Control a PC from a Mac over the Internet

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MacWindows News Archives

News from January 2006 through June 2006

CrossOver will run each Windows application will in a Mac OS X Window. There is no Windows desktop or start menu; Windows programs can minimize in the Mac OS X Dock. CrossOver has a Programs menu in the Mac OS X menu bar that lists Windows applications.

Crossover is not a virtualization environment or an emulator. For instance, document files created by Windows applications are stored in Mac folders, not in a virtual disk image or a separate partition.

Jeremy White, CEO of CodeWeavers, said that CrossOver will not run every Windows application, but will focus on a set of tested applications. White said that the 1.0 version will be optimized for Outlook, Project, Visio, and HalfLife 2, but other applications should work. White also said that because CrossOver has support for the Intel Mac’s native graphics, it will be able to run PC games.

Because CrossOver doesn’t require the user to own a copy of Windows XP, the total cost of ownership will be lower than any emulator/virtualization solution, and lower than Apple’s free Boot Camp solution. CodeWeavers expects to sell CrossOver for US $50, and expects to ship it at the end of July.

CrossOver for Mac OS X is port of the Linux version that CodeWeaver now sells. CrossOver is a commercial version of the open source WINE software for Linux and Unix. White said that CodeWeaver is the leading sponsor of the WINE project. A Mac port of WINE, Darwine, is still in the early stages of development.

Another PC virtual machine for Intel Macs: iEmulator goes universal. June 30, 2006 -- iEmulator.com has released iEmulator 1.7.9 (US $24, free updates) of its x86 emulator/virtual machine environment for Macs. The new version is the first to be a universal binary, which runs on Intel-powered Macs as well as PowerPC Macs.

The 1.7.9 version also has a new user interface, is easier to customize, and has improved documentation, according to the company. iEmulator includes some of the features found in Virtual PC, including the ability to access Mac files and folders from Windows, the ability to run multiple virtual machines, and quick PC state saving. Unlike Virtual PC (and like Parallels Desktop), iEmulator requires that you own your own copy of Windows.

If you’ve tried iEmulator 1.7.9 on an Intel Mac

June 28

Guest PC 1.9.5 emulator improves video. June 28, 2006 – Yesterday, Lismore Software Systems released Guest PC 1.9.5 (US $70, free upgrade), a new version of the X86 emulator for running Windows on PowerPC G3, G4, and G5 Macs in Mac OS X.

The new version Guest PC adds a native Windows video driver that supports native Mac screen resolutions, higher resolutions than in previous versions. The new driver also supports wide screen displays.

Guest PC 1.9.5 also fixes a bug with incorrect detection of network adapters if a Mac had several active network interfaces, and fixes some FPU emulation errors.

Loren Olson has tried version Guest PC 1.9.5 and is pleased with it:

The new release of Guest PC now contains the Mac native video driver.  And it performs as it is supposed to.

Like Microsoft Virtual PC, Guest PC lets you switch between Windows and Mac OS X desktops at will.

Lismore has said that it is working on a universal binary version for Intel Macs, but has not announced a schedule for release. 

BetterZip offers Win, Linux compression on Macs. June 28, 2006 -- BetterZip is a new Mac OS X compression utility from MacItBetter ($20).

BetterZip is a Cocoa application that can archive and decompress in multiple Windows and Linux/Unix formats, including zip, jar, war, ear, tar (tar, tgz, tbz), gzip, and bzip2. Unlike the built-in zip feature of Mac OS X, BetterZip can handle multiple files.

The developer, Robert Rezabek, told us of another feature not found ZipIt, an older utility:

BetterZip has a function to "clean" archives: It will remove resource forks and Finder settings from the archive (those ugly  __MACOSX folders and ._ files) when you need to exchange data with Windows or Linux users..

For information on other cross-plaform compression tools for Mac OS X and for Windows, see our Compression product listings page.

e2Sync Tiger 2.8 fixes PalmOS bug. June 28, 2006 -- e2Sync Inc has released e2Sync Tiger 2.8 ($27.30), an update to the utility that syncs Microsoft Entourage with cell phones, PDAs, and iPods through the Mac OS X iSync utility. The new version fixes a bug that affected communications between a Mac and a PalmOS device.

Fix verified for Entourage password problem using calendar reminders. June 28, 2006 -- Lars Berger verified one of the suggestions for fixing password problems with Entourage logon. The suggestion that worked for Berger was the workaround we reported on Monday, regarding removing calendar reminders. Other workarounds we've reported didn't work for Berger:

I use one account for Entourage 11.2.3 an 11.2.4 on several machines with Exchange. On one computer it gives me the password problem; the other Macs work without problems. I tried deleting all Entourage and Microsoft files, synced again, the annoying password dialog popped up again and again. The suggestion with the deleted mails won't work, so I tried deleting a calendar reminder and finally it works.

June 26

TIP: Problem and fix with Office files in Entourage. June 26, 2006 -- Steve Neale found that the 11.2.4 Update to Entourage 2004 fixed a problem he was having with attached office files on an Intel Mac:

About two weeks ago I logged a comment at Mac Mend about Entourage's failure to download attachments, particularly PowerPoint (but often Word and Excel files too) onto my MacBook Pro. The response that I got was that this was a common problem and that no one seemed to have any answers.

I was about to switch back to Mac Mail and Safari, when I noticed the 11.2.4 update at Mactopia. I'm happy to report that Entourage now seems totally compatible and that I have had no such problems since.

If you've seen this

Reader fixes Entourage password problem using calendar reminders. June 26, 2006 -- We reported serveral workarounds suggested by readers for password problems with Entourage logon. For Matt Davies, one of the previously reported fixes did not work, but he found a fix of his own:

I was having exactly the same problem: Entourage kept telling me that the username password pair is not right, even though it is correct. It's not locking me out on the Active Directory. I've tried deleting all deleted items, no luck there.

I've solved the problem in my instance. It was something to do with the reminders I'd put into my Calendar. After I'd removed all the repeated reminders, the ones that happened every day, the system returned to normal.

If you've tried this

New Entourage, old problems. June 26, 2006 -- Mary Olive reports having Entourage problems we reported almost two years ago, but with the latest version:

I and a few other users are having problems similar to those reported (disappearing email, contacts, and calendar items) in the Entourage/Exchange page of MacWindows.com. The recommended fix in September 2004 was not to use Entourage. 

Unfortunately, the problems occurred after the Entourage 11.2.4 upgrade on two machines.

Reader says yes to SMB fix of digitally sign communications off. June 26, 2006 -- Alan Houtzer verified that turning off digitally sign communications fixes SMB problems, not just for 10.4.6, but for all Tiger versions:

Yes, this works. I have been using this setting to allow our Mac users to sign onto Windows 2003 Server ever since Tiger first came out…No problem since then.

VPN Tracker 4.7 adds support for Linksys. June 26, 2006 -- Equinux has released VPN Tracker 4.7 (free update), a new version of the universal virtual private network client for Mac OS X. The new version adds the ability to connect to several additional VPN devices: the Linksys RV042 and RV082 VPN routers the Netgear FVG318 ProSafe Wireless VPN Firewall. Version 4.7 also fixes several problems with DNS servers in certain circumstances. VPN Tracker supports over 250 VPN routers.

