Control a PC from a Mac over the Internet

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December 18

Reader runs Win Vista on Intel Mac w/o Boot Camp. December 18, 2006 -- Brett Radburn sent us a report of his experience installing and running Windows Vista on an Intel Mac mini. He apparently did not use Boot Camp, but created a single-boot, Vista-only Mac:

I thought I’d drop you a line about installing MS Vista Pro (not a RC or a Beta). I booted up off the Install CD. Deleted ALL Partitions. Created a single large partition. And told it to install.

The specs on my mini are 1.66 Duo Core, 80Gb Hdd, 512Mb RAM, Bluetooth, Airport Extreme and a SuperDrive.

Once installed, about 35 mins and 3 reboots, here is what I have noticed:

Video was relatively fast (for what it is), no driver was required. It does not support full Aero 3D glass mode, but is more like an updated XP.

• Ethernet works - no driver required
• USB works - no drivers required
• FireWire works - no drivers required
• No audio - and the ones touted to work under RC1 do not install, have not checked spdif output.
• No remote - and no drivers that I can locate.
• No Bluetooth (have not checked if there is drivers that work)

Overall easy, painless and relatively familiar process.

If you've tried this

Reader feedback on new Parallels beta. December 18, 2006 -- Several readers send us reports on the current beta version of Parallels Desktop, which adds the ability to use the copy of Windows that is installed with Apple’s Boot Camp. (See last week's report.) The readers offered some more installation advice and reported problems, but most reports were favorable.

Joel Bruner offers some advice for installing the Parallels beta:

I just got the new Parallels beta running and it's nice. Of note, though: After the Boot Camp drivers are installed, when you boot there will be another boot menu option of Parallels Configuration, then two hardware profiles "Parallels Configuration" and Config 1. I chose Config first let it load the drivers in, then reboot into Config 1.

Also, the Parallels Tools must be installed for "Coherncy mode" to function, that essential masks out the wallpaper and allows OS X windows to live above and below Windows windows.

David Ramsay has used the Parallels beta on a beta of OS X Leopard:

Not only have I tried it I have tried it under Mac OS X 10.5. It works fine. It’s a shame that the Application icons in the Windows operation are not in the Dock separately, but that will come no doubt.

Steve Fuller has good things to say, but warns about a potential issue with Windows Activation:

I have been using the latest Parallels beta for about a week or so now. I just got around to setting up my Boot Camp partition this week. While there are reports of some people having difficulties with this beta, my experiences have been overwhelmingly positive. My typical setup now has been running Parallels in full screen mode, but having it pinned to a specific virtual desktop (I use Virtue Desktops as my virtual desktop manager). I can flip between OS X and Windows XP without any issues. I have used the coherence mode with success when using my Boot Camp partition, and with some artifacting when using my regular Parallels virtual disk.

The one caveat appears to be that if you do not have a volume license copy of Windows XP, you will end up setting off the WIndows Activation piece of Windows XP.

I’m looking forward to more refinement of this beta. I've been a happy user of Parallels since late July. An XP VM running on Parallels has replaced my main office desktop in my job as a network/systems manager.

Harry Erwin

I'm running Bootcamp on a new 15" MacBook Pro. My Windows partition is FAT32 so I can access it from the Mac OS X side. Back when I first installed Windows XP Pro, I tried to create multiple hardware profiles, but that caused the Windows side to freeze during startup as the keyboard and mouse were not recognized, and I didn't then know to edit the appropriate .ini file to set the hardware timeout to a positive value. When I bought and installed Parallels Desktop, it was specifically to run from the Windows disk. Silly me. Following the install procedure, I discovered first that Parallels defined itself as a new hardware profile, causing the same startup nastiness as before, and second that Parallels didn't recognize the FAT32 partition. I've decided to wait until things are working better. Hopefully by then the Windows activation problem will have been solved, too.

