Category Archives: Mac OS

Installing Parallels Tools On Kubuntu 18.04 LTS Virtual Machine

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Another off-topic post from me. And this time, it is for a very interesting issue.

I was trying to install and configure a new virtual machine for Kubuntu 18.04 LTS on my Mac, using Parallels Desktop v13. The installation went on well. My new Kubuntu VM was ready for configuration. All done, except Parallels Tools.

Every time I tried to install Parallels Tools, I received a fatal error and the installation would abruptly stop. Searching this on the Parallels Forum lead me to this post: Fail to build kernel modules on Linux kernel v4.15+.

Trust me, I’m no good at Linux at all. I’m just beginning to explore. So whatever was discussed on this forum post was beyond my limited knowledge. However, on page 2 of this post, there was a link provided which took me to Rudolf Ratusinski‘s step-by-step guide on how to hack Parallels Tools installer and make it work.

Here’s the original link: Parallels Tools fix for Ubuntu 18.04 and other Linux distributions with Kernel version >= 4.15

I must admit. Even I was able to follow the steps and succeed in installing Parallels Tools on my Kubuntu 18.04 VM.

Screen Shot 2018-05-21 at 12.06.48.png

It’s worth noting that Parallels is yet to release a fix for this issue. This hack shouldn’t even be required, had Parallels addressed it straightforwardly.

Till we receive one from them, you may want to read Rudolf’s hack first before trying to install Parallels Tools.

Thanks Rudolf. I really appreciate your time and effort to share this crucial hack with all of us.

Vaidy

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Connect SQL Operations Studio For Mac to a SQL Server in Parallels VM

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I’m slowly moving away from Windows. However, being a Microsoft Dynamics GP consultant, that’s not entirely possible. I’ve been working hard to overcome every single roadblock since the last couple of years.

One major gripe, among several others, was the inability to connect the SQL Server instance on my Windows 10 virtual machine, mounted using Parallels. Until now.

Microsoft released SQL Server Operations Studio, which is still under preview, for us to connect to a SQL Server from Windows, Mac OS or Linux. I now have the choice to work from either my Mac OS or my Windows 10 VM.

However, there are some steps we must follow to successfully connect to a SQL Server instance on a virtual machine. This post, from Anton Sizikov, is probably the easiest one to follow. Following the steps explained on this post, Connecting SQL Operations Studio to SQL Express Server in Parallels VM, I was able to successfully use my SQL Server Operations Studio to connect to my VM SQL Server. Below is the SQL Ops Studio in all its “dark theme” glory:

Screen Shot 2018-05-16 at 16.18.41

I couldn’t use my Mac more than pretty much for just browsing, emailing and other daily digital chores. This is one huge step forward to start utilising it well.

Vaidy

 

Off-Topic: Mac OS High Sierra Push Notification Banners Issue

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I’m blogging after a painfully long time. And, I’d like to share something really interesting that happened on my MacBook Pro this week.

I reset my Mac with Mac OS High Sierra (10.13.4) and all of a sudden, all my notifications stopped working. The Dock labels would show, sound would be there, yet mysteriously, banners wouldn’t come. Upon checking the notification area, there wasn’t any recent notifications listed at all. Baffling, to say the least.

Screen Shot 2018-04-19 at 11.00.36 am.png

Then I chanced upon this apple support forum discussion, Mail notifications | Official Apple Support Communities.

Despite the discussion being for Mail App, the solution given on this discussion worked for me for all apps’ notifications.

Solution is quite simple; change the alert notification from “Alerts” or “Banners” to “None” and change it back. Easy, isn’t it? Not exactly. I had to do this for all of my apps, using the notification centre.

Screen Shot 2018-04-19 at 11.04.49 am.png

I can’t complain though. It’s working now, that’s all I need.

If someone’s having same issue and is looking for a solution, look no further. Check out the discussion on Apple Support Forum (link provided above).

Vaidy

 

OFF-TOPIC: Word for Mac 2011 – Print Area Cut Off Issue & Solution

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It’s high time I blog about this. Those who are on Mac and use MS Word for Mac, this is going to be real time saver.

Let me brief the issue first. Whenever I create a document with a header/footer and when I try to save this document as PDF, I use to get following message:

Screen Shot 2014-12-17 at 12.33.11 PM

If I continue with “Yes”, it will cut the footer off and give me an incomplete document.

As usual, googled this and got too many solutions/workarounds, but only one solution actually helped me. It’s a YouTube video uploaded by Matt Fuller:

Thanks Matt.

VAIDY

OFF-TOPIC: Create a Reminder From Mac OS X Mail.app Emails

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I have been looking for a solution/workaround to get this functionality on my Mac’s Mail.app. The issue is that Apple’s Mail.app do not have the simple yet handy feature of creating a reminder out of an email, like how Outlook does.