June 22

Groupcal 3.4: Exchange-iCal integrator is updated. June 22, 2006 – Yesterday Snerdware released Groupcal 3.4 (US $55), an update to the Mac OS X 10.4 application that lets you access and manage your Exchange Server calendars from Apple's iCal. Version 3.40 improves the integration of invitations, adds the ability to support customized Exchange Server logins, and fixes bugs.

Groupcal can synchronize iCal and Exchange events and tasks, book people and meeting resources, and view free and busy times, among other things.

Workaround for Exchange/Entourage password problem helps some. June 22, 2006 -- Matt Davies tried the suggested workaround from earlier this week for password problems with Entourage logon problem. It didn't work for him:

I'm having exactly the same problem as described: Entourage keeps telling me that the username password pair is not right. It is though, and it's not locking me out on the Active Directory. I've tried deleting all deleted items, no luck there.

Alex Foessel found that the suggestion of erasing previously delete mail helped:

Just to let you know that recently I was becoming frustrated because Entourage (v 11.2.3) was failing to communicate with exchange (Exchange 2000) via VPN (F5 FirePass).

The error message was something like "exchange can't receive mail, do you want to enter your password again". This would happen every few minutes and put Entourage in offline mode. Usually a painful restart of Entourage would fix this.

As the tip suggested, I erased the deleted folder (with 1200+ emails) from Outlook client on work laptop (connected via same VPN). After the usual short wait for everything to get synchronized, Entourage went through longer than usual sync of exchange data.

Now it stays connected (at least has for the last hour or so) and works fine. Thanks for the tip.

Just as a reference, I keep about 9000+ emails in my "processed" folder. But such large number of emails does not seem to bother exchange or entourage. It puzzles me why fewer emails in the deleted folder would make the connection brittle.

We note that Foessel was using Entourage 11.2.3; Microsoft released version 11.2.4 a little over a week ago.

Tip: Fixing password/username issue with Win 2003 Server. June 22, 2006 -- A reader in Switzerland could not login to his Windows server from his Mac until he made a configuration adjustment on the server. A reader in April came to the same conclusion.

I was unable to login my Mac 10.4.x into the Windows 2003 Server. I was keep getting Errors that either my Password or User Name is wrong although they were perfectly correct all the time when I tried. The only way it would work was when I installed a trial version of AdmitMac or DAVE. With this extra software I had basically no problem. Then one day I tried to Disable "Microsoft sign communications (always)" and what a surprise it worked. Even when this option is Not Defined my Mac would not login. So you really have to disable this option, Not Defined will not work.

You'll find this setting under: Default Domain Controller Policy \ Computer Configuration \ Windows Settings \ Security Settings \ Local Policies \ Security Options, find "Microsoft network server: Digitally sign communications (always)." Define this policy as "Disabled." ("Not Defined" will not work.)

If you've tried this

June 19

Tweaking SMB in Tiger Server. June 19, 2006 -- A reader named Mike believed that Mac OS X 10.4.x Tiger changed the way the Samba SMB file server worked. With previous versions of Mac OS X Server, he could do some standard tweaking of SAMBA by editing the smb.conf file. He found that with Tiger Server, the changes caused SMB to stop working. He found a solution, which we’ve posted on our Mac OS X Server Reports page.

TIP: Exchange/Entourage Password problem. June 19, 2006 -- Laura Lunetta sent us another workaround for password problems with Entourage logon:

I experienced this problem a few months ago, and resetting the passwords for the troubled accounts seemed to work. However, this week, I could not for the life of me resolve the password problem. When logging in, the mailbox would begin to download mail, then pop up with the "invalid password" problem.

In reading your page on this, I tried the things that I could do without involving the network administrator. The one that surprisingly worked? I logged into the account via a browser, and emptied the deleted items folder. Voila!

If you've tried this

Fix for 100s of SMBD processes also works for Tiger client. June 19, 2006 -- Marek Wawrzyniak saw the problem of slow Mac OS X 10.4 performance with Windows file sharing clients logged on, caused by hundreds of SMBD processes on Tiger. While previous users saw this on Tiger server, Wawrzyniak had the problem on the Tiger client. The fix for the server also worked on the client:

Tiger 10.4.6 client (not server) starting in Terminal:
smbclient -L localhost -U% and I have 500 smbd processes. The solution from Nouhaud fixed all problems (adding -F parameter).

June 16

Parallels Desktop virtualizer ships for Intel Macs. June 16, 2006 -- Yesterday, Parallels released the shipping version of Parallels Desktop, a virtual machine application for running Windows, Linux, and Unix on Intel-powered Macs.

Parallels Desktop has some of the Mac OS X integration features found in Microsoft Virtual PC, which runs on PowerPC Macs. When Parallels’ Parallels Tools is installed, users can cut and paste and move files between Mac OS X and Windows. Parallels Desktop can run Windows full screen or in a Mac application window. Parallels Desktop comes with a disk compression utility called Parallels Compressor that can compress virtual hard drives by over 50 percent.

The company says that performance is “near native,” partly do to the software’s support of the virtualization technology built Intel Core Duo processor.

Parallels Desktop can run any version of Windows, from 3.1-to- XP and Server 2003)in Mac OS X. It can also run Linux, FreeBSD, Solaris, OS/2, and eComStation.

Parallels Desktop is being offered for US $50 through July 15, and $80 after that. Users must supply their own copy of Windows.

Reader says avoid spaces in Active Directory login names. June 16, 2006 – An aonymous reader passed along this bit of advice for Mac login names in Active Directory:

Another thing to add regarding AD integration in general. We had a real cow trying to get our Macs working on AD with Tiger 10.4.6 (think it would happen though with all Tiger point releases).

Our AD domain uses friendly name for logins... i.e John Smith as opposed to John.smith or Johnsmith...

Spaces do not work and you end up getting a read-only profile if you login with it. It took us ages to work this out and solve it. We proceeded to get around it by giving all our user names a pre-Windows 2000 login, which doesn't have spaces.

Suggestion for Tiger printing problem with AD Windows 2003 printers. June 16, 2006 -- To prevent the problem with Mac OS X 10.4.x printing to Windows Server printers in Active Directory networks, Dan Ball suggests using Services for Unix on Windows Server 2003 to enable Macs to print to it:

We have always had a Windows server for printing. With OS 9 we used AppleTalk; when we switched to OS X we turned off AppleTalk and installed "Services for Unix" on our Windows 2003 print server.  Then to setup a printer in 10.4 you simply add an "IP Printer" and give the Server address and Queue name of the printer and you’re done. We have been running 10.3 and 10.4 like this for about two years now without any problem.

Ball also says the 10.4.6 update fixed an SMB file sharing problem;

For Mac users saving to network shares we use SMB and have two file servers. Without the 10.4.6 update, if share permissions were set to change/read on a Windows share, OS X couldn't save to that share.  Seems to be fixed now with 10.4.6.

Fix for Entourage email attachments not getting thru Exchange. June 16, 2006 --Rich Ailes was the first reader to report problem of Entourage email attachments failing to get through Exchange. Now he offers a solution:

Last week I reported an Entourage Exchange client failure sending large attachments. We are using version 11.2.3. I'm happy to report that the failure is now fixed, although the fix is a bit incomprehensible.

I had set up the Exchange client while we were still connected to our old corporate sponsor's Internet gateway. So our Exchange Server was on our new corporate network while our Internet access was using the old corporate proxy. (This is a WAN network connected thru VPN devices and we were transitioning away from a former corporate host).

This week we completed the final part of a network migration, switching Internet access to our new corporate proxy. When I went back to test the attachment issue again, the attachments went through fine.

