Macworld Expo takes place in San Francisco starting tomorrow, Tuesday. MacWindows will be there this week covering developments related to Macs and PCs and Mac OS X and Windows working together.

A reader named Jon has created a new "Chubby Bunny" software package for running Mac OS 9 on Intel Macs. Chubby Bunny contains SheepShaver, the open-source PowerPC emulator that is preconfigured with a ROM file. The existing Chubby Bunny package doesn't contain the lastest build of SheepShaver. Jon's does:

I took the "Chubby Bunny" package, dropped in the latest version of SheepShaver (per emaculation.com), and made a few other tweaks to make it work properly. At least, I think it works properly. If you have anyone who's interested in testing, download it here and have a go.

If you've tested Jon's Chubby Bunny package

John Lockwood reports having a problem with searching Leopard Server 10.5.5 from Tiger clients. A similar problem was identified by the developer Group Logic with the 10.5.6 Server, but Lockwood sees it with 10.5.5:

We have (and are) currently having this same problem with Mac OS X 10.5.5 Server and Mac OS X 10.4.11 clients. That is doing a Finder search from the root (top) level of the Share point fails to find any results, doing it from any sub-folder works fine as long as the user has permission to access any sub-folders. This occurs with both the simple search i.e. just typing in the search box in the Finder window, and also when you first do Command-F to bring up a more fully-featured search option.

This is not a permissions problem (or at least should not be) since the users do have read access to the top-level in order to be able to browse to and access the sub-folders.

I have not yet upgraded to 10.5.6 and therefore not yet tested to see if this fixes it, based on the report by Group Logic I doubt it would be fixed.

Doing the search on the Mac OS X 10.5.5 Server itself (from the top- level of the same volume) does work. We did not use to have this problem before upgrading to Mac OS X 10.5.x Server, i.e. a 10.4.11 Server was OK with 10.4.11 clients.

If you've seen this problem

Steve Burn's Macs can't log on to each other after updating to Mac OS X 10.5.6. AirPort also has problems. We've had previous reports of the 10.5.6 update fixing a file sharing problem and causing a problem searching file servers, but this is the first report of this problem. Burns said:

I have two iMacs now running 10.5.6, they have both lost the capability to connect to each other, other than as a guest. Also the AirPort connection to a wired router keeps dropping off. My MacBook Pro is connecting to both iMacs, but they can't see it. I have spoken to a Tech Guy, who recommended reinstalling the original Leopard operating system and updates up to 10.5. Never had any problems in the past, its just like using Windows again.

If you've seen this problem

Apple reports a bug with the Mail caused by the Mac OS X 10.5.6 update, and says that users may need to install a separate update for Mail. Alexander Henket had to do this, and it worked:

Just a short note: Mail.app 10.5.6 update did not come up in the Software Update panel for me. I downloaded it from Apple's support site. Although that fix is meant for something else (crashes), it also fixed the fact that Mail.app was displaying MIME as-is instead of an e-mail with headers and attachments for two multipart/mixed messages. I'm almost sure this problem started after installing the Mac OS X 10.5.6.

Matthew Rogers can't get Boot Camp to boot when his Mac Pro has an ATTO SAS card installed:

I have an early 2008 Mac Pro with OS X and Windows XP Boot Camp installed on it. I also have RocketRAID, BlackMagic Video IO, and ATTO SAS PCI- e cards installed. When I try to boot into Windows via Boot Camp, the ATTO card will not let Windows boot. It just sits there searching for devices. I am supposed to be able to hit Control-Z to access the setup, but alas, Boot Camp won't let me use the keyboard until Windows has booted. The only way I can currently use Windows (except for Parallels) is by manually removing the ATTO card.

If you've seen this problem

We've previously reported an incompatibility between Leopard and the old Virtual PC and optical drives. Paul Redfern has another workaround:

Just to let you know - I'm using Ken Hoyle's workaround as I type this - using an external Lacie FW400/USB CD burner to install Windows XP on a new machine. My previous workaround was to boot up my Mac off an external hard-drive that still had OS X 10.4 installed on it, and starting up Virtual PC from there.

Once you have a working operating system however, and you want to install some extra software off a CD/DVD, the easiest thing to do is simply declare the install CD/DVD a 'shared folder' - you can't use 'autorun', but you just navigate over and find the setup.exe or install.msi and go from there!

