Two readers found two different methods of getting around the problem of Mac OS X 10.5.7 not recognizing network attached storage (NAS).

Michael FitzGibbon altered his login items list:

I have a LaCie NAS that has shown this behavior. I had added the share to my login items under the Accounts preference pane so that it would mount on boot. It worked for a while, then it stopped working. I deleted the share from the login items and re-added it, thereby placing the share at the end of the items that started up at boot time. This fixed the problem for me. The share now mounts on boot up.

Chris Lewis changed some file sharing settings:

I have both NAS and NDAS storage volumes and I had trouble connecting to them after the 10.5.7 update. Disabling file sharing and then reenabling it, and then clicking the SMB radio button via options, fixed the problem. No trouble since. Service discovery tools in OS X might need a kickstart. Also, it might pay to check the Mac's ID in WINS to make sure it is broadcasting the right info.

If either of these worked for you (Last week, we reported another workaround for this problem.)

Sun VirtualBox 3.0 looks to multi-CPU server virtualization

Dennis Christopher can't get a VNC remote control to work on a Cisco virtual private network connection using Mac OS X 10.5.7:

I'm having a problem getting VNC to work thru the Cisco VPN client. I am running 10.5.7 and have downloaded the latest Mac client from Cisco. We have a Mac server at work that I can VNC into from the Finder, and it works fine. When I try it from my home environment (10.5.7), theconnection fails.

If you've seen this problem

RealVNC has released VNC Enterprise Edition 4.5 (US $50), a new version of the cross-platform, secure, remote control/desktop sharing software aimed at large organizations. The software is available for Mac OS X, Windows, and Linux/Unix. The new version now supports remote printing from one computer to another running VNC Viewer, even when running different operating systems on each computer. VNC Enterprise 4.5 also supports cross-platform VNC chat between Mac OS X, Windows, and Linux or Unix. Previous versions only support VNC chat between Windows machines.

Group Logic has released MassTransit hotfix 6.0.2x18, a patch for the cross-platform file transfer and workflow software. The hotfix enables support of Unicode text in file and folder names. A knowledgebase article provides configuration information and some limitations with the Unicode support. MassTransit owners can download the hotfix here.

Cory Siansky has the problem with the Mac OS X 10.5.7 update not being able to see network attached storage (NAS storage); But, Siansky can get it mounted using Connect to Server:

I have a WD World Book 1.5TB NAS. My Mac mini identifies this NAS as an SMB share and is configured to mount it as a login item on boot. Up until I upgraded to 10.5.7, this worked flawlessly. Since I upgraded to 10.5.7, I receive a message during the boot sequence indicating that the device could not be found...Read entire story here

Kerio Technologies has released Kerio MailServer Virtual Appliance for Parallels, a virtual machine for running in Parallels Desktop and Parallels Server for Mac OS X. The virtual machine includes a preconfigured copy of CentOS 5.3 Linux as the guest OS, and a preconfigured copy of Kerio Server, the company's groupware solution for Windows, Mac, and Linux. Kerio also has a virtual appliance for VMware software.

Kerio offers a version of Kerio Mailserver directly for Mac OS X, but the Virtual Appliance for Parallels release is meant to take advantage of the benefits of virtualization, such as more efficient use of hardware resources and easy deployment. Kerio Mailserver has similar functionality to Microsoft Exchange Server, but is focused on small-to-medium business enterprises. Kerio MailServer works with multiple Microsoft and Apple desktop clients including Microsoft Outlook and Entourage, Apple Mail, Address Book, and iCal, as well as smartphones.

Three readers sent their reports about the new CrossOver 8.0, software that enables some Windows software to run on Mac OS X, without Windows. Two of those readers report problems with Internet Explorer that they did not see with CrossOver 7.

Eric Ahnell is happy with it:

CrossOver 8.0 is brilliant - it runs all 3 Windows apps I use regularly perfectly! Those are Winamp (2.95, an older version), Silence Remover (an audio processing program) and Castles of Adventure (a game).