December 11

New Parallels Beta supports Boot Camp, plays catch up to VPC. December 11, 2006 – Parallels has released Parallels Desktop Build 3036, a beta (prerelease) version of its next upgrade for its virtual machine environment for Intel-based Macs. One of the major new features is the ability to use the same copy of Windows XP for both Boot Camp and Parallels. Parallels does this by making use of Windows XP installed on the Boot Camp partition. This would enable users to take advantage of access to Mac OS X and Windows under Parallels, and then to boot the Mac from Windows using Boot Camp when higher Windows performance is required.

The beta also includes features that have been standard in Microsoft’s Virtual PC for PowerPC Macs, such as automatically adjusting screen resolution when you drag to resize, and drag-and-drop copying of files and folders between Windows to Mac OS X. There is also a Virtual Machines Catalogue that lists the virtual machines installed, similar to the Virtual PC List in Microsoft’s emulator.

Other new features include:

• Up to 50 percent increase in graphics performance.
• New use interface, including dialogs and windows
• Switching between networking modes on-the-fly
• Transparent mapping of Command-AZXCV key combinations.
• The ability to use Mac copy/paste key combinations in Windows.
• A beta version of Parallels Transporter for Mac for migrating a Windows PC, VMWare, or Virtual PC virtual machines to Parallels

The company warns users that they must first install Parallels Tools for Boot Camp in Windows XP while Windows is booted from Boot Camp.

Reader Paul McGrath discovered this on his own:

I've discovered you need to install Parallels drivers in your Boot Camp Windows XP before you can use it in the new Parallels beta. If you don't do this then you get a device error when your Boot Camp Windows XP starts in Parallels. They are quite hard to find but if you hunt the Parallels forum someone has put a link to them. I've also put them on my website. If anyone gets the Boot Camp 'grayed out' problem then it may be down to having a third partition on their iMac or MacBook.  You need to boot your Mac from the Tiger CD, open Disk Utility and delete the other FAT32 partition, then Boot Camp wont be grayed out.

Parallels Tools for Boot Camp includes the drivers that McGrath mentions.

If you’ve tried this beta how it worked for you.

Update for GroupCal, iCal access to Exchange. December 11, 2006 --Snerdware has released Groupcal version 3.7 (US$55), a new version of the Mac OS X software that enables you to access and manage Exchange Server calendars from Mac OS X iCal. The update fixes some bugs, improves the user interface, and provides additional logging capabilities for troubleshooting support. A download is available here.

Update for Missing Sync for Win Mobile, Mac-PocketPC sync software. December 11, 2006 -- Mark/Space has released The Missing Sync for Windows Mobile 3.0.1 (US$40, free update), an update for the Mac OS X software for sync with PocketPCs and smartphones. The software synchronizes Windows Mobile devices with Mac OS X Address Book, iCal, Microsoft Entourage, iPhoto, iTunes, and other software. The 3.0.1 update fixes bugs related to all-day recurring events as well as other improvements. (Download available here.)

Version 3.0.1 requires Mac OS X 10.4.8 or later. The company also released a version 2.5.2 update for users of the older version Missing Sync for Windows Mobile 2.5.

December 1

Another way to use VPC Windows in Boot Camp, Parallels. December 1, 2006 -- Several readers wrote to comment on our previous report about enabling the copy of Windows XP that came with Virtual PC to run with Boot Camp and Parallels Desktop. (iEmulator told us that this method will work with iEmulator as well.)

The readers told us that the easier method is to get Microsoft to send you a new Windows installer CD.

Pat Sullivan:

This worked better for me:

1. Call Microsoft Customer Service.  Explain to them you have a new computer that requires SP2. This is the same department that replaces lost or broken Windows install disks.

2. Pay about $30.  I think it was $23 + $7 shipping.

3. Receive genuine XP SP2 disk in mail.

Len W. has more details:

I am an owner of Microsoft Office 2004 Professional: Mac, which comes with Windows XP Professional PREINSTALLED with Virtual PC.    I needed an original install disk of Windows XP Professional ONLY, to use with Parallels Desktop.

I phoned Microsoft at 800-360-7561 and gave them the Windows XP Professional serial number from my running copy of Windows XP Professional.    I requested a replacement install disk of ONLY Windows XP Professional.

It cost $23 plus $5 regular shipping plus tax.    Since I was in a hurry, I paid $25 extra for 2-3 day Airborne Express (really DHL) shipping.