Jesse Collier verified a previous problem report about Citrix profiles disappearing on a Mac:

I just wanted to let you know that I've had the same problems with the Citrix ICA Client as Tim Murray. For us, it wasn't until they released 10.00.601 that we were even able to connect to our setup. But any problems connecting and the .ICA file is gone.

If you've seen this problem

Group Logic reports finding a problem with searching with the newly released Mac OS X 10.5.6 where clients will fail to find any files on AFP network file sharing volumes. This includes Group Logic's ExtremeZ-IP AFP server for Windows and Mac OS X Server.

Group Logic CEO T. Reid Lewis described the problem:

Clients issuing search requests against either a ExtremeZ-IP volume or Mac OS X 10.4.11 Server will fail to find any files or folders. This problem only affects clients running Mac OS X version 10.5.6. Earlier versions of 10.5 (including 10.5.5) and all versions of 10.4 get the proper results from a search request….We tested against 10.4.11 and 10.5.5 Server as well as the latest versions of ExtremeZ-IP.

Group Logic has a workaround for ExtremeZ-IP at its web site.

Mark/Space said that the new Mac OS X 10.5.6 update fixes USB connectivity problems between the new MacBook Pro and Blackberry devices. The company recommends the update for all customers of The Missing Sync for BlackBerry.

After Val Hitchman installed the Mac OS X 10.5.6 update his MacBook Pro slows to a halt. He had third-party drivers for NTFS (the Windows file system), which may conflict with the update:

My MacBook Pro has all but ground to a halt since Monday and I'm now wondering if its anything to do with the update. I can open my apps and they work normally, but I cant use my folders. If I click on anything, eg Finder, folders, to open move or delete, nothing happens - NOTHING. Then 10 minutes later it will highlight or open. I can't click on them to move them or do anything. I'm pulling my hair out.

I did download Paragon recently so that I could use memory sticks in NTFS for PC and Mac - could it be anything to do with that?

If you've seen this problem

Ed Cirilo reports: "I cannot read any email after the 10.5.6 Leopard update--it crashes."

If you've seen this problem

Steven Nishida send a followup to his previous report about Windows XP using most of the Macs processing cores in Boot Camp. He has found the cause and eliminated it:

Process Explorer identified a process VENTC.EXE that was using about 10 percent CPU cycles whenever my system would lock up. Natspeak.exe was using another 20 percent. I identified VENTC.EXE as being part of the software installed when I tethered my cell phone to Verizon Wireless. Since I already have switched carriers, I deinstalled the Verizon software and have had no further problems with my Macbook Pro freezing from maxed out CPU cycles for two weeks now. The Natspeak.exe is part of Dragon NaturallySpeaking and I have left it in place.

If you've seen this issue or can verify this

Corey Steffen's Bluetooth devices don't work in Windows Vista under Boot Camp. Unlike a previous reader's experience, upgrading to Boot Camp 2.1 did not help:

I installed Boot Camp 2.0 on my MacBook Pro (Mac OS X Leopard) and installed Vista (32) in the Windows partition. Everything seemed okay until I rebooted Vista, at which time my Bluetooth mouse and keyboard would stop working (in Vista). They would show up as configured Bluetooth devices but not work until I would remove and re-add them. This happened each time I rebooted Vista.

I read on your website that the Boot Camp 2.1 upgrade helped others with Bluetooth problems on XP, so I gave it a try and upgraded to Boot Camp 2.1, but the same problem exists. I can configure my Bluetooth devices just fine, but after I reboot, they stop working.

If you've seen this

Monday Apple released Mac OS X 10.5.6, an update to its Leopard operating system that fixes a number of problems, as well as enhances support and plugs security holes.

Apple had one warning about accessing Mac-based AFP file servers:

If you are using Mac OS X 10.5.6 (client) to connect to a Mac OS X Server 10.4-based server, it is strongly recommended that you update the server to Mac OS X Server version 10.4.11.

Apple also said that the update improves compatibility with smart cards such as the U.S. Department of Defense Common Access Card (CAC), which is sometimes used for access to Active Directory (enabled by Thursby's ADmitMac CAC and Centrify's DirectControl ).

One reader reported that the update fixed a file sharing problem that we had previously reported with 10.5.x. However, some users at the Apple Discussion forums are reporting problems with installation of the update.