So somehow having our corporate Exchange server and our corporate proxy all on the same network segment did the trick.

If you've tried this

Upgrade for AddressX, access Exchange GAL from Address Book. June 16, 2006 -- Snerdware has released AddressX 1.3 ($20), and upgrade to the Mac OS X software that enables Apple Address Book to access Microsoft Exchange’s Global Address List (GAL). Version 1.3 is now a universal binary for Intel and PowerPC Macs, adds the ability to control background processing, and fixes several bugs.

June 14

Microsoft releases Office 2004 Update 11.2.4; more updates on the way. June 14, 2006 -- Yesterday, Microsoft released Office 2004 for Mac Update 11.2.4. The update includes security improvements as well as other types of fixes for Entourage 2004 and PowerPoint 2004.

Microsoft warns that this update could cause data loss in certain situations with Entourage SP2 11.2.0. The website suggests some measures to take to prevent this problem.

( if this update addresses some of the recent problems we’ve reported on our Entourage/Exchange reports page.)

A Microsoft spokesperson also said that the company will be releasing two more updates over the next month: Office 2004 Update 11.2.5 and, for the older version of Office, Office X Update 10.1.7.

Readers confirm problem with Tiger printing to AD Windows Server printers. June 14, 2006 -- Two readers confirmed a problem with Mac OS X 10.4.x printing to Windows Server printers in Active Directory networks.

Christopher Cover:

I, too, have this problem. I would usually resort to direct IP printing for these clients. However, of late, specifically with various HP printers I have had even the IP printing go bad and had to resort to the HP Direct printing option. Glad to know I wasn't nuts. Sad to know there is no fix forthcoming.

Jay Valambhia

I would also like to confirm this problem. We have several sites running Active Directory on Macs with 10.4.x, and all of them fail to authenticate with network printers. So much so that we have had to revert to AppleTalk (shriek).

More on problems with Entourage/Exchange attachments. June 14, 2006 -- Several readers responded to our report about Entourage email attachments failing to get thru Exchange. Terry White wrote:

I have seen this problem with sending attachments over 300KB. It will hang right around 300KB during the sending process. If I stop it, disconnect from VPN, reconnect to VPN and wait for all my connections to start syncing up again (calendars and such) and then send, it will usually go through.

Ron Vyskocil:

We are having the same problem with Entourage and our Xserve. We recently installed a new Mac Mini Intel Core computer as our email station and loaded the latest Entourage and it's update. When we attached to the XServe over our network and try to attach a file for sending with the emails, Entourage locks up and does not continue making a force quit the only way out. If we copy the attachments to the Mac Mini desktop from the server first, then attach file, it sends fine.

Stephen Gageby is not seeing the problem:

Our company is using a 2003 Exchange Server and I'm running a G-5 Mac dual processor, with Mac OS X 10.4.6, and Entourage as my E-Mail application. I’ve had no problems moving files, mostly JPEG pictures, through our exchange and the Internet.  I do reduce each file to somewhere around 500k or 600K in size, but our folks send a lot of big graphic files and we are having no problems.

If you've seen this

Mac Server/AD expert dies in accident. June 14, 2006 -- Mac OS X Server expert Michael Bartosh died last weekend in an accident in Japan. Bartosh wrote about OS X Server and Active Directory, among other things, occasionally sending us tips and links to how-to articles that he authored. There are accounts here and here from people who knew him.

(Thanks to Santino Rizzo for alerting us to the sad news.)

June 12

DirectControl update adds AD Group Policy control of Macs. June 12, 2006 – Centrify has updated DirectControl 3.0 for Mac OS X, software for integrating Macs and Unix/Linux clients into Microsoft Active Directory. The update, which, like the previous build, is called "version 3.0," is a free download for existing customers.

The main new feature is the ability to centrally secure and configure Mac OS X systems through Microsoft Group Policy. The Admin software can now remotely configure 50 of Mac OS X settings, usually found in Mac OS X System Preferences; the company will add more in the future.

Through the domain controller, an administrator can set a policy for a user or for a computer. When set for a user, the Mac will check with the Domain for policies at login, so the pre-set Mac configuration will appear at whatever Mac the user is logged into. With computer policies, the Mac will check/update settings at bootup and at periodic intervals.

Like the previous 3.0 build, this DirectControl 3.0 build is for PowerPC Macs. Centrify said that it would release an Intel-ready version 3.0.1 by the end of June.

Centrify DirectControl for Mac OS X pricing begins at $50 per desktop or workstation and $300 per server.

Fix verified for Intel Mac UAM problem with Win Servers. June 12, 2006 -- Steve Baxter verified the tip we posted last Friday, that the UAM that comes with Mac OS X 10.4.6 fixes the UAM incompatibility with Intel Macs:

I noticed a couple of days ago that I could now connect to AFP shares on our W2K servers from my Intel iMac - we require the UAM, so this definitely works!

The previous reports on this issue are now on a new MacWindows report page called Cross-Platform Issues Specific to Intel Macs.

Remote control of a Win PC from a web browser. June 12, 2006 -- We’ve added UltraVNC (free) to our list of cross-platform remote control solutions. UltraVNC is based on the open source VNC cross-platform remote control software, but has some additional features. UltraVNC runs on Windows (95, 98, Me, NT4, 2000, XP, and 2003). It doesn't require you to install software on the Mac. UltraVNC includes an embedded JavaViewer that allows you to remotely control the Windows machine from a Mac (or other OS) using a web browser. UltraVNC also supports file transfer.

(Thanks to John Williams for the tip.) 

Tiger printing problem to AD Windows 2003 printers. June 9, 2006 -- A reader who wishes to remain anonymous reports a known problem with Tiger printing to Active Directory networks:

We have a problems connecting to Windows printers from Tiger over Active Directory on Windows 2003. This problem has been bugging us for some time now, as we have many hundreds of Macs in our company.

I've recently raised this with some senior Apple UK people and they confirm the issue will not be fixed in a point release. That says to me that we will be waiting for the next major OS release before it's fixed. I did raise the fact that it worked in Panther perfectly.

We have managed to briefly get around the NO_STATUS error, by connecting via Windows Printing.  The error seems to go away for us when we get the opportunity to enter an AD user name that doesn't have spaces in the name or special characters in the password.

There's an Apple article from last year that describes this.

If you've seen this

June 9

TIP: OS X 10.4.6 includes UAM that works with Intel Macs. June 9, 2006 -- Michael Perbix reports that a Microsoft UAM that comes with Mac OS X 10.4.6 works on Intel Macs to connect to Services for Macintosh on Windows servers:

It has been mentioned that the MSUAM to use Services For Macintosh on Windows 2000 servers does not work on Intel Macs. Interesting note in the 10.4.6 Server Knowledgebase is that Apple included an enhanced MSUAM for Intel machines.

There was no mention in the 10.4.6 client update, however, it does indeed work, for BOTH PPC and Intel machines. If you go to /Library/Filesystems/AppleShare/Authentication and remove the MicrosoftUAM.uamx you can STILL connect to SFM shares set to REQUIRE MSUAM.

If you use the GO and CONNECT TO SERVER and type in the server name, you are presents with a normal AppleShare authentication dialog.  However, I can confirm that I am connecting in the same manner as MSUAM....since the server does NOT support connections otherwise.

