Bootcamp - Parallels 6 - Win7 all not playing nice

I am new to Macs and just got a MacBook Pro. I installed Win7 32bit fine through BootCamp. Then I installed Parallels since I want to run both OS side by side. Parallels looks like it works fine as I see the Win7 login, start menu, etc.

1) I plugged in a USB drive with files I want to copy to Win7 partition/OS, but can't

2) If I try to boot into Win7 from startup (bootcamp), it just locks up during windows boot.

Total Newb, so I am sure I messed something up. Any Ideas?

I'm not sure what happened either. Normally, Windows 7 will work very well both from the Boot Camp partition and using that partition as a VM in Parallels or Fusion. It's possible the Windows 7 boot sector is corrupt as that would cause the error you're getting.

When you plug in a USB device while running from Parallels, it should ask you whether you want to use it in Windows or OS X.

Try to repair Windows 7. See this LINK. This is usually successful if you previously used the Windows 7 backup and image option. If you didn't, it may be hit and miss.

I have found that I have to go into the windows file menu and select the usb devices I want to use, rather than getting asked if I want to by Parallels.

It didn't really ask me, but I went into the Devices menu and chose windows, but then I didn't see it when I went into My Computer in windows.

If I nuke everything and start over, will I still be able to activate windows since I already activated it?

I may be thinking about Fusion as it definitely will ask in a dialog where you wish the device to be used. I thought that Parallels did the same, however, it's been over a year since I've used it. I'm currently running Fusion 3.X.

As to your question regarding starting over... yes, you can re-activate Windows 7. But you will probably have to do it via phone if it's been less than 90 days since the last activation.

Why don't you first try repairing Windows 7 before reinstalling? If the repair fails, then reinstall.

I will try repair and see what happens.

On the USB Drive front, I just plugged it in and it said choose Mac OS or My Boot Camp. I picked my Boot Camp. Then I couldn't see it in windows. However, when I went to devices and unchecked it, it showed up in both my Mac Desktop and my windows My Computer.

When I try to do something with a file in the USB drive in windows, it says I don't have write access.