This is simpler than the procedure mentioned in today's "TIP: Use your VPC copy of Windows in Boot Camp, Parallels." and has a nominal cost.

XP activiation an issue when using VPC's Windows in Boot Camp/Parallels. December 1, 2006 -- Several readers reported that the method we reported of using Virtual PC's copy of Windows in Boot Camp and Parallels (and iEmulator) does work. However, they said that there is an issue with the activation of Windows XP.

Steve Hume:

I had success getting my VPC 7 professional copy of Win XP to work on both Bootcamp and then finally Parallels. I had to call Microsoft by the time I installed on Parallels since the activation stopped working. I was really reinstalling to replace the VPC that didn't make sense to use on the new iMac. The voice recognition activation process was interesting and I ended up talking to India.

Brian Jackson reported some modifications to the procedure are required:

Yes! You can do this, and it does work.  However, there are some slight variations from the instructions on the website posted.  For instance, my copy of VPC already came with SP2, so I did not need to perform the slipstreaming step.  The problem is, this leaves you without the necessary “Win51ip.SP2” file at the root of the CD.  Luckily, you can simply copy the “Win51ip” file, and rename it “Win51ip.SP2”.  Don’t just rename the previous file, they both must be there.  Other than that, the CD I created worked perfectly in both Parallels and Bootcamp. 

The only other issue I had was that when I went to activate Windows in Bootcamp (after installing and activating it in Parallels) it told me that I “...have exceeded the number of times this copy of Windows can be activated...”.  I simply clicked on the TELEPHONE button in the activation window, called MS and went through the activation ID number fiasco.  When I was asked by their customer service person how many machines this copy of Windows was installed on, I honestly answered one, and was promptly given a code that allowed it to activate. Cumbersome, but why should I buy Windows again when I already own a copy?

November 2006

November 21

TIP: Use your VPC copy of Windows in Boot Camp, Parallels. November 21, 2006 -- MacOSHints.com has a tip on how to use the copy of Windows bundled with Virtual PC with Boot Camp and possibly with Parallels Desktop. The procedure involves download Windows XP Service Pack 2 and creating bootable CD.

It’s not a simple procedure. how it worked for you.

Tip: running FIFA 06 in Boot Camp. November 21, 2006 -- Tim Hyland responded to our reports of problems running FIFA 06 for Windows in Boot Camp. Hyland found a way to make it work:

I had the same problem myself. I believe the readme file the comes in the FIFA 06 install  describes this problem.

What I did was open Control Panel -> System -> Device Manager , and disable all unneeded USB devices. Typically with Windows, many of the devices are indistinguishable, named "Generic USB  Device" or similar. Hence disabling is an effort of trial and error -- watch out, as some "USB devices" are your keyboard and mouse! I found it sometimes helpful to right-click on a device and view its properties - sometimes it gives some sort of an indication as to what the device is. Warning - accidentally disabling the mouse can lead to problems - if that happens, just use the keyboard to navigate and enable it again.

Try as many different combinations as needed - writing them down helps - until FIFA 06 works normally.

If you've tried this how it worked for you.

TIP: Using Garmin GPS 10 Bluetooth with Virtual PC or Parallels. November 21, 2006 -- Paul Ronney sent us solutions for a long-time problem for virtual machine users on Mac OS X: using a Garmin GPS 10 in Virtual PC or Parallels Desktop. Instead of USB, Ronney used Bluetooth to make the connection. He says that it is easier in Virtual PC (for PowerPC Macs) than in Parallels (for Intel Macs). Ronney’s tip:

This was surprisingly easy to do considering how much trouble I've had trying to use Virtual PC and Parallels with Garmin USB cable devices.  These procedures work for me on a G4 PowerBook with Virtual PC and on an Intel iMac with Parallels. The key seems to be that the GPS 10 appears as an RS-232 serial device, which Virtual PC and Parallels support reasonably well, instead of a USB device, for which Virtual PC's and Parallel's lack of support is legendary.  While I describe this for the Garmin GPS 10, similar procedures will probably work for other Bluetooth GPS receivers.