If you've tried this fix

EntourageABMenu 1.5. June 9, 2006 -- Jonathan Nathan has released EntourageABMenu 1.5 (US $10), an update to the Mac OS X software that provides system-wide access to Microsoft Entourage address book data. A menu provides phone numbers, email and postal addresses, URLs, and notes. From the menu, you can trigger an action such as creating a new email or displaying an address on a map. It supports long passwords and encrypted authentication.  No other details have surfaced yet.

Some of the new features include:

• Menus for sorting contacts by city, state/province, and country.
• Multiple-word searching (such as search by name and company together)
• Better handling of large numbers of contacts
• User interface enhancments and bug fixes

MountWatcher reconnects to file servers automatically. June 9, 2006 -- Script Software released a new Mac OS X application called MountWatcher (US $20), which can automatically mount volumes and SMB and AFP shares. MountWatcher provides a list of networked volumes with a stored username and password. You can mount volumes from this list. MountWatcher will also automatically reconnect to a server when it goes down and comes on line again, and will remount a volume after a Mac wakes from sleep stage. MountWatcher can also wake sleeping computers that you are trying to access on the network.

Entourage email attachments fail to get thru Exchange. June 9, 2006 -- Rich Ailes can't send Entourage messages with attachments. He gets a –3259 error instead. His report:

Our company now has its own Exchange 2003 system and the admins have tweaked settings to allow the Entourage Exchange client to work well. My particular site uses Public Folders extensively and the Entourage Exchange client allows us to see these and use them, something that was missing in the IMAP client.

Then I tried sending emails with attachments and to my dismay anything over a few hundred K would just hang for a few minutes and eventually fail, returning an error -3259 with the message "An operation on the server timed out. The server may be down, overloaded, or there may be too much net traffic", which is an obvious erroneous message because the server and client continue to sync up, displaying the same messages in my Inbox that I see on my PC Outlook side (I work on both platforms).

This is a real showstopper as our company is heavily graphics oriented with lots of PDFs traveling around via email.

If you've seen this problem

June 8

Guest PC 1.9.3 emulator adds performance, compatibility improvements. June 8, 2006 -- Lismore Software Systems has released Guest PC 1.9.3 (US $70, free upgrade), and update to the x86 emulator for running Windows on PowerPC G3, G4 and G5 Macs.

The company said that the update adds a 15 percent increased performance over the previous version, due to the addition of an MMX instruction set. Version 1.9.3 also improves printing to Mac printers and better stability and compatibility with Windows applications. The new version also fixes a number of bugs.

Lismore Systems has previously announced that it is creating a universal binary version that will run on Intel-powered Macs. The company has not issued a release date.

You can read more about Guest PC and other emulators for Power PC Macs on our Alternatives to Virtual PC special report page.

Groupcal 3, Exchange for iCal, now Intel Mac native. June 8, 2006 -- Snerdware has released Groupcal 3.33 (US $55), an update to the Mac OS X utility that enables Apple’s iCal to access and manage Microsoft Exchange calendars.

Version 3.33 is a universal binary, running natively on Intel-powered Macs. It also offers improved protection against a corrupted Mac OS X Sync Services, as well as provides several fixes.

Groupcal can synchronize iCal and Exchange Server events and enables iCal to book people or resources, among other things.

SMB/CIFS sensitivity on Intel Macs. June 8, 2006 -- A reader named David reported a problem with a MacBook accessing SMB servers. He change the “smb://” URL to “cifs://” and the problem disappeared:

I had two new Tiger users show up today. The G4 X.4 had no problem connecting, but the MacBook showd NO servers, SMB or Mac [AFP].

So why does the one G4 work OK? And why does the MacBook show NO servers?

The G4 user suggested something for the MacBook and it works. In the Go menu’s Connect to Server, don't use this: smb://192.168.1.8

But instead use this: cifs://192.168.1.8

And it does work.

CIFS stands for Common Internet File System, basically an updated SMB. Microsoft wanted to rename SMB and call it CIFS, but the name never really stuck. Sometimes the file sharing protocal is referred to as SMB/CIFS.

If you’ve seen this phenomenon

Reader verifies fix for Tiger problem with Linux Samba server. June 8, 2006 -- A reader named Tony verfied a fix to a problem with Tiger 10.4.6 not connecting to Linux SMB servers. The problem was caused by Linux Samba server 3.014; upgrading fixed the issue. Tony said:

Yep, this solved my problem on a company production server.

The Windows clients had no problems mounting SMB after the upgrade I did from woody to sarge, but the Macs wouldn't do it. Installing the "testing" version of samba (3.0.22) solved it for me.

Fix for 100’s of processes problem verified. June 8, 2006 -- Bill Raab verified the fix for the problem of hundreds of SMBD processes appearing on Mac OS X SMB file servers with Windows clients. The solution involves editing the launchd file.

In regards to your suggested solution I tip my hat. It worked wonderfully. This problem was easy to reproduce. I tried after implementing your fix and it worked. 

The fix is described on our Mac OS X Server reports page.

June 5

Fix for Exchange KB 911829 patch/Entourage bug. June 5, 2006 -- Last week, Microsoft has issued Version 2 of the KB 911829 patch for Exchange Server. The first version of the KB 911829 patch caused a problem with Entourage where users can’t see updates to recurring calendar events. It also causes a problem where Entourage users receive blank email messages.

James Caudill describes the "patch of the patch:"

You will notice that the download has been updated with a 'V2" in the binary name (Exchange2003-KB911829-v2-x86-ENU.exe). This was released on may 31.

Erik Bowling also tried it:

I just got word of the fix for issues with 911829.  I had to uninstall the patch to keep my 30 Mac users happy. Not a lot of fun!  Here is what Microsoft just sent me:

Dear Valued customer the release of the hotfix update to KB: 911829, is now available for download on the web… Mode of release: The Version 2 of KB 911829 can be downloaded from the download center…

Craig Chambers discribes one of the problems caused by the first patch:

We are having this problem as well and I can confirm that it happens after installing the KB 911829 patch. After we installed the patch, all our Entourage users reported getting blank emails. So far we haven’t found a fix and I am considering trying to uninstall the Exchange patch since we have no versions of the Vista beta in our office.

Another Ctrl-Alt-Delete mapper for Boot Camp. June 5, 2006 -- Input Remapper is another workaround for the lack of Ctrl-Alt-Delete keys in Apple’s Boot Camp for Intel Macs. Input Remapper is a Windows keyboard mapping utility similar to remapkey.exe, which we reported last week.

(Thanks to Michael Perbix for the tip.)

Novell Netware hangs Finder in OS X 10.4.6. June 5, 2006 -- Neil Gowran reported a problem with Mac OS X 10.4.6 and Netware for Mac. The web page is calls it "Finder Process Hanging with AFP - TID10101049." The workaround is to delete the fix the .ds_store file. From the Novell web site:

Symptom: A problem where Mac OS 10.4X workstations accessing a NetWare 6.5 SP5 server get a hung Finder process (Finder sits at 30% + CPU in Activity Monitor). Once the finder is hung, it doesn't refresh any folders when files are changed on the network volume. Testing with 10.4.5 & 10.4.6 of Mac OS have same problem. Exists with NW65 SP3, 4 and 5. The problem is NOT with MAC OS 10.3x

Cause: ...ds_store file in the root of the share was corrupt. (In one case had no rights.)