Eric La Fleur sees an Internet Explorer issue... Read entire story here

We have more reader reports about Windows crashing in Boot Camp on MacBook Pros with multi-touch trackpads. Jon Mojica has a theory:

The reason why this is occurring to the user is because the chipset from older MacBook to newer MacBook Pro is significantly different to cause the blue screen. The user can try to uninstall the various drivers for the chipset, graphics, and networking hardware of the Boot Camp load first before transplanting the image of the drive to the new MacBook Pro...Read entire story here

Two readers commented on a previous report of the Mac OS X 10.5.7 update causing Windows to crash in Parallels Desktop.

Steve Smith sees the problem:

I have recently experienced the same issue, although haven't downgraded Leopard to try and fix it. The machine worked fine for a couple of weeks after the 10.5.7 update, but now whenever it boots, it gets as far as loading the default apps, but then a short time later, blue screens... Read entire story here

VMware has released VMware Fusion 2.0.5, a maintenance update of the virtualization software for Intel Mac. The company says that the update fixes 80 bugs, and reduces CPU usage when a guest operating system is idle.

Also new is the ability to run Mac OS X Server as a guest operating systems on Macs with Intel Xeon 5500 and 3500 Series processors (based on Nehalem micro-architecture). The release notes also mention "experimental" support for Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard Server as a guest operating system, the previous version also supported Snow Leopard Server. Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard client is supported as a host operating system (32-bit only). The update also now supports Ubuntu 9.04 as a guest operating system, including features the VMware Tools pre-built modules.

See also VMware Tips and Reports. If you've seen tried VMware Fusion 2.0.5

Mediafour's MacDrive 7.2.9 is a maintenance update to the software that enables Windows to read and write Mac-formatted storage media MacDrive also enables Boot Camp users to access the Mac partition from within Windows. The update fixes a problem with Boot Camp and Windows Vista 64-bit where drive letters were not being assigned to Mac drives. It also fixed a problem where no drive letters were assigned to GPT disks modified by iPartition.

Amy McVay verified a workaround for the Leopard/Virtual PC incompatibility where Windows can't see the internal drive:

I just wanted to let you know that adding an external drive worked great for me. Third party software is installing right now.

Microsoft Virtual PC for Mac is a discontinued Intel emulator for running Windows on PowerPC Macs. (See also Virtual PC 7 Tips and Reports.)

Long-time MacWindows contributor Peter Kloss believes an application on Exchange Server causes the problem of plus (+) symbol in email messages causing Entourage to not syncing with Exchange Server 2007. Kloss reports:

Emails not syncing from Exchange to Entourage because there is a '+' in the subject line are usually because the application URLScan has been installed on the Exchange Server to improve the security of IIS. By default it blocks certain characters in URLs including the '+' sign that could be used to construct malicious...

...Read entire story here

Chris Hansen responded to a previous report about Macs dropping off of Active Directory every 15 days. Hansen believes it is due to the use of Faronics' Deep Freeze, software that takes a snapshot of the state of a Mac and returns the Mac to that state every time it boots. He also offered a solution:

In our case, the only Macs that dropped off the AD after 15 days were those in our school labs. On those, we use Deep Freeze for Mac, and the machines would request and receive a new machine password after 15 days. After rebooting, all changes are lost to the Mac (great for keeping a lab pristine) but not to the AD. So the Macs would use the previous password, and the Network Accounts would stay unavailable, seen in the login window as a Red Light.

If this is your situation, in Terminal:

Dsconfigad -passinterval n

Where n = number of days before the machine password expires. O will set it to never, 365 will set it to a year, etc. The default from Apple is 15 days, and it is not a problem for us with unfrozen machines.

I first saw reference to this at this blog.

If you've seen this issue with or without Deep Freeze, or tried this approach,

Andrew Ariotti reports having a problem we reported two years ago about Macs that won't start up when clients are configured to connect to both Microsoft Active Directory and Apple Open Directory. Ariotti is using Mac OS X 10.5.7, and found that our two-year-old solution worked.

Like Brad and Justin I am having this issue as well. I'm running the latest 10.5.7 version of Leopard. I've been tinkering with the AD and OpenDirectory authentication integration in OSX for the past few days and things have been working great until this morning. I came in and was greeted with my Mac Pro not wanting to boot. I did some investigation and found a Crash Report that was looping and never stopping no matter how long I waited. The crash report was for the Directory Services process and it was trying to run but then would crash. With the help of a co-worker we were able to find your site and use Brad's solution above and it worked like a charm. It'd be nice to know what causes this to happen.