(As always, it's a good idea to restart both the Mac and the virtual machine before doing installations like this...)

The first part is done on the Mac side and is the same regardless of whether you are using Virtual PC with a G3/G4 Mac or Parallels with an Intel Mac.

1. Turn on the Garmin GPS 10 bluetooth receiver.
2. On the Mac, select Apple Menu/System Preferences/Bluetooth /Devices/Set up new device/Continue/Any device/Continu
3. Select "Garmin GPS 10" and select Passkey Options / Use a specific passkey/OK/Continue
4. When Bluetooth Setup Assistant is done collection information about the device, press Continue
5. Enter "1234" (without the quotes) in the passkey box and select Continue (Passkey 1234 was just a wild, lucky guess on my part; I have no idea how one is supposed to know this!)
6. Bluetooth Setup Assistant will claim that there are no supported services on this device.  Ignore the message and press Continue then Quit.
7. Back on the Bluetooth system preference panel, select "Garmin GPS 10" then "Edit serial ports".  The device name will be "GarminGPS10-Gps10-1" or something like that, and the service "Gps 10". Select port type "RS-232" and don't check "Require pairing" or "Show in Network Preferences" (maybe you can, but I didn't).  Press Apply.
8. Quit System Preferences.
   
   Now the process is different depending on which processor your Mac has and thus what emulator you're using.
   
   For Virtual PC on G3/G4 Macs it's really easy:
   
   
9. Start Virtual PC.  From the Edit menu, select "XXX Settings", where XXX is the name of your Virtual PC.
10. Select the COM1 or COM2 port, then under COMn Port Settings (where n = 1 or 2) select the Mac Serial Port button and select "GarminGPS10-Gps10-1" from the drop-down menu.  Do not select "Modem".  Press OK.
11. You should now be able to use the GPS 10 like any GPS device. Normally you'll use this with Garmin nRoute; select Utilities/Select GPS/AutoDetect and your GPS 10 unit should appear.  Select it.
    
    For Parallels on Intel Macs it's much more difficult:

9.  Download and install the free program SerialClient from http://eudyptes.com/SerialClient.php

10.  Open SerialClient.  Configure with the following settings.  

These settings seem to be very critical; almost any other combination I tried at best didn't work and at worst froze the Mac:

• Stream Path: /tmp/serial/  (this is apparently the default path)
• Serial Port: GarminGPS10-Gps10-1
• Baud Rate:  9600
• Data Bits:  8
• Parity:  None
• Stop Bits:  1
• Flow Control:  None

11.  Press "Connect".  Close SerialClient.
12.  Start Parallels, but DO NOT start your Virtual Machine.
13.  Select File / Edit Configuration / Add... / Next
14.  From the hardware types, select Serial Port.  Press Next.
15.  Select the "Use a socket" radio button.  Press Next.
16.  In the box to specify the name of the socket, enter "/tmp/serial/" (without the quotes) and for role select "Server" from the drop-down menu.
17.  Optionally, select "Connect Serial Port at startup" if you want to connect automatically next time.  Press Finish.
18.  Back in the "Configuration Editor" dialog box, press OK.
19.  Start your virtual machine.

You should now be able to use the GPS 10 like any GPS device.  

Normally you'll use this with Garmin nRoute; select Utilities/Select GPS/AutoDetect and your GPS 10 unit should appear.  Select it.

Centrify Live Webcast on Active Directory access for Mac, UNIX. November 21, 2006 -- Centrify will host a webcast on November 29 describing how to use Centrify’s DirectControl product for joining Mac, UNIX, and Linux workstations and servers to an Active Directory domain. Centrify said the webcast will also demonstrate DirectControl’s centralized Active Directory administration for multiple platforms.

Centrify is requesting that viewers first register for the webcast.

November 16

TIP: IMAP service with Exchange 2003 on AD network. November 16, 2006 -- Jeffrey Sheldon sent some advice about configuring Entourage email with Exchange servers on Active Directory networks:

We have two Macintosh clients; user #1 could connect to our Exchange 2003 mail server no problem, but user #2 could not.  Permissions were the same, IMAP4SVC was turned on, etc. Constantly getting IMAP login error, failed to authenticate to Exchange Server.