Fix: Delete or give rights to the .ds_store file

fact What is .DS_STORE file?: Under Macintosh OSX .DS_Store holds the information which controls the way a folder will be opened; i.e., the shape and size of the window, the position of the window on the desktop and whether file, folder or icon view has been selected. If you were to delete the .DS_Store the folder would revert to the system default next time it is opened and a new blank .DS_Store would appear (invisibly).

June 1

Parallels Desktop beta 2 is released. June 1, 2006 – Yesterday, Parallels shipped Parallels Desktop for Mac Release Candidate 2, the second pre-release version of the PC/Windows virtualization software for Intel-powered Macs. (See our Windows on Intel Mac reports page for more on Parallels.)

Parallels said that Release Candidate 2 is the “final test version” of the software before it is formally released as a shipping product, which the company said would ship in a few weeks. In addition to bug fixes and optimizations, the second beta adds some new features, including:

Supports Parallels Compressor Server technology, a disk management tool that reduces the size of the virtual drive by 50 percent or more. 

• Automatic network adapters now switch on-the-fly
• Customizable full-screen mode
• Customizable Ctrl + Click mapping
• Guest 32-bit color support when Parallels Tools is installed

Parallels Desktop for Mac RC2 is a free download, good for 30 days. The official shipping version will cost US $80. Parallels is offering a US $50 pre-shipping price that includes the Compressor (which is also available as a separate product).

TIP: Sending QuickTime movies from Mac to Windows. June 1, 2006 -- Bruce Birnel described a problem he had, and how he resolved it:

I had problem sending a QuickTime file to my PC using friends that they could view in the PC version of QuickTime.

I created a video file in iMovie and exported and saved it to disk using Share/Compress Movie for Email specs.

Using Entourage, tried using AppleDouble as my encoding method; the Windows users couldn’t open the file. I then resent the file using Windows (MIME/Base 64) encoding in Entourage. This time they could open the file, but got an error message stating that a certain component was missing. Upon trying to play it, all they got was the audio. No video.

The problem was that the PC users had version 6.x of QuickTime. My version of QuickTime was 7.1. I found out that I was sending them a file encoded using the H.264 video codec. Version 6.x does not have the ability to decode files encoded with H.264. As soon as they upgraded to version 7.1, they were able to view my file.

Reader verifies fix for AD Firewall problem with Active Directory, OS X. June 1, 2006 -- Sebastian Hagedorn verified a fix listed on our Active Directory reports page. The problem is one of Mac OS X's Active Directory binding setup hanging with an unknown error in step 5 of 5. The problem occurs after a FireWall is installed.

Hagedorn said:

Opening port 464 UDP saved my day. After reading the entry at MacWindows I opened port 464 UDP in our Cisco ACLs and now I can bind our Macs to AD.

None of the Windows experts here were aware of this port, so it hadn't ever been opened.

MacTech to tap Intel expertise. June 1, 2006 -- MacTech magazine is partnering with Intel to publish a series of how-to articles for developers on optimizing software to run on Intel Core Duo-powered Macs. MacTech said that the articles will go beyond creating universal binaries. Topics will include vectorization, threading, and optimizing performance on each of the processor’s execution cores.

The series, called Optimizing and Peak Performance on Intel-based Macs, will begin in the July issue. For people who are not subscribers, MacTech is offering the six-issue set for $19.95 in the US. (US $25.95 in Canada, US $44.95 international.) A full year’s subscription in the US is normally $47.

May 2006

May 31

ADmitMac, DAVE updated for universal binaries and PPC enhancements. May 31, 2006 --Thursby Software Systems today released free updates to ADmitMac and DAVE, the company’s Mac software for compatibility with Windows networks. ADmitMac 3.2 and DAVE 6.2 are now universal binaries that run natively on Intel-powered Macs as well as PowerPC Macs. The new versions also include increased performance and stability on PowerPC Macs.

DAVE is an SMB file sharing and printing client/server. ADmitMac combines the SMB capabilities of DAVE with Active Directory integration features.

(For more on integrating Macs and Active Directory, see our Active Directory Reports page.)

More Entourage problems caused by Exchange KB 911829 update: blank email replies. May 31, 2006 -- Last week we reported that Exchange Server Update KB 911829 causes a problem with Entourage where users can’t see updates to recurring calendar events. Tom Francais reports that this isn’t the only problem caused by the update, which Microsoft released to support the Windows Vista beta. He says:

When an OWA user replies to an HTML email, the reply may appear blank to an Entourage user. Our Entourage users reported receiving blank email messages just hours after MS KB 911829 was applied to our Exchange server. We're still waiting for a fix from Microsoft.

Steps to reproduce the problem: 1) Send a new HTML email from Outlook 2003. 2) Reply to email from OWA using IE in Windows (the OWA Premium interface) 3) Open the reply in Entourage. Body of message appears as a horizontal line without text.

It appears the editor in OWA's Premium interface (available only through Internet Explorer in Windows) is generating bad HTML. Entourage doesn't know how to handle the bad code. The same HTML message is displayed correctly in other email clients (Apple Mail, Thunderbird, OWA, Outlook). If a reply is sent from OWA using Firefox or Safari (the OWA Basic interface), HTML is converted to plain text and is readable when opened in Entourage.

Here are a few links that I found helpful:

Google group thread "OWA forwarded email appears blank using Entourage 11.2.3"

Google group thread "Problem viewing HTML in Entourage"

OS X Hints thread

If you've had experience with this issue

See our Entourage/Exchange page for previously reported bugs and tips regarding the Mac client.

Low-cost ebooks cover Win XP on Intel Macs. May 31, 2006 -- Two publishers are offering downloadable PDF “ebook” files that describe some of the methods of installing Windows on Intel Macs.

Peachpit Press’ Apple Boot Camp Public Beta First Look by Ben Long (US $6.99) focuses on Boot Camp, but also describes the Parallels Desktop beta virtual machine software. The full-color book’s topics include how to use Windows XP on the Mac, getting peripherals to work with Windows in Boot Camp, moving data between Macs and Windows PCs, and a look at Windows virus protection.

Take Control Books has released Take Control of Running Windows on a Mac by Joe Kissell (US $10), which also covers Intel Macs only. The 104-page PDF file describes using Boot Camp, Parallels Desktop beta, and the open source Q virtual machine software. The book’s topics include installation, file sharing, and how to get a copy of Windows. The $10 book comes with a $10 credit towards the purchase of the upcoming shipping version of Parallels.

May 30

Boot Camp Tips, workaround for Ctrl-Alt-Delete. May 30, 2006 – Several readers shared tips for using Apple's Boot Camp Beta to run Windows XP on Intel-powered Macs.

Rob Groome discovered a workaround for the lack of the Ctrl-Alt-Delete keys in Boot Camp:

You can get the ctrl-alt-delete to work by using Microsoft’s remapkey.exe that comes with the Windows Resource kit, but you have to use the right meta key to do it.  Not perfect, but that does work.

Zachary Smith recommends using Service Pack 2: "You might want to mention SP2 being a requirement as the installer has problems with SP1."

Martin White has a suggestion for using the proper Windows XP media:

One thing that can trip you up: Make sure you are using Windows XP install media that directly boots into the setup. Initially I tried to use my MSDN DVD, which presents you with a boot menu, however the keyboard is not functional at this stage so I could not enter my choice. I had a Windows laptop to hand so was able to burn one of the MSDN ISO images to a disc and use that instead.

Lincoln Holbrook reports that like a user in a previous report, he could not boot into Mac OS X after installing Boot Camp. He fixed it using Disk Utility:

This is in response to Zack about being unable to boot the Mac operating system after he installed Windows XP.

