Files does not sync on shared folder VMWare Player

Since my Parallels software is not compatible with Mavericks, I decided to use Windows machine for virtualization. On Windows, I am using VMWare Player to run Linux occasionally. Recently, I often use the VMWare since the software that I am using is only available on Linux.

I found that using the latest VMWare tools (as this article is written), the files on shared folders are out of sync if they are modified from the host (Windows 7). After searching for the solutions, I found the discussions on the VMWare communities forum here: https://communities.vmware.com/message/2313778.

It seems that VMWare teams are still addressing the issues (as this article is written). Meanwhile, the solution is to revert back to older version of VMWare tools.

Here is the steps:

1. Before turning on the VMWare, modify the VMWare file .vmx setting, otherwise, the downgrade can be overridden:

   tools.upgrade.policy = "manual"

2. As super user, unmount the current shared folder. Example:

   # umount /mnt/hgfs

3. Download the older version of the VMWare tool here (select the appropriate one based on the OS):
   https://softwareupdate.vmware.com/cds/vmw-desktop/fusion/6.0.1/1331545/packages/
   In my case, I downloaded com.vmware.fusion.tools.linux.zip.tar.
4. Extract the file. If you are using linux, extract linux.iso file as well or just mount it.
5. using super user, execute the vmware install script:

   # ./vmware-install.pl

6. After completed, make sure the build version is build-1294478:

   root@ubuntu:~# vmware-toolbox-cmd -v
   9.6.0.26048 (build-1294478)
   

That's all :)

Parallels 7 cannot install Ubuntu 13.04 with error: Soft lockup

Today I tried to install Ubuntu 13.04 on Parallels 7. But when booting using the installation disk, I got error message about Soft lockup.

Seems that the solution is very straightforward: remove the tick on the "Show battery in Linux" from the dialog of Options > Optimizations.

Credit to the thread from here. That's all :)

How to have a similar mouse acceleration on Mac OSX with Windows

Have you ever noticed that the movement of mouse pointer on Mac OSX is somewhat different from that of on Windows?

Before I started using Mac OSX around 3 years ago, I have been a heavy user of Windows and Linux for years. Probably this is just my personal preference, but I feel that the acceleration of mouse movement on Mac OSX is not as comfortable as on Windows. I have been looking for the solution to get the same acceleration "feel" ever since but found nothing comparable to Windows. I have tried several software that can control mouse acceleration on Mac OSX, but still not satisfied. Even there are lengthy discussion on Apple forum debating this matter.

Gladly, there are wonderful engineers that started to develop the promising solution: http://smoothmouse.com/

If anyone feel uncomfortable with the acceleration of mouse on Mac OSX, I would suggest to try this software. It surpasses any other softwares (includes the paid one) that I have tried to make my mouse movement on Mac OSX as similar as on Windows. I hope that Apple could notice this little yet important matter, especially for new users who were heavy users of Windows, and provide built-in solution on the next release of OSX. I could understand that not all users notice the difference. But It is somewhat a shame on Apple for not noticing this little matters for years.

That's all :)

WinShell cannot start AcrobatReader XI

When I tried to launch Acrobat Reader from WinShell, I got the following error message:

Cannot start AcrobatReader or open the document.
1. Please check on the exe file and cmd line of the PDFView options.
2. Please set correct Adobe DDE Version in registry key 'HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\acrobat\shell\open\ddeexec\application'

Seems that the solution is quite straightforward:

1. Make sure the Acrobat Reader is already running before calling it from WinShell (just run the Acrobat Reader from the start menu once, and keep it running).
2. Edit the registry entry as mentioned in the error message. For example, in my case, I found that the value of my Acrobat Reader was set to AcroViewR10. Since I am using version 11, I have to change the value to AcroViewR11.

That's all :)

Change screen resolution of Ubuntu 12.10 on Parallels 7

When I installed Ubuntu 12.10 using Parallel 7 and installed the Parallels Tools, it seems that the screen resolution is fixed to 800 x 600 pixels only. Gladly that there is a workaround for this problem. It is by using the Parallels Tools from Parallels 8. Credit to the post here: http://forum.parallels.com/showpost.php?p=657046&postcount=53 The steps are as follows:

1. Download the trial version of Parallels 8.
2. Mount the dmg file of Parallels 8.
3. Open terminal, go to the mounted dmg, for example in my system I did like this:

   $ cd /Volumes/Parallels\ Desktop\ 8/

4. Copy the iso file of the Parallel Tools to my home directory (or any directory), example:

   $ cp ./Parallels\ Desktop.app/Contents/Resources/Tools/prl-tools-lin.iso ~/

5. Mount the iso from the Ubuntu 12.10, and upgrade the Parallels Tools from Ubuntu 12.10 terminal, example:

   $ cd /media/{your-Ubuntu-user}/Parallels\ Tools $ sudo ./install

That's all :)