device recognition in WinXP on Parallels

I am running XP Pro in Parallels on a Macbook 2Ghz, using 1G of memory dedicated to XP. XP is there mostly to run all the programming software I need for things like phone equipment that runs only in Windows.

In XP I can't see any USB devices attached and the USB logo is not in the system tray to show something is there or can be formally disconnected. USB devices do not show up therefore and I can't get to the. The OS can't find normally installed USB specialty drivers for proprietary devices like phone systems. Also in XP I can't seem to use networking--can't see into or out of the machine, though its on the same network and in same workgroup, etc as my PC's in the office.

Any ideas?

First of all, make sure you are in the Parallels window (not full screen) mode.

In the lower-right-hand corner of the Parallels window (not the XP screen) you'll see a little blue circle with a USB logo in it: click that.

You should see a list of all the USB devices your MacBook sees. Highlight the device and that will tell your Parallels XP environment to load it.

Hi, I am having a similar problem to the posting from Novasystems. I am a recent re-convert to the mac and installed parallels and windows xp to be able to do some work stuff at home. When I talked to the people at apple they said that it would be easy to transfer my stuff via a usb flash drive but as of yet I have been unable to get parallels to recognize my usb. I tried doing the suggestion from caribiner23 (all, make sure you are in the Parallels window (not full screen) mode.

In the lower-right-hand corner of the Parallels window (not the XP screen) you'll see a little blue circle with a USB logo in it: click that.

You should see a list of all the USB devices your MacBook sees. Highlight the device and that will tell your Parallels XP environment to load it.) --but this did not work. my usb does not show up as on option.
--Any ideas on how to make the USB flash drive work with xp in parallels??
-thanks

windows usb recognition remedy!!

hey guys

this is my first posting; i'm pretty stoked.. i may have some good news for all you windows-on-a-mac users who are having trouble with the whole usb device recognition.

I had the same thing happen to me a few days ago.. i have an external hard drive that connects via usb, and to my dismay, the windows os on the mac wouldn't recognize it!! I was livid and completely dissapointed.. alas, just an hour ago, (and after starting and restarting windows on my mac numerous times) I plugged the device into the usb BEFORE turning on the computer, and it seemed that the computer simply needed a "push" (so to speak) to recognize the usb drives. I did this with a memory stick, and it recognized it when the computer loaded up. I then removed the storage properly, and plugged it back in a few seconds later, and it worked!! From there, I restarted it, and waited for it to load, then plugged in my usb hub (with nothing connected to it). Same thing, recognized the hub.

After that, I plugged the other devices into the hub, first the mouse, worked like a charm, then my printer, then the hard drive, and all are working like a dream.

I hope this helps; my general advice to you is, restart the computer a few times, and plug in the first device before turning on your machine.

Cheers :headphone

-K