If the 10.5.6 update fixes (or causes) any cross-platform problems with Leopard (particularly with file sharing)

Todd Kingham reported that Monday's Mac OS X 10.5.6 update fixed his problem with Windows shares appearing and disappearing, a problem that we've long reported on with leopard. It also fixed file sharing problems related to version 10.5.5. Kingham said:

This is obviously too soon to be sure, BUT, I just finished installing the latest update for both my MacBook Pro firmware and Mac OS X (10.5.6), and as soon as I rebooted, all my originally available shares have reappeared.

I was having similar issues to your "Windows Shares appear and disappear" report. I have several Windows machines and a Mac Book Pro running Leopard 10.5.5. My Shared devices randomly displayed then "lost" my Windows machines. Rebooting helped but doesn't seem to be a valid solution in my book. I was also having problems with Mounted Volumes suddenly loosing their connectivity. I could find a Windows Share and connect. Suddenly, it would still appear to be mounted but I could no longer get to the files.

If you've seen the Leopard 10.5.6 update fix or break any cross-platform network functions

Caringo has released CAStor Content File Server (CFS), software that provides standard file system access, including Macs, to the company's CAStor product. CAStor is CAS (content addressed storage), an enterprise-class networked attached storage (NAS) solution built on object-based storage clusters that allow the file system to grow to support hundreds of millions to billions of files spanning terabytes to petabytes of capacity. The company said that the new CAStor CFS is the first of its kind available to Mac users on an enterprise scale.

Caringo describes the file server:

CFS is built on CAStor A POSIX compliant file system, CAStor CFS supports industry standard CIFS, NFS, Mac, FTP, WebDAV as well as the ability to be run as a native Linux file system. In addition to standard features such as full support of Active Directory and Access Control Lists, CFS offers other advanced functionality. Timescape provides a continuous snapshot allowing administrators to mount a file system at any point in time to recover deleted or overwritten files.

CFS also provides administrators the ability to apply metadata attributes to set retention periods for compliance as well as smart content distribution and replication for disaster recovery.

John Baltierra described how he uses Winclone to clone Boot Camp partitions and SysPrep to change the partition's Windows Security ID:

I've been using Winclone for about a year for one dual-boot classroom (19 Mac Pros). Two months ago I added a second classroom (17 iMacs).

I use Sysprep on my model image of Windows XP SP2 before I clone. Unfortunately, so far I've needed a separate image for each model of Mac.

I use a UNIX command to log into a work account on the classroom Macs. I use ARD on my Mac Book to copy a Winclone image onto the desktops of all Macs. Winclone permanently resides on the desktop of the work account.

Presently, I manually run Winclone to "restore" the new image to the Boot Camp partition. I intend to adapt Tom Perfitt's script for ARD to perform batch restores. But, my current operation is truly reliable.

A reader (name withheld by request) is unable to install the (non-public) developer preview of Mac OS X Server 10.6 (Snow Leopard) in a virtual machine in Parallels or VMware. Now released to developers, Apple expects to ship the new server in 2009. The reader reported:

I'm a member of the Apple Developer Connection and have a legal copy of the developer preview of Snow Leopard Server (10.6) Build 10a222. I can't install it in either Parallels Desktop 4 or VMware Fusion 3 on a new MacBook Pro (4 GB RAM). Both companies say they support the preview 10.6 server in a virtual machine.

I tried using the DMG image, a CDR image, and converting to an ISO image (as recommended at some web sites). I also tried installing the image on a DVD+R DL. With both Parallels and VMware, the installation stops.

Then I installed Leopard Server in Parallels, and tried to upgrade with the Snow Leopard Server. The DVD mounts, I can launch the installer. The Leopard reboots, but instead of rebooting from the DVD, it just comes back to the Leopard Server signon screen.

I'm out of ideas and can't find any help on the web.

We don't want you to violate your NDA agreement by telling us anything about Mac OS X 10.6 Server that Apple hasn't announced. But if you've successfully installed the Snow Leopard Server preview in either Parallels or VMware how.

Tim Murray's Citrix profiles are vanishing into thin air:

It seems that my profile files have a short life-span: If the client session has any problem at all, or sometimes even if not, the profile (*.ica) file I used to start the session disappears. It's not in the Trash, either ... it's just gone. I work around this by keeping a set of profiles elsewhere, but still...