Found out the problem is in Active Directory setup.

If the User logon ID on the Account tab of the user in Active Directory does NOT match the Alias field in the Exchange General Tab, you will not be successful in connecting to Exchange via Mac client (or any other non-windows OS).

We had a user ID of kf304 but their alias was kford. Once the alias was set to the user ID kf304 all is well.

TIP: Sharing an EVDO high-speed wireless link with Parallels Desktop. November 16, 2006 -- EVDOinfo.com has posted a tech note that describes how to set up a high-speed, wireless EVDO (Evolution Data Optimized) connection that you can share between Parallels Desktop running Windows and Mac OS X. The connection is created through the use of an EVDO PC Card in a MacBook or MacBook Pro.

TIP: Fix for MacBook Pro, Keyboard and Boot Camp problem. November 16, 2006 -- Edward Danley responded our report of earlier this week about a problem with the Apple Keyboard in Boot Camp. Danley had the problem and fixed it:

I ran into the same type of problem when I first installed Boot Camp but I blamed the problem on myself. I didn't try an external keyboard but the external mouse did not function.

I was a fresh install of Boot Camp/XP. As I installed the Apple drivers, it crashed. Not unusual for Windows so I simply rebooted. I got check disk errors on XP restart (not good but considering the crash not unusual). After the restart, the keyboard and mouse/track pad would not function at all.

I sat back and tried to think about what happened. I realized I had taken a shortcut. I read that you can extract the Apple drivers and not actually burn/waste a CD. I had simply copied those drivers from my Mac to my FAT32 XP drive.

I went back, reformatted and reinstalled XP this time using a true CD to load the Apple drivers and everything went perfectly.

Another issue with Parallels printing. November 16, 2006 -- Paul Waltman sent us another problem with USB printing from Windows in Parallels Desktop on Intel Macs:

I send this in response to your post inviting cases although mine is HP and not Cannon.

I have parallels installed on a new iMac running XP as the guest and a new HP all-in-one printer (USB connection). I can print fine from the Mac: from the XP side I can print to a windows machine with a different HP printer attached but I cannot print to the printer attached to the Mac either as a network printer or as a locally installed printer. As a bizarre aside, I can scan from the printer into the guest operating system so it is not a "connection" problem.

If you have a solution to this problem

November 13

Guest PC 1.9.7 boosts Garmin GPS compatibility. November 13, 2006 – Lismore Software Systems has released Guest PC 1.9.7 (US $70, free upgrade), an update to the x86 emulator that runs Windows on PowerPC Macs. The company said that the main purpose of the upgrade is to increase compatibility with Garmin GPS devices. Version 1.9.7 also improves network functionality and fixes some bugs.

Problem and workaround for Boot Camp/MacBook Pro and modem. November 13, 2006 -- Harry Erwin reports a problem with using a modem from Windows in Boot Camp:

My experience is that the Apple Modem is unable to connect in Win XP Pro due to noise--works fine on the Mac Mini running Win XP Pro.

I solved the problem by disabling Bluetooth and AirPort and it works fine.

Keyboard problems with Boot Camp/MacBook Pro. November 13, 2006 -- Two readers reported keyboard problems with the MacBook Pro and Boot Camp. Harry Erwin said:

My USB Apple keyboard experiences intermittent disconnects in Win XP Pro--again it works fine on the Mac Mini. I suspect a power problem.

David Morris reports:

I was just trying to install the latest boot camp driver update on my MacBook Pro Windows XP install, and I clicked "continue anyway" as it was trying to install the "Apple keyboard support", it paused, and then gave me a blue screen and shut down.

Now when I boot into Windows, the keyboard doesn't work and I can't type my password to log in. I don't have an extra keyboard handy at the moment, but I will at the office tomorrow, so I will try that, but I also read somewhere that that will not work. I've been running XP for months, and saw there was a drivers upgrade, so I thought I’d give it a whirl. If you have any insight into this problem, I couldn't find any documented case of it.