But I did not want to get out of Apple’s ecosystem, that comprises of Mail, Reminders and iCal. This is basically a great combination.

Searching for a solution, I stumbled upon this article by Michael Kummer; How to create a Reminder from an E-Mail.

I am not that good at Apple Script. But this one is brilliant and does what I need precisely. Till apple adds this functionality out-of-box, this script will do.

As a side-note, check out his blog for more informative and interesting posts. His bio: Michael Kummer.

Thanks Michael for this detailed post.

VAIDY

OFF-TOPIC: Change Power Button Behaviour in OS X Mavericks

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Whenever I accidentally press the power button on my MacBook, it switches off the display. This behaviour change happened from OS X Mavericks (10.9).

Earlier it used to let us choose with following options:

Power Button Options

OSXDaily.com has got a workaround for this trouble. It does not straightaway enable these options the moment you press the power button, but it prevents OS X Mavericks from switching the display off, which is far more relieving.

To invoke the above power button options: press power button continuously for a second or two.

Thanks OSXDaily.com.

VAIDY

OFF-TOPIC: Batch Print Multiple Files in Mac OS X Without Opening Them – Jesse Chapman @jessechapman

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One of my users use Mac OS X Mavericks and his major concern was to batch print files in a folder without opening each one of them. He somehow (?!?!?!) trusted my expertise in Mac OS to find a solution.

My best friend, Google, came to my rescue again. I got this gem of a post by Jesse Chapman (sorry Jesse, I tried getting a profile page of yours, but could only get your twitter page) on his blog wait, really? that saved my day.

Read it here: How to batch print multiple files in Mac OS X without opening them.

Though the post is for Mac OS Snow Leopard, it still works charmingly on Mavericks. Thanks a bunch, Jesse.

Upside; I am now considered an expert in Mac OS by at least one Mac user in this world :-D. Downside; I may get more support requests with Mac OS :-P.

But hey, I am not even complaining.

VAIDY

GP Web Client: Rendering Issue – Some Facts

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Almost a month back, I had posted my GP web client test drive results on how the client is rendered on Mac based browsers and possible issue with Silverlight plugin. I am probably wrong.

Everything works other than pictures; that’s what I had found. Upon drilling down further, what I realised is that it sounds obvious that it doesn’t work on Mac based browsers. Reason: Native Pictures.

Definition of Native Picture says following:

Snip20131230_12

Consider, for instance, the following snapshot of GP login window on a web client rendered on Mac Safari:

Snip20131230_10

It’s not shown. Initially I thought it was something to do with Silverlight rendering. But not exactly. It’s because, this picture is a Native Picture. And by definition, it’s specific to Windows OS. Look at this picture definition below:

Snip20131230_9

Apparently, by nature, it’s NOT supposed to show up on any OS other than Windows.

It’s not just this picture. Lookup Button icons, Note icons are all Native Picture types. And due to that, they are not going to render on any other OS. And if I am not mistaken, this will remain as it is at least till next major version of GP.

Those who implement GP web client MUST be aware of this.

VAIDY

GP 2013 Web Client Rendering on Mac OS Based Browsers

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We all know GP 2013 Web Client is rendered on Silverlight. Though Silverlight plugin is available for Mac based browsers, rendering is not same as how it is rendered on Windows based browsers.

Below are some samples:

Windows IE:

Snip20131205_13

 

Mac OS X Safari:

Snip20131205_14

 

Windows IE:                                               Mac OS X Safari:

Snip20131205_15                     Snip20131205_16

Windows IE:

Snip20131205_17

 

Mac OS X Safari:

Snip20131205_18

Apparently, there seems to be a rendering issue on showing pictures (and ONLY that I guess).

On the surface, it seems like Silverlight doesn’t render properly on Mac based browsers, while it could work perfectly on Windows. Thinking on this further, it’s only related to images. There could be something that we have to tweak on Silverlight plugin. Not sure what it is exactly at the moment.

Those who have implemented Web Client for customers with Mac, would you please step forward and shed some light on this?

VAIDY

 

 

GP2013 Web Client – Test Drive #MSDYNGP

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It’s been an awkwardly long time since I had written anything on this blog. Now is the time probably to break that jinx.

I have been working on testing GP2013 Web Client on our environment. I have been constantly keeping myself updated with GP Web Client by reading our community blogs and forums, but never had seen it on my own machine till today.

Below is the snapshot of GP2013 Web on my MacBook Pro; on Mac OS X Safari browser.

Snip20131202_4

All you need to do is to install Silverlight for Safari on Mac. If it’s not there, you would be prompted to download and install.

I am now excited to get my customisations work with it. Will post anything that’s interesting and worth to be shared in coming days.

VAIDY