System: PowerBook G4, 10.4.11, Citrix ICA Client 10.00.601

If you've seen this problem

Derman Enterprises has released Sync'Em 1.17, an update to the Mac OS X software for syncing Mac iCal/Address Book calendars and contacts with one or more Microsoft Exchange Server and Google accounts. Version 1.17 adds a number of new features supporting Exchange servers, including:

• Support for Exchange Shared Folders
• Allows self-signed and/or expired certificates on Exchange servers
• Fixes some problems connecting to Exchange servers and syncing certain calendar events

The previous version released earlier this month addeds NTLMv2 authentication for Exchange Server compatibility.

The company said that Sync'Em has its own sync engine that syncs non-Apple sources directly, enabling it to sync Exchange-to-Exchange, Exchange-to-Google and Google-to-Google.

In updates to Office 2008 and 2004 this week, Microsoft alluded to an Entourage time zone fix that may (or may not) address reported problems involving time zones. There are two such issues: the "Casablanca" time zone problem with sync services, and the time zone problems with printing calendars. For Entourage, Microsoft simply said that the new version "provides updated time zone information." If you've had these problems, if these updates address them. Microsoft also said it fixed a Word bug that could cause a problem when moving a file to Windows.

Microsoft released Office 2008 for Mac 12.1.5 Update, Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac 11.5.3 Update, and Open XML File Format Converter for Mac 1.0.2, which converts the newer file formats (.docx, .xlsx, .pptx) to the older formats. The company said that all three updates improve stability, performance, and security, specifically "vulnerabilities that an attacker can use to overwrite the contents of your computer's memory with malicious code."

In Office 2004, the updates fix problems with Word and Excel unexpectedly quitting. Office 2008 has a bigger list of bug fixes, including an issue saving files in the older .doc format (Word 97-2004 format) that are moved to Windows. Microsoft said that "this update fixes an issue that causes some formatting issues when you save a Word document in the Word 97-2004 format and then reopen it in Word 2003 for Windows."

All three updates are available through the Office AutoUpdate feature or at the Microsoft Mactopia site.

Tim Smith reports seeing the problem with Mac OS X 10.4.x not displaying the contents of SMB shares:

I have a client that is also having this issue. If he logs in on a Windows PC or a 10.5 PC no issue. It only occurs on his 10.4 machine. There are 800+ other users in this environment. I do not know how many use the shares but there are no other complaints I am aware of.

We have a workaround for the problem posted here. If you've tried this workaround for this problem

Microsoft announced that it will release Windows 7 Beta 1 in January to Windows developers attending its Microsoft Developer Conferences. There will be 11 conferences from December 9 through February 19, but Windows 7 Beta 1 won't be available at the December meetings. The first beta of Microsoft's successor to Vista will not be released to the general public.

With Window 7, Microsoft is following a similar course that Apple is pursuing with its next OS rev, Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard. Instead of rewriting the OS, each company is adding to the current additions, Vista and Leopard. But while Apple is focusing on under-the-hood enhancements for stability and performance, Microsoft seems to be putting effort into usability features.

PC Magazine noted that Windows 7 "is not markedly different from Windows Vista, but does enhance the ways in which users can interact with the OS, including new networking discovery features and multimedia playback."

PC Magazine also published a review of the pre-beta version of Windows 7 in late October.

Last summer, Apple announced that it would release Snow Leopard in mid-2009. However, there are rumors that Apple has moved this up to the first quarter.

Rob Frei responded to an August post about a MacBook Pro running very hot when booted from Vista 64 using Boot Camp. He doesn't have the problem when Vista runs in a virtual machine:

I have the same problem. Vista is working fine. I'm running the 64-bit version of Pro/Engineer on my Mac in Vista 64. My MBP runs perfectly in OS X, but it runs very hot in Vista. I'm not sure its safe either, but I haven't found any definitive info on the Internet (including Apple's website).

I have a new 2.53 GHz MBP with 4 GB 1067 MHz DDR3 Ram. I'm running OS X (10.5.5). I have the latest version of Boot Camp, and I believe my drivers are all up to date. I haven't noticed these problems when I run Vista in VMware Fusion. I'm rather sorry I installed Vista at this point.

What could be happening is that in VMware, Mac OS X is handling the power/cooling management, while in Boot Camp, Vista is handling it, or not managing it at all.

If you've seen this

Adrian Li had the problem with the Leopard 10.5.5 upgrade not being able to see Windows shares. He fixed with firewall settings with a tip from Microsoft support:

Six months ago, my sister got a new 20" iMac. My home router was a WRT54G v2.0 and my sister requested file sharing. I think I took the easy way and allowed my Norton 360 to let most local port connections from a select IP through, this made cross platform sharing work flawlessly. However, I understand that I am but one case that did not have any difficulties.

