Windows XP Pro running on Mac OS via Parallels

Hey folks, I'm new here, and new to my iMac, so please be gentle.

Basic setup: 24" iMac w/ Leopard and Win XP Pro running via Parallels.

I don't have Apple support because I bought this used. I've loaded software (such as PhotoShop) on the Windows side before without problems. When I tried to update my Parallels, I discovered that the program I had was a pirated copy, so I bought a new copy. After loading that, my Windows side will not recognize my DVD/CD drive. It shows up in my hardware list, but will not read anything I put into it. It works fine on the Mac side.

I need to update my PhotoShop to 7.0, and add Visio to my Windows, but can't.

Any suggestions on where I can go to for help?

Just a couple of things, First of all, I didn't want to offend anyone when I stated that the Parallels program was pirated. That wasn't pirated by me, and I went out and bought a full copy as soon as I found out.

Second, did I ask this in the right forum? Or has nobody seen this problem? Any help would be appreciated.

I've tried several times to fix this, but so far nothing has worked. I'd love to be able to use my 24" monitor with some of my Visio drawings as well as update my Photoshop to 7.0.

Michael

on the windows side did you check that the drivers are there for the drive? i think maybe since you reinstalled parallels you might have to reinstall windows again, hope that helps

I'll take a look at that. It's been a couple of weeks, and I do believe I tried to troubleshoot the device, and it showed as working fine. But I'll look again. Thanks.

After checking, the driver is up to date, and as previously noted, under Systems, it shows the device (DVD/CD) is working properly. When I put in a disk and try to access it, a dialog box opens to tell me to insert a disk. Hmmmm. I'll keep plugging away at this, but I'm kind of at a loss.

Did you try reinstalling the Parallels guest tools? Even though the DVD drive appears normally in Device Manager, it still needs the guest tools in order to work right. If reinstalling the guest tools doesn't help, I would go ahead and delete the VM, start over with a new VM and reinstall Windows. Lots of work but it may come down to that.

Regards.