10.4: Access localhost via name from Parallels Desktop

Jan 16, '07 07:30:00AM

Contributed by: nick

I use Parallels Desktop mainly to make sure my websites work on IE. As the IP address of the virtual network devices installed by Parallels are assigned by a dedicated DHCP server also installed by Parallels, and the IP address of my laptop changes as I change locations, I use the following setup to be able to access my laptops webserver by name from Windows.

Now you can access your Macs's development server by entering yourcomputer as the URL in IE, no matter what IP addresses are assigned to your mac.

Optionally, you can even comment the lines that start the Parallels DHCP-NAT server in /Library -> StartupItems -> Parallels -> Parallels, as with this setup, you use neither DHCP nor Parallels' NAT (but OS X's own NAT is used).

[robg adds: I haven't tested this one.]

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