I would appreciate any feedback people could provide re the suitability and performances of running XP (in PW) on a MacBook Pro. I know my USB 2.0 speeds will fall back to 1.0 speeds. Can I use the desktop software to install OS and software programs? As best people can tell, is there a huge performance hit? In short, is this "the answer" for Mac users with a Blackberry?

I'll install the latest desktop and see how it sync with my BB. If you just want to test app installs and such I'll leave off Outlook (It's a fresh install of XP in Parallels and I wasn't going to put Office on it to save disk space). But I can if you want to give that a test as well.

Update: So far no go. It sees the BlackBerry under USB devices but it tells me some other process is locking it. I tried the other USB devices listed and they give me the same error. I wonder if it's something that's a problem with just me or something common that'll be fixed with a patch?

It sounds like an issue. My wife and I just purchased MacBooks and I've tried just about everything to get past that error message, to no avail.

I have send an inquiry off to the Parallels folks. I'll post their reply.

Parallels seems like an awesome product, but until they get it "just right," I'm very happy with Boot Camp. Since I use the XP side for only one purpose - Desktop Manager - I don;t mind the extra 45 seconds it takes to switch to XP.

s1mple - have you looked into Boot Camp?

have been using it for over a month on my MBP. But yes, I do have the problem that I can't get even the Desktop Manager to recognize when the 8700 is connected. At first I thought it was PocketMac but then I shut it down and still had the same problem.

I just bought Parallels and I'm doing a clean install of the lastest XP SP2. I'll try again, since I want this to work.

Once it works, then I'll try to get it to work as a modem on Cingular.

Everything (sync, install, backup, tether as a modem) works as expected if you use Boot Camp, but pretty much nothing works in Parallels, mainly because the BlackBerry can't get connected to the Windows VM.

Do the following to get Parallels working:

Hey folks - so, if you're trying to get your Blackberry to connect in the Windows VM and you have PocketMac installed, simply do the following before you start Parallels:

In Terminal: sudo kextunload /System/Library/Extensions/BlackberryUSB.kext

After you exit Parallels do the following in Terminal:
sudo kextload /System/Library/Extensions/BlackberryUSB.kext

You should be good to go with USB Blackberry usage in Parallels and with PocketMac in OS X with these steps.

That's awesome mcalder... Maybe a mod can make this a sticky?

Cool. So did YOU try to use the 8700 as a modem w/ Parallels after this?

I've tried the terminal commands above, and made sure that nothing else is running that should be grabbing the BlackBerry USB connection, but I still get the same error message from Parallels.

Any suggestions?

With or without PocketMac installed Parallels will not run the Synch software successfully. It freezes in the middle of synching. And I made sure the screen didn't shut off in the middle of the process.

Parallels admits working on a USB issue.

Has Anyone gotten their BB to Synch?

I did the Windows Device Driver Update For BlackBerry Devices.. and now it won't recognize it at all!

I hope this gets fixed soon!

Installed the latest version of the Desktop software, and it recognizes it, but yet again freezes in the middle of a synch!

Re-installed the newest Desktop Software, and it recognizes the Bb again, but still won't synch!.

Looks like Parallels may have fixed the USB issues - I've downloaded but haven't tested yet, can someone give it a try?

Toby

I have downloaded the new beta version and installed it. Everything seems to
be working fine. I have tried a couple USB devices so far and it has recognized them. I havent tried it with BlackBerry yet.
Reading the Parallels form, there does seem to be an issue with some USB devices still

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Cheers

I was able to get everything working in Parallels, including tethering:

alexking.org: Blog > You *Can* Tether a BlackBerry as a Modem in Parallels

VMWare is releasing their virtual machine solution for the Mac. I know on the windows side of things I have never had an issue with USB support in the virtual machine. This could end up being a better solution than Parallels.