Running on the Edge

I like to run along the edge and when it comes to technology, I don't mind being on my own.  Sometimes, though that leads me into trouble.  A little bit of background...

I am currently using a Macbook Pro 17inch, and running Bootcamp and Parallels Desktop. 

I am running Windows 7.  You may have heard that running Windows 7 and Revit is not a supported environment. 

As a Mac user, I upgraded along with many others to the new Snow Leopard OS, mainly for the Exchange Support since email seems to be my life. 

I am also a Parallels Desktopuser.  I like running in Parallels mainly because my new Magic Mouse works (no Windows drivers yet for the Mouse so I cannot use the scroll functions when running in Bootcamp), and I can do a few more things on the Mac side.

Before I talk about the problem I ran into, I do not recommend running in a unsupported environment.  I do not need to produce construction documents, if I did, I would be running in a Supported Environment.

Everything in my setup was running great up, until last night.  I decided to add one more thing to the list.  We support running Parallels Desktop Version 4 with a VM of XP or Vista and Revit on a Mac using Leopard (not Snow Leopard), but last night I downloaded and installed the newest version of Parallels, Version 5.  I was hopefully that because Parallels supports Windows 7 with Version 5 that things might run a little bit faster now. Hey, it was working with Windows 7 before, why not.   

After upgrading, which wasn't difficult, and updating my copy of Parallels Tools that is running on my Bootcamp partition, I started checking email and going about my business as I normally do.  Everything was fine, and I was liking the new version of Parallels, until I started Revit.  

   

Well, that did not look good.  No access to the Ribbon and no access to the application menu.  I was sure that there was some variable of all these different unsupported Environments that was causing the problem, especially because it was working fine before with Parallels 4.  

I started digging around inside of Windows 7 trying to see if that was the problem.  I disabled the Aero theme and a few other things, but had no luck resolving the problem.  

I started playing around with Parallels settings and then I remembered an old troubleshooting tip.

For problems with graphics, often Hardware Acceleration is key to the problem. 

I can only imagine what hardware acceleration the new version of Parallels was doing differently, but I figured that was a good place to start.  I shutdown the VM, and opened up the Configuration options for Parallels and turned off hardware acceleration.  

 
 
Restarted the VM and Bingo, problem solved.

So, long story short, even if you are running on a bleeding edge, don't forget your basic troubleshooting tips.  It just may get you running again.

Comments

[Danny]

So basically Parallels still doesn't work (with Revit) and hardware acceleration. Is that right?

I have Parallels 4, but I use Boot Camp for Revit because I could never get Revit to work in P4 with hardware acceleration on. I almost bought Parallels 5 yesterday when I saw it was available.

Good thing I didn't. What use is it (for me) if I can't use Hardware Acceleration? It's just not responsive enough for me without that.

Thanks for being the guinea pig! :)

[Jason]

Have you tried the latest version of VMWare Fusion? I'd be interested to know if it work with accelerated graphics.

[Danny]

I read that although they did improve a little in their last release, the latest Fusion release is still not there in terms of using it for Revit or 3D work. You can use it and get by, but its not stellar.

Read here:
http://www.macnn.com/reviews/vmware-fusion-3.html

[Vincent Cadoret]

I think Citrix XenDesktop 4 with HDX or Ovation server by Elephant Factory may be the best solution for us Mac users.