Incompatibility between 10.6.3, Parallels Desktop and DisplayLink 1.6?

[hchernoff]

Ever since I updated to Snow Leopard 10.6.3, I have been unable to launch Parellels Desktop with my DisplayLink adapter still connected.

When the adapter is connected, I can launch Parallels - and I believe it is running, but I get no display on the screen. If I disconnect the DL adapter, and launch Parallels, Parallels works fine. I can then reconnect the adapter and both operate fine.

The issue is not limited to a single virtual machine or the drivers of those VMs: Any of my VMs, both Vista and Windows7 have the issue. I just cannot tell if this is a DL issue or a Parallels issue. I've tried different settings in Parallels, but nothing has proved fruitful.

[utebehemoth]

I am having the same issues. I have tried windowed mode as well as full screen, no dice.

[kurtnagel]

Parallels claims to have a fix coming in the next update. Don't know when that will be released however. Discussion is in the parallels forum and is recent, so I suspect a month or two. For now the only solution is to unplug your usb, boot your vm and then replug the USB. Coherence and Crystal do not work, but full screen and windowed both work. Here is my post under 1.5 beta:

All,

I copied this from the parallels forums. Note that it starts out discussing a different issue that the "black screen' but the issue is mentioned and a link provided. I have tried the workaround and it does work. No word yet on the release of the update.

Kurt

Recently a few problems turned out to be related to DisplayLink drivers. The exact USB-to-DVI brand doesn't matter as long as it is based on DisplayLink chip.
In your case of Windows 7 BSOD I suggest to completely uninstall DisplayLink driver from Windows. We're contacting DisplayLink to discuss the issue.
If you have DisplayLink drivers installed in OS X 10.6.3 your Windows 7 VM may boot into black screen. This issue is discussed here (http://forum.parallels.com/showthread.php?t=100374). The simple solution is to unplug USB-to-DVI box before starting the VM and plug it back once VM is started. If you need Windows 7 to use three displays follow these steps:
1. Shut down your VM
2. Right-click on the VM and choose Show Package Contents
3. Right-click on config.pvs and choose Open With > Other...
4. Choose TextEdit application to open XML based VM configuration
5. Cmd-F to find "MaxDisplays" tag:
<MaxDisplays>0</MaxDisplays>
replace value 0 with 3 (or more if you have more than 1 USB-to-DVI adapters)
6. Save changes and restart your VM
Note that this manual setting overrides display autodetection. It is recommended that you reset this change later when fix is included in Parallels Desktop.

We plan to resolve these issues in the next update of Parallels Desktop 5, but there's no date yet, it's in the works.

[fhall1]

Excellent info kurtnagel...I've been having the same problem..Parallels would start in safe mode, but black screen otherwise. I couldn't find anything on the Parallels site dealing with this....even added my 2 cents to that thread you linked to and no response.

[riorben]

Use the following parallels driver per the thread linked above by kurtnagel. It removes aero support but works with the displaylink driver.

http://forum.parallels.com/showthread.php?t=95628