I had the exact same problem on my iMac 20" Intel Core Duo running 1 GB RAM with the upgraded video card. I was worried that I had lost all the data as well, but I decided to use the Tiger Installation Disc 1 to boot from and run Disk Utility. This fixed the problem and allows me to boot both operating systems with zero hassles. I did not lose any data on either system and both seem to be running stable.

When booting from this disk, don’t go through the Mac OS X install. Instead, when you get to the installation choices screen, go to the top of the screen and click on the menu items. One of the items allows you to get into Disc Utility where you have the option to "repair disk." Once that was completed, I took the DVD out and rebooted into Mac OS X with no problem.

You can read our previous Boot Camp reader reports on our Windows-on-Intel Macs page.

If you care to comment

Northstar works for reader. May 30, 2006 -- Jeremy Matthews of the Apple Consultants Network has good things to say about Northstar, the service that lets you run Windows apps on a PowerPC or Intel Mac:

I have used it firsthand, and am pretty happy with it. I know several clients that are also happy, in fact.

You can work in the supplied applications they provide, but they also accommodate hosting other software packages (depending on licensing). For example, they said I could hand them over my copy of XYZ software; I could access it through their system. (They mentioned that Microsoft loved them, since they keep Microsoft constantly apprised of what licenses they hold.) You can work in those products just like in a remote desktop scenario, and even download saved files to your Mac.

Where there is little or no IT environment, Northstar can and will thrive.

Best yet, there is virtually nil for you to worry about; they maintain the environment. For many small businesses that I know, it’s a happy marriage. But, you should really have broadband.

For a description of Northstar, see our special report Running Windows on Intel Macs. This page also has previously published reader reports about the Northstar.

May 25

Reader report on Northstar Win-on-Mac solution. May 25, 2006 –An anonymous reader sent a report about the Northstar service for running Windows apps on a Mac.

I don't personally own a subscription of Northstar, but have a friend who does. He loves it, because it allows him to access websites for his real estate business that run software that will only function on Windows.  It also allows him to play those Internet games that are for Windows only, though the price is a bit steep if that was his only reason for buying the membership...

Basically, you are remote accessing their server the way some corporate environments do, using workstations with the software on a remote server, rather than loading the individual computers with the software.  Nice because it takes up very little space on your machine. But not-so-nice, because it means you cannot load software on it yourself.

See our special report Running Windows on Intel Macs for a description of Northstar.

If you’re subscribing to Northstar   what you think of it.

Microsoft ships Beta 2 of Vista and Longhorn. May 25, 2006 -- On Tuesday, Microsoft released Longhorn Server Beta 2 and Windows Vista Beta 2, as well as a beta for Office 2007 for Windows. (See also this eWeek story on the announcements.)

Microsoft said the next-generation server will add improved policy-based network management, redesigned clustering, and new security features. Reviews of the Longhorn Server Beta from eWeek and PC Magazine of the Longhorn Server beta were generable favorable.

Reviews of Windows Vista Beta 2 were mixed. An eWeek review said “tests of Windows Vista Beta 2 show steady progress, but the new 3D Aero Glass user interface in particular still flakes out.” Columnist Mary Jo Foley said that recent builds have “suffered from a variety of performance and compatibility problems.

Exchange update for Vista causes Entourage problem with recurring calendar events. May 25, 2006 -- Mario de Greef says that a Entourage calendar problem we reported on Monday is caused by an Exchange Server update that Microsoft issued to support Windows Vista beta. The symptom is that Entourage users can’t see updates to recurring calendar events. The Microsoft update is called "Update for Exchange 2003 (KB 911829)."

de Greef reports:

We also had the empty mails, calendar's etc. after installing MS KB911829 on our 2003 servers. The solution was removing the MS KB911829 until Microsoft Releases a patch.

Microsoft describes the update:

This update restores functionality to Microsoft Exchange Outlook Web Access due to changes being made to Internet Explorer in the upcoming Microsoft Windows Vista Beta release.

Fix for "NT access denied" error with Windows printers. May 25, 2006 -- Daniel Williams verified a fix we reported two years ago with Mac OS X and Windows printers. The problem yields the error message NT_STATUS_ACCESS_DENIED. The original solution we reported was for Panther; Williams told us that the old fix works on Tiger as well. Williams also added details of how he did it in Mac OS X 10.4.5:

Mark Edwards' solution dated March 30, 2004 definitely works. Using 10.4.5 and was able to enter smb://username:password@server.domain/printername using the CUPS webmin at http://localhost:631/admin (if prompted for password try your Mac login or root login). I setup the printer first in System Preferences. Then using the CUPS webin, I clicked this series of links: Administration -->Manage Printers-->select Modify Printer for the respective printer-->Configure-->choose Windows Printer via Samba, and Enter this: smb://username:password@server.domain/printername

For the username, I used a user my user name from the XP box, but when I was looking at the printer que on the actual XP box it showed guest---so you could probably use anything. Leave password blank (eg., smb://johnny:@server).  I have a domain setup on my network but I assume you could use smb://johnny:@server/printername

We also have discussions of solutions for the problem with Tiger on networks with Active Directory, on our Tiger Reports page.

Fix for Tiger problem connecting to Linux Samba server. May 25, 2006 -- Mark van Gaalen reports a fix to a problem with Tiger 10.4.6 not connecting to Linux SMB servers:

On April 20 I reported 10.4.6 having problems trying to connect to a Linux Samba server 3.014. I upgraded Samba to 3.022-1 and the problem seems to be solved. Browsing the server shares works.

Caveat: I'm running Samba on Debian Sarge stable. This release uses Samba 3.014a as default. I had to 'trick' the Debian package manager into installing this 'testing' version. Doing this could cause problems with keeping up security updates in the future. Not sure, though.

If you've tried this   how it worked.

Explanation of OS X Server Admin password and Win login. May 25, 2006 -- C.J. Zinngrabe explains why changing the administrator's password on Mac OS X Server prevents Windows clients from connecting:

The username/password you use to join the domain is only used to join the domain, but the username/password you use to set up samba is used to perform all kinds of operations in samba. If you change that password, windows clients can't log in. See this thread from the Apple discussion lists for more info.

See our Mac OS X Server Reports page for information and tips on other issues with Windows clients.

May 19

New way to run Win apps on PPC, Intel Macs available at Apple Store. May 22, 2006 -- As tools for running Windows applications on Macs proliferate, newcomer True North Technology is taking a different approach. Northstar is a service that lets Mac and PC users run Windows applications that run on the company's servers over the Internet. Windows applications run in the X11 windowing environment, a Unix graphical user interface that Apple includes on the installation discs of Mac OS X 10.3 and later.

You can buy a US $100 annual subscription at Apple’s online and retail stores. This gives a user access to a library of Windows software. For an extra fee, other Windows applications can be added. Users can also supply their own copy of a Windows application if the company doesn’t have it.

Northstar runs on G3, G4, G5, and Intel-powered Macs. The company says that Northstar does not use “significant resources” on the Mac.

A spokesperson described how Northstar works:

Apps are running on servers in our data centers. The network switch determines each user's privileges, subscriptions, and then provisions the appropriate server and other resources for that user. Our connection with the user has SSL security and compression.

If you’re subscribing to Northstar   what you think of it.

For information on other solutions, see our Running Windows on Intel Macs reports page; for PowerPC Macs, see our Virtual PC Reports page and our VPC Alternatives page.

