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News update July 22

Group Logic to add DFS support to ExtremeZ-IP

Friday, July 25, 2008

Group Logic said that it is working on adding Microsoft's Distributed File System (DFS) to a future version of ExtremeZ-IP, an AFP file and printer server for Windows for supporting Mac clients. Group Logic is accepting applications for beta testers of the new version, but has not announced a ship date.

Group logic is asking people interested in beta testing the new DFS-enabled version of ExtremeZ-IP to email a brief description of current or planned DFS requirements and configuration to dfs at grouplogic.com.

Microsoft DFS is a set of SMB client and server services that can present users with a group of shared folders that actually reside on different servers. DFS can work on a large scale over an enterprise and over WANs.

Got Boot Camp? You need MacDrive 7

MacDrive 7 lets you access your Mac OS X partition, and all other Mac disks, from within Windows. Mac disks look and act like standard Windows disks. Windows apps can open and save files directly on Mac disks.

Check Amazon's pricing for MacDrive

MacDrive update addresses Parallels,VMware, BootCamp

Friday, July 25, 2008

Yesterday, Mediafour released MacDrive 7.2.1, a maintenance update for the Windows software that enables Windows to read and write to Mac-formatted disk media. MacDrive also enables Windows running in Boot Camp to see the Mac disk partition. This update addresses a few issues with running Windows on a Mac with a Boot Camp partition.

The MacDrive 7.2.1 ensures that the Mediafour product activation when running Windows/Boot Camp with VMware Fusion and Parallels Desktop. The update also fixes a Boot Camp a problem with Windows hibernation that caused and "disk consistency issues." The update also includes various other bug fixes.

If you've used MacDrive 7.2.1

CrossOver Games 7.1 fixes bugs related to Windows games

Friday, July 25, 2008

Yesterday, CodeWeavers released CrossOver Games 7.1, and update that enables Mac OS X to run certain Windows games and applications, without using Windows. The update fixes bugs related to running a number of games, and is available for the Mac and Linux versions of CrossOver Games.

CrossOver Games owners with active support entitlements can download the update at the CodeWeavers site, logging in with the email and password used when purchasing.

If you've used CrossOver Games what you think of it.

For more on CrossOver, see our CrossOver Reports page.

Parallels Desktop 3.0 for Mac Run Mac, Windows programs without switching between Windows and Mac OS X! Launch a Windows app by clicking on a Mac file. Hide the Windows desktop. 3D Graphics hardware acceleration. The best of both worlds.

Another case of "access_denied" printing error with Leopard 10.5.4

Friday, July 25, 2008

Michael Jalkut has the same printing problem reported on July 15 regarding an "access_denied" error when printing to a Windows printer. Oddly, Jalkut can print from Windows running a virtual machine, but cannot print from Mac applications:

I'm trying to print from Leopard 10.5.4 to Windows XP SP2, which is connected to a shared USB Canon MP470.

I've spent a week now trying every setting and every thing and program I could get hold of.

I can print with no problem from Fusion on the Mac. But from OS X, nothing much.

I get the same symptom exactly as you reported on July 15.

I did get it to print once using DAVE on the Mac. But even that was only after a day of trial and error. That must have been a fluke, because I can't do it again. I tried ExtremeZ-IP with no luck. I tried singleclick, and maybe a couple more. Only DAVE showed any sign of life.

If you've seen this problem

IPSecuritas VPN problem with Leopard 10.5.4 update

Friday, July 25, 2008

After updating Leopard to 10.5.4, John McCutcheon discovered that his IPSecuritas virtual private network client now longer works:

I use IPSecuritas on a MacBook Pro running Leopard to connect to my office PC running Windows XP using the MS Remote Desktop Connection (RDC) for Mac. It worked great until I installed the 10.5.4 update. When I tried to log on, IPSecuritas shows that my IPSec VPN is connected but I cannot ping anything on my remote network, nor can I connect via RDC. I know the remote network is O.K. because I can connect to it fine using PPTP VPN running on a WinXP machine and run Remote Desktop via PPTP VPN.

If you've seen this problem

For more on related topics, see our Leopard VPN Tips and Reports page.

Time-limited specials from the Apple Store:
Refurbished iPod touch. Apple certified, good as new.
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Got a cross-platform problem or fix?




Problem Reports and Fixes

HOT TOPICS

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MAC OS SPECIFIC ISSUES

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Older versions


July 22

Sun hopes to take VirtualBox mainstream

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Sun's xVM VirtualBox isn't found on as many Macs as Parallels Desktop or VMware Fusion, but Sun has ambitious aspirations for its free desktop virtualization software.