It is now December and since then, the changes that have happened are: iMac 20" has been upgraded to 10.5.5 and the router firmware has been changed to dd-wrt 24 mega generic.

I tried to share using the old settings, but it wouldn't work. Changed the firewall settings to allow all ports. Tried accessing my Windows files from Mac, and it worked.

Then, I found this Microsoft support page and after I set my firewall to allow local ports 135-139 and 445, file sharing between Windows and Mac was working again.

If you've tried this

Glenn I. Fishman reports "I just tried this tip [Oct. 6] for the iPhone/Exchange garbled email - it worked great."

The problem is described here. If you've tried this or the other fixes listed

See MacWindows' iPhone/Exchange Tips and Reports page for more.

Derman Enterprises has released Sync'Em 1.16, software for Mac OS X for syncing Mac iCal/Address Book calendars and contacts with one or more Exchange and Google accounts. The new version adds NTLMv2 authentication for Exchange Server compatibility and fixes a few bugs.

A company called Open-Xchange AG has released a beta version of software that syncs Macs and iPhones with its Open-Xchange groupware server. The beta software, called OXtender for Mac OS X, uses OS X's iSync to enable Open-Xchange e-mails, appointments, contacts, tasks and documents available to the Mac Mail, iCal and Address Book applications.

OXtender for Mac OS X enables syncing of mobile devices connected to the Mac with the Open-Xchange server. Supported devices include iPhones, iPods and cell phones from other manufacturers, as well as software from third-party ISVs that support iSync.

MobileMe iPhone users can get e-mail, calendar and contact entries via its "over the air" push service.

The Open-Xchange server can work with Macs and with Microsoft Outlook on Windows PCs.

Google announced on Monday that the online Google Calendar now supports Apple's iCal through the CalDAV standard that Apple has been promoting. Google has released a Mac application called Calaboration that locates your Google Calendars and lets you add them to iCal. Calaboration requires Mac OS X 10.5 and later. Google Calendars will sync with iCal, and you can use iCal to respond to Google Calendar invitations.

Mic Stremel reports seeing a problem Entourage and Exchange where the invitation is grayed out and not available. We first reported the problem two years ago. Stremel's report:

I saw your report on this problem, and have run into a couple of issues involving this situation. I have seen two users running Entourage 2008 on an Exchange 2003 environment. In some cases they can accept or decline meeting invites, but other invitations the buttons are greyed out. There does not appear to be any consistency on when the buttons work or not. However, I had not set up these users on Mac Mail. And, they can use Outlook Web Access, and/or Outlook on a Windows machine to accept/decline meeting invites, but NOT through Entourage. I've uninstalled/re-installed Office, and also created a new Identity for Office. Still, no luck.

I've searched far and wide on most Mac/Entourage blog sites, and no clear answers.

If you've seen this problem

Two readers responded to the report Reader's Boot Camp Win XP maxes out Mac CPU. Robert Pendell suggested a Windows utility to look into the problem, which could be a Windows driver:

I do not have a Mac or Boot Camp but if the Task Manager isn't showing anything try using a program called Process Explorer. (It was developed by SysInternals and is available from Microsoft's Website in the TechNet area.) Check to see if the process labeled "System" has a high CPU usage mark on it. If it does then a driver is taking up the load. Double-clicking on it and going to the threads tab may help which driver is taking up the CPU load.

If you've tried this

John Lockwood had another suggestion and some explanation...

Brian Wilson found a fix for the intermittent problems with Leopard 10.5.5 is having seeing Windows SMB shares. His fix was similar to one we reported a year ago for an earlier version of Leopard. Wilson said:

If you have intermittent problems connecting to a PC running Windows XP where your PC icon appears in your Mac finder but refuses to connect sometimes, then ensure you do the following:

On the Mac go to my System Preferences->Network and if you are connecting wirelessly select the Airport connection and hit 'Advanced'. Under the WINS tab select your workgroup. In my case, this is 'workgroup'. It doesn't seem to matter that this is in lower case whereas it was created as 'WORKGROUP' in Windows. Insert your PC's IP address into the WINS Servers box (e.g. 192.168.1.7) and hit OK.

This completely eradicated any intermittent problems I had.

If you've tried this