TIP: checksum a key to Cisco VPN connection problem. May 22, 2006 -- Michael Colmorten reports how he solved a problem with the Cisco VPN Client for Mac OS X:

While trying to setup a Cisco VPN client 4.9005 on a MacBook Pro to connect to a Cisco concentrator 3000 I ran into problems: the client simply would not connect.

After days of trying, I stumbled on the solution: The password checksum is different on a Windows machine and a Mac, when your password contains either numbers or symbols or capital letters. Entering a password containing only letters makes the connection possible.

Suggestion for OS X Server Admin Password preventing Win login. May 22, 2006 -- Brian McCall has a suggestion for the problem where changing the administrator's password on Mac OS X Server prevents Windows clients from connecting:

Here's my guess: If you change the admin password, it longer matches the (admin) password you (likely) used to join the client machines to the domain in Directory Access. You may be able to push the Directory Access.plist out to clients to solve it, but I doubt this is an Apple recommended solution.

If you’ve tried this

Can’t see updates to recurring calendar events on Exchange. May 22, 2006 -- Susan Frierson reports an Entourage problem with updates to recurring events:

We are having this problem: the update email comes through, but it is blank. I believe it is related to Exchange Server.

We are using Entourage 2004 and 10.4.6. If I remember correctly, the update feature worked a couple of months ago. Mac OS X may have been updated since then, so possibly the issue lies in this particular version.

If you’ve seen this problem

May 19

Fix for 100’s of SMBD processes on Tiger SMB servers. May 19, 2006 --Stéphane Nouhaud offers a fix for the problem of hundreds of SMBD processes appearing on Mac OS X SMB file servers with Windows clients. Nouhaud edited the launchd file, which is a system daemon used to run scripts automatically. Nouhaud suggests:

I have the mysterious trouble with Samba and many, many SMBD processes who filled the process table of Tiger workstations when Windows sharing is on.

After some tests I think I’ve found solution.

I modify the launchd entry of SMBD process (org.samba.smbd) by adding a new program argument:
-F (newline after the /usr/sbin/smbd)

I made this modification with freeware Lingon utility.

And after that: No more SMBD process overflows, and samba works okay for me.

whether this works for you.

Another outlet selling Macs with Win XP pre-installed. May 19, 2006 --Earlier this month, reported that retailers MacMall and ExperCom are offering Intel-powered Macs with Windows XP preinstalled on the hard drive using Apple’s Boot Camp Beta. Jazmin Hupp reports another outfit doing the same:

Tekserve in New York City is also selling Windows XP Pro pre-installed for $200.  You can pick one up locally or call in through phone sales. I think they were the first retailer to do it because they made it available the day after boot camp release. 

Boot Camp display driver update problem, advice on other drivers. May 19, 2006-- Feisal Paruk updated the Windows video driver in Boot Camp, with bad results. (We’re not sure that Boot Camp supports this.) Paruk also describes how he got Bluetooth to work in Boot Camp:

I have an Apple MacBook Pro. I used the Boot Camp Beta to install Windows XP Pro. Had a problem playing Fifa06 on Windows so I tried updating the display drivers by installing the latest Catalyst driver software off the ATI website. (The MacBook Pro has a ATI Mobility Radeon X1600 graphics adaptor). Gave me an error "INF Error: Video driver not found" and rejected the driver update. I find this weird because I did install the Mac drivers for Windows XP, which the Boot Camp software had previously burnt onto a CD during the setup process. How do I update my display driver?

I find that driver CD written by Boot Camp to be generally dodgy because my Eject button doesn’t work either on Windows. Apparently the driver for the Eject button is on the CD somewhere. Bluetooth also didn’t work until I manually installed the driver by pointing to the driver file on the Boot Camp driver CD. It seems as though all the drivers on the CD don’t auto install when you double-click the exe. Instead it seems that you must install each driver individually.

If you know the answer to the display driver update problem, or would like to comment on the other driver issues

Another case of Citrix client crashing and a workaround. May 19, 2006-- Brian McCarthy responded to our report earlier this week of the Citrix client crashing upon launch. (See our Citrix Client reports page.) McCarthy’s crashing Citrix Client is a little different, but he found a workaround:

I have a similar but slightly different issue related to the Citrix Client on my G4 iMac running OS X 3.9. I find that if I launch the Citrix client manually before clicking the published app, it comes up fine. If I do not launch the Citrix client before clicking on the published app, the client launch but crash before I get all the way into the published app. I have no idea why, but it does seem to work for me.

If you've used this approach

OS X Server: Changing admin password disables domain login. May 19, 2006 --Adam Konner reports a problem where changing the administrator’s password on Mac OS X server prevents Windows clients from connecting:

I'm having a repeated problem where changing the directory administrator's password to anything other than what it is makes it so that Windows clients cannot connect to the domain for login. Mac clients can still log on just fine. Changing the password back to the old value fixes it. (Mac OS Server 10.3.2 AND 10.3.9, Windows XP SP2.)

If you’ve seen this problem

Group Logic offers new K-12 pricing for ExtremeZ-IP. May 19, 2006 -- Group Logic is offering new ExtremeZ-IP pricing for K-through-12 schools. ExtremeZ-IP File Server is an AFP 3.1 file server that installs on Windows servers, designed to support Mac clients. The new pricing adds an annual per-Mac license option, and includes support and upgrades. The older flat K-12 discount is still available.

May 17

LaCie OEMs ExtremeZ-IP File Server with Ethernet Disk. May 17, 2006 -- Group Logic announced that LaCie is including ExtremeZ-IP File Server on its Ethernet Disk line of attached network storage. LaCie's Ethernet Disk runs Windows XP Embedded, and offers shared storage of up to 1 terabyte. ExtremeZ-IP File Server is an AFP 3.1 file server that installs on Windows servers, designed to support Mac clients. It supports the Windows permission model and security features.

TIP: OS X servers as PDC with a login.bat for Win clients via group membership. May 17, 2006 -- Paul McGrath discovered a way to use a login script for Windows clients mapping Panther and Tiger Server drives based on group membership. He told us:

I have spent a few hours in the last couple of days scratching my head trying to work this out and finally came up with a solution. I managed to get both of my Panther and Tiger servers to be Windows PDCs and have added loads of Windows XP and Windows 2k clients. I thought you might want to share it with the masses.

McGrath has posted a full description of his procedure at his website.

Update for SheepShaver, PPC G4 emulator for Windows, Classic for Intel Macs. May 17, 2006 – Gwenolé Beauchesne has posted a new version of the free SheepShaver, PowerMac G4 emulator various non-Power PC computers. SheepShaver can run Mac operating systems on Windows PCs. There is also a SheepShaver version for Intel-powered, Mac OS X Macs, where it can be used as a replacement for Classic to run Mac OS 9.

New features include support for using up to 1 GB of RAM for the emulated PPC operating system, faster graphics, and a number of bug fixes.

SheepShaver requies a user to have a copy of Mac OS and a PowerMacintosh ROM image.

Reader reports Citrix client crashing. May 17, 2006 -- Kenneth Carlile reports a case of the Citrix client crashing upon launch:

I've got one user with a G4/733 who cannot get Citrix ICA client to run. Looking at the Citrix user forums, other people are having similar problems.

