Download Parallels Desktop for Mac build 3170 RC3

Desktop for Mac is Parallels virtualization software for Mac OS X and is able to run various operating systems on the host computer via a virtual machine, in particular Windows, but also other operating systems such as Linux distributions, OS/2 and Solaris. On their own forum, the folks at Parallels already have the third release candidate of Desktop for Mac announced, which can be downloaded by clicking this link. Build 3170 has been elevated to RC3 and was made available by the developers to test some new features. Among other things, the new Desktop for Mac denounces support for Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard and bug fixes have been implemented for the USB hardware. The main changes in build 3170 is the ability to upgrade an installation virtual machine from Windows XP to Windows Vista:

This build provides several very important fixes to the problems found in previous Betas and Release Candidates:

• Windows Vista Upgrade support added. If you’re planning to upgrade your Windows XP installation to Vista, shut down your guest OS and go to Actions->Prepare Windows Vista Upgrade… menu item. Parallels Desktop will tune your Virtual Machine and start it. All you need to do is to wait till Windows XP is loaded, insert Windows Vista CD and start the upgrade.
• Global Sharing option is now disabled by default. We believe the feature has received enough testing already. From now on, you make the decision to enable real drag-and-drop or not. The new behavior is :
  • On your first drag and drop attempt you will be prompted to choose whether you’d like to enable Global/Local sharing or just copy the file to Windows.
  • The difference between Global and Local sharing are:
    • Global Sharing – shares the whole Mac filesystem.
    • Local Sharing – shares only your Home folder(a nice enhancement request we had received from beta testers.)

  NOTE! Global sharing is forcibly disabled for all existing RC1 and RC2 installations upon RC3 upgrade.

• USB fixes. Both stability fixes and new devices support. Feel free to check your favorite device with RC3 and report to us if it still doesn’t work (beta@parallels.com).
• Mac OS X 10.5 “Leopard” experimental support. The best virtualization solution for Mac is now available for early Leopard adopters.
• And many other fixes…