"We want to be the FireFox of virtualization," said Andy Holl, Sun's senior product manager for xVM VirtualBox.

Giving away VirtualBox away as open source software is one way to do it. In May, Sun was claiming 10,000 downloads a day for the Windows, Mac OS X, Lixux, and Solaris versions...

Reader says Parallels work just fine with dual 30" displays

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Gary Stahara responded to previous reports that Parallels desktop didn't support enough graphics RAM to support two 30" displays. It works just fine for him:

I've got two Apple 30" displays and can run Parallels (Windows XP Pro SP2) in Coherence mode with both screens working just fine on my Mac Pro with nVidia 8800GT. Maybe the people having problems with this haven't updated Boot camp to 2.1 or have the most current video drivers. Everything works great for me.

If you can verify this

Reader says 10.5.4 didn't fix Adobe file saving issues with Win Server

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Tony Sterckx in Belgium is having problems with saving Adobe files to Windows Servers. He is running Leopard 10.5.4, which Apple reported as having fixed the problem. Sterckx reports:

We work on a daily basis with Adobe and Windows Server 2003. Since Leopard came along, we noticed Adobe failing to save InDesign, Illustrator or Photoshop files on our server. Various problems like:

  • Opening in read-only
  • File not found upon saving
  • Error saving

I don't know how many of these things have been fixed by previous updates, but I work on 10.5.4 and some still occur on my Mac, and even more with some of my colleagues.

If you've seen this problem in Mac OS X 10.5.4 or know of a fix

Reader question about Macs and MS Index Server

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Thomas Lüthi in Zürich, Switzerland asks:

We have a share (Windows 2003 Server). We do also have Windows and Mac clients and would like to search for files on the server via the MS Index Server on it. Is it possible with Windows and Mac clients to access to MS Index Server on the Windows server to search for and find files on this share?

If you know the answer

Reader verifies AD fix for 0-kb file problem

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Matt Wheeler verified that adjusting Active Directory fixed Leopard's 0-kb file copy problem.

Neither 10.5.3 nor the 10.5.4 update fixed this issue, but the tweak explained at MacWindows fixed it. Windows Server 2003 + User accounts in Active Directory security groups = Unhappy Mac. Used to work fine in 10.3.X and 10.4.X. Upgrading to 10.5.X broke it for us. Thanks for this fix!

Neither 10.5.3 nor the 10.5.4 update fixed this issue, but the tweak explained here fixed it. Windows Server 2003 + User accounts in Active Directory security groups = Unhappy Mac. Used to work fine in 10.3.X and 10.4.X. Upgrading to 10.5.X broke it for us. Thanks for this fix!

Reader verifies hostconfig fix for Leopard AD login problem

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Tim P verified a previously reported fix for a Leopard problem logging into Active Directory after one user has logged in. The fix involved editing the hostconfig file. Tim P also offered a correction:

I tried the fix posted by Stuart Sims regarding "Problem and fix for Leopard AD: First user okay, subsequent users can't login" posted on www.macwindows.com/LeopardAD.html...

Read entire story here

Cisco VPN Client and Verizon EVDO USB Modem

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Greg Stasko had problems getting a Cisco VPN connection through a Verizon EVDO USB Modem. He had better luck with Apple drivers instead of using the Verizon software:

I'd like to report success note to include in your Cisco discussions. For quite a while, I could not get my USB EVDO Modem from Verizon to work with the Cisco VPN client, 4.9.01 (0100)...

Read entire story here





July 18

VMware says previously addressed bug in OS X can hang Mac, offers workaround

Friday, July 18, 2008

Yesterday, VMware posted an article about a bug that can hang the Mac and corrupt the virtual machine. The company also offered a configuration change as a workaround until the bug is fixed. However, VMware previously stated that the Fusion 1.1.1 update dealt with this same problem and did not require the configuration change...

RAM may cause VMware Fusion crashing Leopard

Friday, July 18, 2008

John Adams think a bad RAM module was causing VMware Fusion to crash Leopard:

I wanted to reiterate Greg Kyle's post from November 19, 2007. Since installing Fusion on my MacBook Pro, my OS X was crashing and restarting every 8-10 minutes.

I think it was actually a faulty memory card that I had installed. Since removing the new 1G that I had installed, I haven't had the problem.

Today we also reported that VMWare said that problem in Mac OS X is causing VMware to freeze Mac OS X when a certain preference setting is made.

Click here for our VMware Tips and Reports page.