If you've seen tried this approach

Surendra Perera of Sydney, Australia, reports that binding to Active Directory prevents NFS file sharing from working. She said that Thursby Software ADmitMac fixes the problem:

One of the problems I am facing with the Macs is that while using mobile accounts and bound to the Active Directory (Windows Server 2003 R2), via Apple's AD Plug-in, I am unable to browse/write to NFS mounts (Netapp Filer) with permissions 750 or 770 through Finder. In the terminal I am able to with no issue...

...Read entire story here

Randall Araquistain verified a previous report that ADmitMac fixed a Leopard SMB file share issue caused by migrating from Windows Server 2003 to 2008:

We have been trying to get Mac computers with OS X to authenticate to a Windows 2008 server with no luck. I found this solution at MacWindows and it works great. Very easy solution and the SMB client included in ADminMac works great with Windows Server 2008. Shame on Apple for not fixing a simple and required function for any computer in a corporate environment with Leopard.

Ozgun Ataman confirms a previously reported problem with the Cisco VPN Mac client access to certificates:

I wanted the confirm the following problem: Although all certificates are visible under the keychain and the Cisco client itself, I cannot select them from the pull-down menu in the connection setup.

If you've seen this problem

CodeWeavers yesterday released CrossOver 8.0, a major new version of the software that enables Mac OS X and Linux to run Windows applications natively, without the use of the Windows operating system. The new version adds support for more Windows applications and improves the performance of Outlook and Microsoft Office 2007 running natively on Mac OS X and Linux. The company said that users can now install Service Pack 1, and that Outlook users with large offline data files should see noticeable speed increases... ... Read entire story here

Derman Enterprises released Sync'Em 1.30, an update to the Mac software for syncing iCal and Address Book with Microsoft Exchange and Google Gmail and calendars and contacts. The new version works around an Exchange Server issue and a limitation with Google contacts. Sync'Em 1.30 also includes a new, simplified setup assistant that helps everyone easily use the full power of advanced Sync'Em setups.

Sync'Em can sync multiple configurations, each involving multiple information sources with each syncing bidirectionally or unidirectionally. Sync'Em has its own sync engine that syncs non-Apple sources directly, enabling it to sync Exchange-to-Exchange, Exchange-to-Google and Google-to-Google, as well as syncing these sources with Apple iCal and Address Book. Sync'Em can also perform multi-source conflict resolutions in one interaction.

Two readers responded to Monday's report about a problem with Entourage 2008 not being able to sync with Exchange Server's inbox.

Mike McCallum found a fix that involved editing the Windows Registry on the server:

We had been fighting this for a number of weeks and after many hours with Microsoft Tech Support, our Windows engineers resolved using the solution listed below.

As discussed find the below commands which helped in resolving this issue...

... Read entire story here

Patrick updates his previous report about a problem accessing network attached storage (NAS) with the Mac 0S X 10.5.7 update:

I just note that if I connect my Mac to the network with cat5 Ethernet cable, the NAS can be detected as usual. If I connect my Mac to the network by wireless, the NAS cannot be detected. And, when I check it with the "arp" command the NAS returns with the correct IP but shows the MAC address as incomplete.

If you've seen this issue

Alex Oumantsev is looking for a script that can check for a Mac connection to Active Directory, similar in function to one for Windows:

I am trying to come up with a script that would check to see if the Mac is connected to AD (i.e. users can authenticate off AD), and if the Mac is not connected, to connect it to AD using the hostname (with some formatting).

So far I found the dsconfigad command, that allows:

dsconfigad -show

However this seems to only show the local setup of the machine, not the real AD connectivity status. My test machine is an example. It was cloned from another machine that is connected to AD, and now it still thinks it is connected to AD, but it will not allow me to log in and authenticate off AD, rather it will only login from a local account.

Is there an equivalent of a Windows command netdom.exe verify "hostname" /d:"domain" which actually checks the connection validity?