If you’ve seen these problems

More on Boot Camp and FIFA 06 for Windows. November 13, 2006 -- Joe Desi is another reader having the problem running FIFA 06 in Windows in Boot Camp: 

I am able to run FIFA 06 but all options like team selection, etc, just keep changing automatically and do not allow me to pick. 

If you’ve seen this problem

More on Parallels and printing. November 13, 2006 – Like other readers, Barbara Wiggins has problems printing from within Windows on Parallels Desktop for Mac:

I have exactly the same problem with my HP officejet G55xi --it works fine on the iMac but on Parallels, I get the window that says my USB printer is being used by another process-wait 5-10 seconds. The User Manual says the USB connection to a printer is unstable and to use a network printer.

Encryption within Mac OS X makes it difficult to run on PC hardware. November 13, 2006 -- eWeek reported that Apple has encrypted parts of Mac OS X, making it difficult to run Mac OS X on non-Apple hardware without a major hacking effort. Such a hack could constitute illegal "reverse-engineering."

Currently, running Mac OS X on standard PC hardware violates Apple’s Mac OS X licensing agreement. The newly discovered encryption enforces the licensing agreement.

October 2006

October 23

MassTransit Dashboard add-on provides real-time monitoring. October 23, 2006 -- Group Logic has shipped MassTransit Dashboard, a web-portal for monitoring and managing an enterprise network of MassTransit servers.  Dashboard is an add-on to MassTransit, cross-platform file transfer system for enterprise workflows. MassTransit Dashboard enables users and administrators to do real-time monitoring of their file transfer server. MassTransit Dashboard can also report on server availability and transfer status, and provide detailed job tracking information.

BetterZip 1.3 now opens WinZip encrypted archives. October 23, 2006 -- MacItBetter has released BetterZip 1.3 (US $20) for Mac OS X 10.4, a utility that compresses/decompresses in cross-platform formats. BetterZip’s most significant new feature is the ability to open, extract, and create WinZip-compatible AES-256-encrypted archives. Other new features include:

• The ability to extract and create zip files larger than 2 GB.
• A new file browser that provides an archive-centric view on the filesystem; All other files are hidden away.
• Support for additional compression formats: arj, lzh/lha, cab, iso, and chm. (Prior versions already had support for opening and saving these formats: zip, tar, gzip, bzip2, cpio, rar, 7- zip.)

Another take on printing with Parallels. October 23, 2006 -- Responding to last week’s report on printing problems with Parallels Desktop, Eric Weasner blames it on lack of support for USB 2.0:

Until Parallels is updated to use a 2.0 USB controller, the user community will continue to struggle with printing out of this very good Windows emulator product. I have solved the problem by acquiring a USB 1.1 printer (Brother 1210) and both the Intel iMac and Parallels prints fine over the USB connection.  I have repeatedly email and phoned the issue into Parallels Support and Sales departments, however, the only updates I see coming out deal with other improvements.

Hotfix for problem changing Entourage/Exchange shared calendars. October 23, 2006 -- Amir Haque notes that Microsoft has a hot fix for a problem we've reported where Entourage users have problems making changes to shared calendars on Exchange Server:

This is a known issue with Exchange 2003 Server, and Microsoft has article which describes the issue and provides a hotfix for this issue:

Entourage cannot synchronize calendar items on a shared calendar in Exchange Server 2003.

Reader’s PC crashes when Tiger accesses PC MacLAN. October 23, 2006 -- Laurie Livingston reports problems with PC MacLAN, cross-platform file transfer software that installs on the PC. The odd thing is that her PC crashes when she upgraded her Mac to Tiger. Livingston reports:

I am a home user of PC MacLAN.

This product worked fine for awhile.  I had a hard drive crash on my Mac, and replaced the old faulty drive. I decided to upgrade to Tiger.  I am now using Mac OS X 10.4.8.

Now when I connect to my Mac from the PC, I get a total crash on the PC.

I cannot get ANY answer from the company. Their tech is only through email, it has been 5 days.  I can "talk" via online chat, but "server is too busy".

