Anyone use Parallels in MacOS and have time issues?

DoctorIt

At first it was annoying, but tonight, I took a break from working on my thesis to eat dinner, ran my sync script to backup what I did onto my USB drive. good doc, backup! Uh, unfortunately, after dinner I opened my thesis back up to find that I had lost the two hours of work I put in at home after coming home from the lab (yes, it's all I do these days, I defend my phd in 3 weeks).

Turns out the f@#%$ time in my Parallels based VM of WinXPpro just won't use the right time, and the files it saves there are based on VM time, not the time on my MacBook MacOS. F#$#@!! So, when I saved before dinner, it was 4pm in the VM, but really 7pm, and my last save at work was at 5pm... you guessed it, the sync script thought the work version was newer and blasted my 2 hours of work to oblivion. Notice it's midnight now, I have most of it back from memory. It won't kill me, but it's time to fix this issue.

Within the VM (in Parallels) I've tried everything, setting, resetting, auto DST on/off, auto-update with internet time on/off. NOTHING works! It keeps jumping back in time 8 hours. I don't know why. I'll set it fully manually to the correct time, and a minute later, its -8 hours again. Reset the VM, update the VM... nothing.

Anyone have this issue? I've googled and I can't find anything that helps. Some issues with the DST, but that's just an hour, not 8!

fotodojo

DoctorIt wrote:

At first it was annoying, but tonight, I took a break from working on my thesis to eat dinner, ran my sync script to backup what I did onto my USB drive. good doc, backup! Uh, unfortunately, after dinner I opened my thesis back up to find that I had lost the two hours of work I put in at home after coming home from the lab (yes, it's all I do these days, I defend my phd in 3 weeks).

Turns out the f@#%$ time in my Parallels based VM of WinXPpro just won't use the right time, and the files it saves there are based on VM time, not the time on my MacBook MacOS. F#$#@!! So, when I saved before dinner, it was 4pm in the VM, but really 7pm, and my last save at work was at 5pm... you guessed it, the sync script thought the work version was newer and blasted my 2 hours of work to oblivion. Notice it's midnight now, I have most of it back from memory. It won't kill me, but it's time to fix this issue.

Within the VM (in Parallels) I've tried everything, setting, resetting, auto DST on/off, auto-update with internet time on/off. NOTHING works! It keeps jumping back in time 8 hours. I don't know why. I'll set it fully manually to the correct time, and a minute later, its -8 hours again. Reset the VM, update the VM... nothing.

Anyone have this issue? I've googled and I can't find anything that helps. Some issues with the DST, but that's just an hour, not 8!

Hmm I us it on a Macbook and Mac Pro - unfortunely I left my drive of OS's at work so I can't check now - I'll have a look tomorrow for you. I did read somewhere something about a time problem but for the life of me I cannot remember where, perhaps on the forums (http://forums.parallels.com)

rutt

I've been using the VMWare Fusion beta. This is what you really want. Really. VMWare beta quality is almost 10 years more mature than Parallels release quality.

Andy

rutt wrote:

I've been using the VMWare Fusion beta. This is what you really want. Really. VMWare beta quality is almost 10 years more mature than Parallels release quality.

The op asked about Parallels. He's already spent his $ on Parallels.

Kinda silly to tell him yours is better, to what point?

Andy

Hi Doc,

I don't have this issue, time seems synched up just fine, and I run Parallels and use it, every single day.

Have you thought about asking here: http://forum.parallels.com/

Good luck.

patch29

I did have the time get a little off with the new time change, but updated parallels and XP, after that everything seems fine. I only have regular XP.

DoctorIt

patch29 wrote:

I did have the time get a little off with the new time change, but updated parallels and XP, after that everything seems fine. I only have regular XP.

Yeah, I heard about the DST problem, and updated to hopefully fix that, but this has to be different. Like I said, it will set correctly, and then randomly jump back in time many hours.

I'll check the parallels forum, thanks guys.

Rutt - I'll check out the other option, but can't go switching things up now. I'm in the throes of finishing my thesis and just need things to work for 3 more weeks. I may not even use parallels beyond next month.