She goes to our Citrix server in Safari, logs in just fine, clicks the published app. It downloads and opens the Citrix ICA client, which then crashes. She upgraded from 10.3.9 to 10.4.6, but the problem persists. She's used 7.00.405, and I think she is now on .407. It works just fine on my Mac mini (G4) running 10.4.6.

I’ve tried uninstalling and reinstalling, trashing the Citrix preference files, repairing permissions, disabled Norton Antivirus, made sure Sophos was disabled (why she has both, I don't know), installed Firefox and attempted from there, checked her Client Editor settings (changed it to TCP/IP only instead of TCP/IP+HTTP), put the default server address in the default settings. I also tried creating a new user.

It still crashes immediately on launch. Doesn't even get to the contacting/loading screen. It's pretty much one bounce and then dead. There’s nothing in the console, and no other indication that anything is wrong.

If you’ve seen this problem  

May 11

Significant speed boost for Guest PC 1.9 emulator; Intel version in the works. May 11, 2006 – Yesterday, Lismore Software Systems released Guest PC 1.9 (US $70, free upgrade), and update to the x86 emulator/virtual machine for PowerPC Macs.

The new version increases the performance of Windows by up to 40 percent, according to the company. Guest PC 1.9 also improves USB functionality in Linux, provides better stability and compatibility when running Windows, and fixes some bugs.

Lismore also said that a universal binary version Intel Macs is underdevelopment. The company has not announced a release date.

For reader comments on previous versions of Guest PC, see our special report Alternatives to Virtual PC.

Last Exchange patch fixes Entourage delegation problem. May 11, 2006 -- Jenson Yu reports that a patch for Exchange Server that Microsoft released last fall fixes the Entourage problems with delegation that readers have been reporting.

We reported the existence of this Exchange patch when Microsoft released it last fall along with Office 2004 Service Pack 2 for Mac OS X.

Microsoft describes the problem addressed by the patch:

Exchange folders that are not in your mailbox, such as delegated folders, shared folders, and public folders, are read-only unless the appropriate Microsoft Exchange Server update is installed.

Workaround for multiple stranded SMBD processes on Tiger Server. May 11, 2006 -- Mark Fisher has a workaround for problem with Mac OS X Server 10.4.x where hundreds of SMBD processes on the server brings it to a crawl when a small number of Windows clients are connected:

We've had the same problem, as described by several users. One thing that helps, temporarily, for us is unbinding the MacOSX server from the Active Directory domain that it is using for authentication. Then we add it back again. Windows users can again log on and the SMBD processes are normal. Seems like we need to do it every so often and we have no idea what triggers the problem.

If you’ve try the fix

Readers have no luck with Win authentication problem with Tiger Sever. May 11, 2006 -- A pair a readers tolds us that the fix we posted earlier this week did not work for them. The problem was one of Authentication of Win 95/98 clients to Tiger Server 10.4.6.

An anonymous reader said, “I tried this tip and it didn't help.”

Fred Tsui provided some details of his situation:

So I ran into the same problem when I upgraded to 10.4.6. I tried Paul Rauschelbach idea. I looked at my server's smb.conf and found that lanman already had a yes by it. But "client ntlmv2 auth" had a no even though the checkbox was marked in the Settings page. Either way my Win 98 boot floppy was not able to connect to the Mac OS X Server with a local account.

What I mean by that is that I have a local account on the server that the boot floppy is using and the boot floppy returns an access denied message when trying to log in.

I didn't try guest as I don't allow guests to login.

If you’ve try the fix

Utility prevents “dot-underscore,” DS_Store files. May 11, 2006 -- BlueHarvest (US $10) is a utility for Mac OS X 10.3.9, 10.4.x that prevents Mac OS X from creating resource fork (._ or dot-underscore files) that are created on the server when Macs copy files to SMB servers. It can also delete existing dot-underscore files.

May 8

TIP: Fixing authentication of Win 95/98 clients to Tiger Server 10.4.6. May 8, 2006 -- Paul Rauschelbach reports an authentication problem with old Windows clients and the most recent Tiger Server upgrade. He fixed it by editing Mac OS X’s smb.conf file (in the invisible /etc/ directory):

I had a problem where Windows 95/98 clients could not authenticate to Mac OS X Server 10.4.6. According to AppleCare Support, this is apparently a known issue, reported by several people, and Apple has an "engineer working on it."

I found an answer myself. Changing the "lanman auth = no" line (line 13 in mine) in the /etc/smb.conf file to "lanman auth = yes", then restarting the Windows service allowed my Windows 95/98 clients to connect as guests. The Server Admin application seems to have checkboxes for this setting, but checking or unchecking LANMAN in the Windows authentication options doesn't seem to affect it in 10.4.6.

If you’ve tried this

TIP: Installing Windows Mobile EXE apps from a Mac. May 8, 2006 – The Missing Sync for Windows Mobile from Mark/Space is software for Mac OS X that will sync a Mac with a Pocket PC or Smartphone device. The Missing Sync enables you to install Windows Mobile applications from the Mac, as long as the app is in the .CAB format.

Some Windows Mobile applications are only offered as .EXE installers, which Missing Sync won’t handle.

Two Mac utilities are available that will extract the .CAB files from an .EXE installer. File Juicer (US $12) can also extract images and text from PDF and PowerPoint files, and has other features as well.

The other utility, cabextract, is a free command-line program that runs in the Terminal. It has one purpose, extracting .CAB files from .EXE installers.

Once you’ve extracted the .CAB file, you can use Missing Sync for Windows Mobile in Mac OS X to install the software onto the Pocket PC or Smartphone device.

JPSoftware apps incompatible with Virtual PC. May 8, 2006 -- Gustavo Delfino reports two more Windows applications that won’t run in Virtual PC for Mac: 4NT 7.01 and Take Command 7.01, both from JPSoftware.

Delfino says:

I use Virtual PC 7.0.1 with Windows 2000. I confirmed the problem with the software maker.

We’ve added these programs to our Virtual PC incompatibilities list.

If you tried to run these programs in Virtual PC

Another report of Entourage 11.2.1 problem with delegation. May 8, 2006 -- Karen Zander is another reader seeing the problem with deleting email delegate mailboxes in Entourage 11.2.1:

We have the same problem. Exchange 2003 SP1, MAC OS 10.3.x, 2004 user can not delete as delegate. Still searching for an answer to this one.

If you've seen this problem or know of a workaround

zsCompare 3.0 offers cross-platform file syncing, file comparing. May 8, 2006 – Zizasoft has released ZsCompare 3.0, now available for Mac OS X, Windows, and Linux. ZsCompare can syncronize files on different computers, backup data, and compare different versions of files, among other things.

The Lite Edition (US $35) provides basic comparison and synchronization functionality for comparing directories, zip files, and text files.

The Standard Edition (US $100) can create and comparing snapshots and change attributes, timestamps, and file names. The Standard Edition also has more advanced text comparison options, and the ability to directly edit the text of a file from the results. 

The ZsCompare 3.0 Professional Edition (US $200) adds the ability to compare the text inside of Microsoft Word of and PDF files, and adds scripting..

A Zizasoft spokesperson explained how cross-platform syncing is conducted:

ZsCompare can synchronize files between different platforms without a problem. As long as you can see the files in the system's default file explorer, you can synchronize between any two machines. For example, if you want to synchronize between a Mac and Windows computer, and zsCompare is installed on the Mac computer, then you can synchronize between the two computers as long as you can see the files within Finder.

May 4

DirectControl 3 adds AD Group Policy for Macs. May 4, 2006 -- C