CD not picked up by Mac whilst in virtual Windows/Parallels

I don't have Parallels-- I have Fusion and you can't share a CD while the virtual machine is using it. Once you access the CD in your virtual PC machine, you have to eject it from the player (while in the PC environment, go to My Computer and right/Control click on the CD and choose Eject), then go to Mac Finder (or Desktop) and reinsert the CD. You should be able to see it on your Mac desktop-- but you won't be able to access it in the PC world. To see it back in the PC world, you'll have to reverse the process.

It is probably true in Parallels Desktop too (I use VMware Fusion as well) that you cannot access the same CD at the same time from both the Mac and virtual machine at the same time. That would set up potential conflicts, since a optical drive is NOT a random access device like a hard drive.

In VMware Fusion, you do not need to eject the optical disc physically from the virtual machine. Along the bottom of the virtual machine's window, toward the right side, are device controls. One of them is for the optical drive (the icon looks like a disc). If there is a disc currently inserted that the virtual machine is now using, right-click there and select +Disconnect CD/DVD+. This will virtually eject the disc and it will show up on the Mac's Desktop. Conversely, if the disc is now on the Mac's Desktop, right click the same icon and select +Connect CD/DVD+. The disc will appear in the virtual machine and disappear from the Mac's Desktop. So you send the disc back and forth without physically ejecting it.

From that same right-click menu, you can also mount a disk image (such as a .iso file) as a real disc.

Parallels is fairly similar (and the old Connectix/Microsoft Virtual PC had similar controls), so it may work the same way as VMware Fusion.

i too had this problem with parallels 4. to cut to the chase: eject the CD from parallels and shut parallels down. then make sure you have the most up to date system update, install it, then allow your computer to restart. this did the trick for me.

note that running disk utility did not help [couldn't verify the CD i was trying to use; then put in an apple system disk and could verify it but couldn't mount it]. nor can one simply eject from parallels and then re-insert the CD. there must be a full restart at least for me.

I had this same problem today. Kept inserting cds and dvds which were only picked up by windows (Parallels) - not on my Mac desktop or Finder. But I wanted them in iTunes, not Windows Media Player! I could only eject them again by going in Parallels --> my computer --> eject cd. I only very rarely want Parallels to pick up cds (e.g. when someone sends me a .exe file), 99% of the time I want the cds and dvds to go straight to Finder. Not a great prospect going forward then.

The way around for me was to go to the Parallels toolbar at the top (when in coherence mode), select Devices --> CD/DVD ROM-1 --> Disconnect. As soon as I do this, the cd appears on my desktop and iTunes started up. From now on I just leave de cd drive disconnected in Parallels, until I want to do something with a Windows cd. Easy.