TIP: Workaround for AutoCAD, Parallels file locking issue

Friday, July 18, 2008

Larry Martin sent an update to his previous report AutoCAD in Parallels Desktop and a file locking problem. He said that using Bridged Networking instead of Shared Networking gets around the problem:

I have an update on this issue. If you use Parallels Shared Networking and share your Mac shares with Win XP, the file locking does not function as expected with other Parallels users using the same networking configuration. You MUST use native Windows file sharing on all installations and not use the Mac shares...

Parallels VRAM limitations on 30" display an Coherence mode

Friday, July 18, 2008

A reader reports that the 64 MB of video RAM is not enough to run Parallels coherence mode on a 30" display:

With only one 30" monitor, I am unable to run Parallels in Coherence mode. It appears that on my system, 64MB of VRAM is insufficient for only one 30" monitor. I've reverted to Single Window mode and have had no additional problems.

System: Mac Pro (early 2008) Leopard 10.5.4 - 10GB RAM, Parallels 5608, Win XP Pro SP2 w/ 2GB RAM allocation and 64MB VRAM.

64 MB of VRAM is the most that Parallels Desktop will support. Earlier this week, another reader reported that Parallels Desktop doesn't have enough video RAM support to run two 30" Apple displays.

If you can verify this

Click here for our Parallels Tips and Reports page.

(Related story: tip for using 30-inch display in Boot Camp.)

Nividia video drivers fix fuzzy Boot Camp problem

Friday, July 18, 2008

Ben Staveley reported a blurred screen in Boot Camp, but drivers fixed it:

I recently installed Windows XP on my Mac Pro. When I was in Windows, all the text is half blurred and hard to read. I played around with the resolution settings but it didn't solve the problem. When I go back to the Mac side, it's all fine.

I sorted out the problem: installing the Nvidia drivers made it work.

If you've seen this

MacDrive 7.2 gets 64-bit Vista compatibility

Friday, July 18, 2008

Mediafour has released MacDrive 7.2, an update to the software that enables Windows to read and write to Mac-formatted HFS+ and HFS drives. MacDrive 7.2 adds compatibility with the 64-bit version of Windows Vista. MacDrive has been compatible with the 32-bit Vista since version MacDrive 7.0 shipped last year. Mediafour also said that version 7.2 includes ?minor improvements and revisions."

MacDrive 7 supports a variety of media types, including hard drives, CD-R/RW, DVD-R/RW, iPods, flash drives, DMG virtual disk files and more. It can also enable Windows running in Boot Camp to recognize the Mac partition. MacDrive 7 supports USB, FireWire, IDE, SATA, parallel port, and other interfaces supported by Windows.

The update is a free download for owners of MacDrive 7 and is US $20 for owners a earlier versions. A new copy of MacDrive 7 is US $50.





July 16

Apple sues Mac clone maker Psystar for tradmark, copyright infringement

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Apple has filed suit against Florida-based Psystar for selling computers preinstalled with Mac OS X Leopard and Mac OS X Server. Apple filed the 16-page suit in U.S. District Court in San Francisco on July 3, alleging copyright and trademark infringements, and other wrongs to Apple. Florida-based Psystar began selling a $400 tower in April, and added a rack-mounted server...

Read entire story here

Reader suggestion for printing from Parallels

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Kyle Anderson adds to our reports about printing from Parallels Desktop with a suggestion for people printing from Windows in Parallels Desktop:

I was also having problems printing on both the Mac and through Parallels. I thought I needed to have the printers set up through Windows since that was where I used them the most. I was terribly wrong. For some reason, it just didn't seem to be stable enough. It hardly worked. I then deleted all of the printers from the PC side and installed them on the Mac side. I made sure I had the latest version of Parallels and I downloaded Bonjour to run on Windows. I have not had a single problem since, even through the networked computers.

For more on Parallels, see our Parallels Tips and Reports page.

Parallels VRAM limitations and dual 30" displays

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Robert James points out that Parallels Desktop doesn't have enough video RAM support for two big monitors:

What build 5608 does NOT fix: Because Parallels only provides 64MB of video RAM we are unable to run Vista 64 and Leopard in coherence mode on two Apple Cinema 30" monitors. The problem arises when attempting to stretch a Vista window onto the second monitor: apparently the number of pixels needed exceeds the video memory's limit.

If you can add anything useful to this

Clarification on Cisco VPN AppleScript tip

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

A reader pointed out an issue with an AppleScript we posted as a fix for a Leopard problem with the Cisco VPN client for Mac OS X. He said that the script appears to be self-referential, calling to run itself in the script.