LiquidOps

Now i'm not a MAC guru by any means, but just a quick thought.

maybe it isn't an issue with parallels, but perhaps the issue lies within XP itself.

Try to turn off the W32Time service. That may still be running in the background causing your issue.

It's worth a shot.

let me know if that makes sense, or if you have any trouble finding the service to turn off.

Steven

DoctorIt

LiquidOps wrote:

Now i'm not a MAC guru by any means, but just a quick thought.

maybe it isn't an issue with parallels, but perhaps the issue lies within XP itself.

Try to turn off the W32Time service. That may still be running in the background causing your issue.

It's worth a shot.

let me know if that makes sense, or if you have any trouble finding the service to turn off.

Steven

Oh definitely, it's clearly a Windows or Parallels issue (both with hearty thanks to Microsoft!).

How does one turn off the "W32Time service"? I double click on the clock and turn off all the auto update stuff, manually set the time, and its still wonky. I've never experienced this, even outside a Virtual Machine.

cletus

DoctorIt wrote:

Oh definitely, it's clearly a Windows or Parallels issue (both with hearty thanks to Microsoft!).

How does one turn off the "W32Time service"? I double click on the clock and turn off all the auto update stuff, manually set the time, and its still wonky. I've never experienced this, even outside a Virtual Machine.

In a bare Windows XP setting you'd do this:

Start - Settings - Control Panel
Administrative Tools - Services
Find " WindowsTime" in the list of services.
Stop the service and then set the "Startup type" to either Manual or Disabled.

DoctorIt

cletus wrote:

In a bare Windows XP setting you'd do this:

I'm off for home now, that'll be my first thing to try. thanks cletus!

patch29

DoctorIt wrote:

I may not even use parallels beyond next month.

Is Garmin finally going to release Mapsource for the Mac in the next month? until then I will still be using Parallels.

DoctorIt

Problem seems to be fixed, for now... I'm hesitant to be excited. Shutting off W32time alone didn't do the trick. So I approached it as a Parallels issue. Turns out that within "Parallels Tools" there is a Time Synchronization tool, imagine that! Took me about 5 minutes to figure out how to access PTools though... its hidden in the system tray of the WinXP guest OS, and thats the only place it exists! Yes, it was autohidden!

Time synch was already enabled, buuuut, you can also enable a "lag" in your guest OS, and it was set to 60 seconds. Don't know why 60 seconds was manifesting itself as 8 hours, but I disabled it, and so far so good. I also fully stopped W32time and turned off the update with internet time option.

Fingers crossed...

rutt

Andy wrote:

The op asked about Parallels. He's already spent his $ on Parallels.

Kinda silly to tell him yours is better, to what point?

Had to gas.

DoctorIt

rutt wrote:

Had to gas.

You're excused.

I downloaded vmware and got myself a beta password. In two weeks when my thesis is printed out, I'll give it a whirl. at that point, i'll care more about hardware support (for GPS, as Patch has kindly pointed out).

pathfinder

patch29 wrote:

Is Garmin finally going to release Mapsource for the Mac in the next month? until then I will still be using Parallels.

Time for a Garmin 376 then, Patch??

I have been waiting until they get there software for MAC to replace my Mapsource program which is about 7 years old.

DoctorIt

pathfinder wrote:

Time for a Garmin 376 then, Patch??

I have been waiting until they get there software for MAC to replace my Mapsource program which is about 7 years old.

don't hold your breath. they finally ultimately promised it to us, no really, not kidding this time... uh, like 3 months ago.

pf, parallels (or a good VM) is slick, in coherence mode, you won't even feel bad, just have mapsource as another running app.

Seamus

I have mapsource running on the mbpro under parallels. it is painless. I have a 2610 and I need mapsource to plot good routes (ones that avoid motorways and cities). Ireland is fully mapped with the latest release, vn9, and I am going to have some fun this summer crossing the country by boreen

patch29

pathfinder wrote:

Time for a Garmin 376 then, Patch??

I have been waiting until they get there software for MAC to replace my Mapsource program which is about 7 years old.

I am happy with my 60CSX, but a big screen would be nice.


As Doc said, don't bother waiting on Garmin, hopefully they will really release it someday, but Parallels is a decent solution at the moment.