If you’ve seen this problem

October 17

TIP: Parallels and Verizon: Share the Internet connection. October 17, 2006 -- Jeffrey Vanek comments on a workaround to a problem getting to the Internet on the Verizon PPPoE DSL connection set up on the Mac from Windows XP in Parallels Desktop. The previous reader suggested adding a DSL router. Vanek found that he didn’t need to add a hardware router:

After struggling with the "Host" networking option in Parallels I bothered to look at the manual.  In addition to selecting this networking mode, the user must share the internet connection on the Mac OS X side using the Sharing System Preference.  Parallels adds an option "Ethernet Adapter (en2)" to share to.  Using this method, no router is required.

More on Parallels printing problem with Canon MP printers. October 17, 2006 -- Edward Felsenthal solved his problem printing to a Canon MP530 from Windows running in Parallels Desktop:

I found the problem.  It was necessary for me to install Bonjour.  Most printers will fail, I think, without Bonjour.

Eric Ouannes, however, had the same problem with a different model, the MP810. Bonjour didn't help, and he had the drivers installed.

Same problem with Canon MP810. I have one iMac Intel and one laptop running Win XP. It's impossible to print from XP with dedicated drivers (CANON provided) when printer is connected to iMac.

Files and printers are shared under OS X and XP finds the printer. If you use a generic driver, you will be able to print (ONLY print) from XP but not to use other scanning function (for example) unless you plug the printer on XP based PC.

I tried all kind of IP addresses same result with native driver on XP: printer will not print but files are in the printer queue on the iMac as "cancelled" jobs...You can have a look at this site knowing it did not solve the problem of using full capabilities of the printer/scanner: http://www.ifelix.co.uk/tech/3015.html or http://www.ifelix.co.uk/tech/3014.html or http://www.ifelix.co.uk/tech/3012.html depending on your needs.

I initially thought Bonjour would solve the issue but it did not.

I can print/scan normally from iMac.

Another solution could be DAVE, but I haven't tried it yet. Canon should solve the issue not the owner of the device.

Another solution might be to use a USB printer server to share the printer in both. You then bypass the network issue?

If you've seen this problem

Change in name, focus for cross-platform file transfer utility. October 17, 2006 -- Lava Software has renamed its PC-Mac-Net FileShare utility to “Kenbushi,” as of the just-released version 6.2. It has also changed the focus from a business file sharing/groupware use to that of a home-based remote media player with file sharing and data backup functionality.

Version 6.2 enables users to wirelessly control the playback on the media server a PDA with Wi-Fi (such as Pocket PC, Nintendo DS, PlayStation Portable, PalmPilot, and mobile phones).

October 12

TIP: Corrupt Prefs file and Citrix ICA Mac client license expiring. October 12, 2006 -- Michael Zara reports of a strange problem with his Citrix client, and how he fixed it:

I'm running the Citrix ICA Client for Mac, 7.00.407, and logging in to my office's network. It's been working for years, but suddenly I get an error message every time I log in, to the effect that my temporary terminal services client license is due to expire in X days.

The problem seems to be in a file in ~/Library/Preferences/Citrix ICA Client called "CitrixID". Deleting this file does the trick.

TIP: Authenticating Win 2000 Server with OS X 10.4.7 clients. October 12, 2006 -- Jason Cutler reports a problem and a workaround with authentication of Mac clients and a Windows server:

We have a number of Macs that connect to Windows 2000 Server and collect Exchange email using Entourage.

When the user’s password has expired, they can no longer mount shares via AFP or SMB, and can’t get email. The Finder reports a –13005 error, and Entourage can’t authenticate either. Manually changing the password on the server didn’t work.

I had to login via a 10.3.9 Mac, which then notified me of the password expiration and prompted me to change it again. Then all was well. My research indicates perhaps installing Microsoft’s UAM for Mac OS X 1.0.2 (March 2002) may alleviate this or perhaps binding the Macs to the Active Directory would help.