If you know the answer

Charlie Galliher had success setting up Mac OS X Server using the article How to Use Active Directory and Macintosh Clients without Schema Changes:

It was pretty intuitive - I bound it to AD and then set up the server as an OD master, and I can populate my permissions with my AD account users & groups. I also wiped out the config and then rebuilt it - just to see how much trouble we'd be in if an update cracked the binding - seems pretty manageable.

Thanks for the FAQS - they are appreciated!

Tommy Birchett verified that removing a kerberos config file solves a problem with Macs losing binding to Active Directory: "We are seeing this problem pop up more frequently now. Deleting the Kerberos file works."

Gazz has the problem of deleting email from Entourage, sometimes:

I have started having the same problem about four weeks ago. But interestingly it seems to depend on where the mail comes from. From individuals, it seems to delete. But my work mail from the company server will not. I thought that it was something that they had done until I saw this post.

If you've seen this problem

Allyn Martin has an Entourage user who can't see his Exchange Inbox:

We have lost ability to sync or see Inbox messages from Exchange in Entourage 2008. OWA and Outlook on the PC work fine. We are at wit's end why one user cannot access/see his Inbox items. We can see the size reported back to us with content there. I broke down the Size of Inbox to be more manageable.

Deleted Cache and all items are gone: it doesn't rebuild listings except Deleted Items, Junk Mail and 1 inbox folder containing 2 eMails from 2006 in it.

Now we are looking at permissions on the Exchange 2007 server to see what it could be. We just migrated last Thursday fine and it was working until Monday AM - then BOOM!

If you've seen this problem

Last month, we had reports of corruption of Entourage 2008 databases, though we don't know if Martin's problem is related.

Randy Bishop verified a cycle of Windows in Boot Camp crashing then rebooting endlessly:

I just wanted to add my two cents. I recently mirrored my old MacBook's hard drive onto a brand new MacBook Pro only to find that the Vista side of things booted to a blue screen fleetingly before it restarted automatically. I tried running the automatic repair on the Vista installation disk, but it was not able to repair it. I am still trying different things to fix it, but to not much avail.

Based on what I have read, it sounds like the problem could be RAM related, or possibly the Mac drivers are screwed up somehow- these are just guesses though. I really don't want to reinstall from scratch, because I have a ton of software on there that will take weeks to fix.

If you've seen this problem

Alisa Kerr reports that updating to Leopard 10.5.7 causes Windows in Parallels Desktop to crash:

After installing the Mac OS X 10.5.7 update, the Mac hangs on a Windows blue screen. I'm running Parallels using Windows XP. I uninstalled application enhancer but it did not fix the problem. I had to reinstall OSX 10.5.4

If you've seen this problem

Today Parallels demonstrated new technology that will be part of future high-end virtualization products for Mac OS X. The technology, called Direct Assignment, can dedicate an entire Mac Pro's graphics card to a virtual machine for graphics and for general processing, resulting in native performance for a virtual machine. For a Mac Pro with three NVIDIA Quadro graphics cards, two can be dedicated to two virtual machines.

Parallels currently uses the technology in Parallels Workstation Extreme for Windows and Linux, which shipped in April.... Read entire story here

Yesterday, Google posted an early build of a Mac version of Chrome, a new web browser that has been available for Windows. Google calls this build a developer release that is "not appropriate for consumer use." Basic features such as printing and bookmark importing are not yet working. Google also released the first Linux build of Chrome.

Last year, CodeWeavers beat Google by releasing CrossOver Chromium, a Mac port that used Google's open source code and CodeWeavers WINE open source code. CodeWeavers said that the port was also an early version, a "proof-of-concept" build. CodeWeavers is the developer of Crossover, software that enables Mac OS X and Linux that to run Windows applications without Windows or virtualization software. CrossOver Chromium is a standalone application that doesn't require the Crossover product.

Laura Smith verified a previously reported fix for problems with Mac OS X 10.5.x displaying network file shares. The fix was shutting off a Leopard advanced firewall setting called Stealth:

After working many hours on the problem of not seeing other computers on the network, in addition to having my Airport settings constantly reseting themselves, I found and followed Kevin Wheeler's suggestion and changed the firewall settings of "Enable Stealth Mode" to off. I could see the other computers on the network instantly. Thank you for your post Kevin!