We asked the script author, Eric Benfer, for a clarification about the script, which is called VPNClient First Aid when compiled. He said that the purpose of the self reference is to bring VPNClient First Aid to the forground after attempting to reset the Cisco VPN Client. Benfer said:

I believe he is talking about this line:

tell application "VPNClient First Aid"
activate
set didItStart to display dialog "Did the Cisco VPNClient start successfully?" buttons {"Yes", "No"} default button {"Yes"} with icon 2 with title "Alert!"

Once the VPN subsystem has been reset the script starts the Cisco VPN Client. After it starts it brings the AppleScript back into the foreground to display a dialog box asking if the VPN client actually started. If it started all is good. If it did not start the script recommends a reboot.

The "activate" command is being used to make sure the user sees the dialog box that the AppleScript is displaying.

If you've tried Benfer's Applescript

Update in using USB in Virtual PC with XP SP3

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Fred Horva updated his report about USB problems with Virtual PC 7 and Windows XP SP3:

There was something obvious I forgot to mention in my 05-19-08 response to Etienne Mathieu. That is in the Virtual Machine Settings USB needs to turned on. Plus sometimes you need to actually check the box for each device for Windows that you wish to use. This may or may not be Etienne Mathieu's issue but sometimes each individual USB device needs to be activated besides just USB.





July 15

Snow Leopard’s Exchange support won’t deliver Outlook parity

July 15, 2008

Snow Leopard's "out-of-the-box support" for Microsoft Exchange 2007 is the only new user-level feature listed at Apple’s Snow Leopard preview page. The rest are under-the-hood enhancements. But for those longing for Entourage alternatives, Snow Leopard’s Exchange client won’t be the Mac equivalent of Outlook in terms of functionality. It might not even be an Entourage...

MacWindows Leopard VPN Tips and Reports reorganized

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

We've reorganized our reports on Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard's problems with virtual private networks on a new Leopard VPN Tips and Reports page. The reports are now organized into categories for easier browsing.

Update to tip on enabling Windows to see Leopard file sharing

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Arvid Tomayko-Peters sent a revisal to his June 16 tip for enabling Windows to see Leopard file sharing. He adds one more setting change to his previous suggestion:

Actually, what seems to have done the trick (in OS X 10.5.4) is to set not only the workgroup in the Network settings > Advanced > WINS tab, but also to enter a custom name for the Mac...

Read entire story here

Printing error ("access_denied") with Leopard 10.5.4

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Xavier Hernandez reports seeing a printing problem the yields an error "NT_STATUS_ACCESS_DENIED" for printers attached to Windows PCs. We had a lot of reports about this for Tiger, as well as a number of suggested fixes. Hernandez is seeing this on Leopard, and has some ideas, but no fix:

From Leopard, I can see an HP Printer (Color LaserJet 2600N) hooked to a Windows XP computer on the company network (we are on the same subnet, workgroup,etc). I can see it and add to my printers. But when I try to print, I see the job sent to the printer, but stays there and a message that says NT_STATUS_ACCESS_DENIED...

Read entire story here

TIP: Using a pre-SP2 Win XP installer in Boot Camp

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Cathal Gallagher responded to a report about what to do if you accidentally install Windows XP without Service Pack 2 in Boot Camp. Gallagher has a suggestion on how to use a pre-SP2 XP installer: 070908c

If you want to install an older version of XP on you Mac (such as might be the case if your site license does not recognize Windows boot discs with SP2/SP3 preinstalled), you can create a version that "slipstreams" the service pack during the installation using a program such as nLite.

If you've tried this approach

Suggestions for Vista update problem in Boot Camp

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

A couple of readers responded to our report about interrupting an update of Windows Vista in Boot Camp, and then being unable to boot.

Michael Sneider offered an explanation:

This was a bug in either the first version of the Windows Vista SP1 release or one of the updates right before the SP1 release. I don't recall all the specifics, but I do distinctly remember reading about the endless Stage 3 boot recycle. The solution, I think, was to reinstall Vista all over again. The broken MS updates have since been replaced with corrected versions.

Mike Vidal suggested doing a "repair install" of Windows Vista and then trying the upgrade again. However Vista does not have XP's Recovery Console, and does not have a repair install. But Vista does have a "repair your computer option." We found some info on Windows Vista repair here. There's some info here about reinstalling Vista.

If you reinstall Windows in Boot Camp, you'll need to reinstall the Apple drivers.


For older news, see the News Archives.




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