If you've seen this problem

Reader solves a Parallels networking issue. October 12, 2006 -- Edward Felsenthal describes how he solved an Internet access problem in Parallels desktop:

Here's a tip I discovered myself. From Windows XP in Parallels, I was unable to get to the Internet on the Verizon PPPoE DSL connection set up on the Mac.  Well, the XP system was trying to get a DHCP address and of course, could not since we are using PPPoE and not TCP/IP.  So I inserted a Netgear DSL firewall/router in between the Mac and the DSL router and configured it for PPPoE and that fixed the problem.  It sure feels bizarre needing a router to route in between a single computer!

If you'd care to comment

Reader problem with Parallels and Canon MP530. October 12, 2006 -- Edward Felsenthal has problems printing with Windows XP in Parallels Desktop:

The owner of our company is running Windows XP under Parallels and can't print to a Canon MP530.   installed the Mac drivers on the Mac and can print fine from the Mac side. I shared the printer and set up Windows sharing so I could print from Windows XP. I am able to create the printer in Windows XP using a port of http://192.168.1.4:361/Printers/MP530 (not sure of the actual address since I am not at his office now, but it does work).  Here's where I stand.  If I use a generic driver, I can print text from XP, through that network port, to the Mac and on to the printer.  I even printed a Windows Printer Test Page.  But, when I use the MP530 drivers that came on the CD, the print jobs just hang.

Before you suggest using the local USB port instead of the shared Mac port, that was the first thing I tried and again - the jobs won't print.

If you have an idea

SnapMail 5.0 email and file transfer adds central admin. October 12, 2006 -- Glass Bead today released SnapMail 5.0 (US $32 per user), a new version of the secure email and file transfer package that runs on networked Windows and Mac OS X computers. SnapMail can run with or without a server and can connect remote offices.

The new version adds a centralized administration interface, allowing authorized personnel to send lists, settings and standardized messages to groups of users, as well as user improvements.

October 9

10.4.8 update fixes Tiger denial of Win client SMB access. October 9, 2006 -- Olivier Marty reports that the recent Mac OS X 10.4.8 update fixed the problem of Tiger denying Windows SMB access problem.

Regarding the "Tiger 10.4 denies Win client SMB access" problem, I would like to report that after months of trying to solve this problem (which seemed to appear when upgrading to 10.4.5) the easy way, I decided yesterday to reinstall Mac OS X 10.4 and let it upgrade itself to 10.4.8. This took about one hour, and did not break any application, except that I had to reinstall PalmOne Hotsync Manager. After 8 months of troubles, all is working perfectly again.

If you can verify that this is now fixed

Dead USB in Windows still a problem with latest Boot Camp release. October 9, 2006 -- Mark Cascella reports that the Boot Camp 1.1.1 update does not solve the USB-in-Windows problem:

I too have noticed this problem on my MacBook Pro: The USB goes dead, the keyboard, trackpad and/or mouse are unresponsive on wake-up.

I downloaded Bootcamp 1.1.1, and installed the latest drivers, but these problems persist.

Another workaround for Entourage login problem. October 9, 2006 -- Ronald Bledsoe found another workaround for the problem where the Entourage logon keeps asking for a password:

We're running OS 10.4.7 and Entourage 11.2.5. It connects back to our Exchange 2003 servers. Two users had the login problem with mailboxes on separate servers. We found that if we set the username to be domain\username and left the domain field blank in Entourage, that the user could stay connected. No other combination of username would work. The problem started for both users at the same time. They were working on the same project.

It turns out that they were both sent an email with a ppt attachment with Japanese characters in the filename. There were also Japanese characters in the file and in the email. I don't know if that caused it, or if it was just a bad email, but I deleted the email and the problem went away. They now can use any combination of username in Entourage.

The MacWindows Entourage Special Reports page lists other suggested workarounds for the problem.

Reader reports Entourage invitation problem. October 9, 2006 -- Frank Cellini in Australia reports a problem with Entourage's invitations:

We have a problem with Entourage in our MS Exchange environmental (latest versions) in that when Entourage users invite other Entourage users to a meeting the recipient can NOT accept or decline this request as these buttons are greyed out. PC users sending invitations to Entourage users are OK. Entourage users sending invites to PC users end up as plain email messages.

If you've seen this problem

October 6