynamic OS detection isn't implemented yet
  

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

There seem to be a lot of known issues for a second release candidate.

We uninstalled Build 5144 and downloaded and installed Build 5158 on our Widows XP and Vista Ultimate virtual machines with no problems. Then, we updated iTunes, QuickTime, Windows XP and Windows Vista. We used both XP and Vista for several hours and did not encounter any issues. [Bill Fox]