Philip Mayall confirms a previously reported problem with Mac OS X 10.5.x where files on Windows shares randomly disappear from view:

Regarding your report Windows shares appearing and disappearing from the Mac's view at random, this happens to me on my iMac 2.66 Intel Core 2 Duo running 10.5.7 connecting to my WinXP machines.

Previously, we reported a workaround that involves removing a space at the end of the name of files and folders on the Windows shared drive. If you've tried this fix for this problem

Eli Rarey provide some more details on the problem of Windows crashing in Boot Camp on MacBook/MacBook Pro's with the last Multi-Touch Trackpad update is installed. (Apple released the update last February.) Rarey reports:

In my Vista 32 Boot Camp install on my unibody MacBook Pro, I find that if the multi-touch trackpad driver update is enabled, I get a random blue screens of death between 1 and 30 minutes afterward. I can get an instant, absolutely guaranteed blue screen of death if I enable the trackpad driver and open a program called xpadder, which is used to turn input from USB connected joysticks into key strokes (often used to play Windows games using an Xbox 360 controller, very popular). The only time I have experienced a BSoD in this install of Vista is when the updated driver is enabled. Once it is disabled, everything runs as before the driver was updated.

If you've seen this problem

Antony Harris says that the previously reported workaround doesn't work for a problem with garbled email in iPhone, Entourage and Exchange:

I am also experiencing the garbled message problem. This is almost certainly an Entourage problem as if I look at the same messages using Outlook (2007) the messages are fine.

The given workaround is not viable for me as I send emails from a number of different places, including the webmail interface to Exchange. To your knowledge is there a more "workable" fix which actually addresses the issue rather than working around it?

One reader said that this caused by a problem with ActiveSync and Entourage. We've reported two workarounds, here and here. If you've seen this problem

The Enterprise Desktop Alliance is hosting a mini-conference event on June 17 in Reston, Virginia. The Alliance will present solutions to common issues wit integrating Macs in a Windows environment. Presentations will be made by cross-platform solutions developers Atempo, Centrify, Group Logic, LANrev, and Parallels.

On Friday, Thursby Software Systems announced a new product, ADmitMac for PIV, a new addition to the company's line of Active Directory integration software for Mac OS X. ADmitMac for PIV provides Macs with a single sign-on environment using a U.S. government Personal Identity Verification (PIV) card instead of a password. The software verifies a PIV card against a centralized network authority in Active Directory. It also lets Entourage 2004 or Outlook Web Access users access Exchange Server email with a PIV card instead of passwords... Read entire story here

Tomorrow, June 2 (10am PT/1pm ET), the Enterprise Desktop Alliance will hold a webinar called Integrating the Mac into a Windows Infrastructure - 5 Case Studies. The session will describe how organizations use multiple products to deploy, integrate, and manage Macs. It will also describe strategies and technologies that keep the total cost of Mac ownership comparable to Windows systems. (Click here to register.)

Members of the Enterprise Desktop Alliance include Parallels (virtualization), Group Logic (file/printer services), Centrify (Active Directory integration), LANrev (remote client management), and Atempo (enterprise backup that can backup to an Apple XSan).

Two more readers sent reports on the latest Mac version of Sun's VirtualBox virtualization software. David Iwanicki has an unusual setup. He's running a Dell notebook hacked with Mac OS X, then using Virtual Box to run Windows 7 Beta. (There are directions on how create a "Hackintosh" on a Dell notebook here.) He's also running VirtualBox on a real Mac. He has problems with both... Read entire story here

Julian Darley is another reader seeing the problem with Mac OS X 10.5.7 update and NAS storage:

I am having major issues between my MacBook and a 1 TB WorldBook NAS. The connection has never been great, but now, on the rare occasions when the MacBook recognizes the drive, the chances are high that during a file transfer the connection will just be dropped. Mind you, I continually have to renew the DHCP lease on this Mac, and the problem might even be worse with 10.5.7.

If you know of a workaround

Just when you thought you'd seen everything, a video at YouTube shows what happens when you have a Citrix client installed on an AppleTV to get access a Windows PC running XenDesktop. The video shows an AppleTV user turning a TV into a PC, editing a PowerPoint presentation and viewing video from a desktop on the big screen.