Impressions: Parallels and Vista

Parallels is a virtualization app that lets you run other OSes in a self-contained bubble. I purchased my copy of Parallels, along with a slew of other software, via the recently-expired MacUpdate promo.

Using Parallels to set up my Ubuntu virtual machine was a breeze, so with my confidence up, I decided to do the same thing with my Boot Camp’d Vista SP1 partition.

Big mistake, it turns out.

In preparing the Boot Camp’d Vista partition, Parallels installs a few little bits of software within Vista. The short of it is that after Parallels did its business on my Vista partition, (installing God-knows-what), my Vista copy became deauthorized.

Not what I was expecting.

In a panic, I attempted to boot Vista from its Boot Camp partition. Same problem. After logging in, Vista would throw up an empty screen with a small dialog box in the middle saying my copy was no longer authorized. Frustratingly, the only form of “help” Vista could provide was to take me to a website that explained how to reauthorize Vista. “Follow these steps to reauthorize your copy…” said the website. Easier said than done. With no Start menu, icons, or anything else, reauthorizing Vista was next-to-impossible.

After some Googling, and with a few measures of sysadmin voodoo thrown in, the solution for me was a four-step process.

1. Use Parallels to uninstall whatever it had installed on my Windows partition previously.
2. Enter Windows in Safe Mode (F8) with networking.
3. Manually delete all references to Parallels in the Program Files directory within Vista.
4. Follow the directions to reauthorize my copy.

Happily, Vista’s back in working order again. I fully blame Parallels in this case. As of this writing, Parallels has yet to offer a solution, so if you value a working Boot Camp Vista partition, keep it far, far away from this program.

–Krishna

Krishna May 9, 2008