Cannot see html pages LOCALLY STORED on Mac drive, using Parallels Desktop?

Question

Using Parallels Desktop running Windows XP, I cannot use Safari 3 to view HTML files stored on my Mac - no matter how I try!
If I locate the file within Windows Explorer and I right-click and choose "Open With > Safari Web Browser" Safari will open, but it will only open a blank window and nothing loads (the Status Bar remains blank).
If I open Safari and choose "Open File..." and navigate to the file on my Mac and click "Open" I get an error message which states:
Safari can’t open the page “file://.PSF/Macintosh%20HD/..."
etc.
Note that the URL it is trying to open begins with:
“file://.PSF/"
whereas doing the same thing from within Internet Explorer shows the URL to begin with:
"\\.PSF\"
without the "file" part. Also notice the BACKslashes, rather than FORWARDslashes.
Lastly, trying to open a blank Safari window and drag-and-drop the HTML file from Windows Explorer directly into the Safari window results in exactly the same problem.
Note that ALL 3 of the above-mentioned methods DO work in Internet Explorer.
Finally, even copying-and-pasting the local URL that DOES work in IE into Safari's Address Bar doesn't work either. The problem this time is that not only does Safari turn all the backslashes into forwardslashes, but it also adds "http:" to the beginning of the URL, when it was not in the originally-copied link, which began with "\\.PSF\".

Answer 1

Again, thanks for taking the time to reply - but you're really really not paying attention to what I'm saying...
I AM giving Safari the full pathname, but when using Parallels Desktop, this full pathname begins with "\\.PSF\". That's how it starts. Nothing else before the two backslashes, OK. That's how it works in Internet Explorer when using Parallels Desktop. That's how it works in Windows Explorer when using Parallels Desktop.
I have given Safari the full pathname in FOUR different ways, as I mentioned in my original post: right-click, open with / file>open / drag-and-drop / copy-paste-URL.
With regards to my particular issue, I'm not concerned about how it works when using Windows running natively on a "proper" Windows PC. I am concerned about how it works when using Parallels Desktop.
If you really want to know the full URL (not that it matters one jot) of an example file that I can open with Internet Explorer, but not with Safari, here's the URL of the file I was originally trying to test:
\\.PSF\Macintosh%20HD\Work\Downie\Website\HTML\index.html
That's it. Everything is there. I have not left off anything at the beginning of that URL.
That's how it works in Internet Explorer when using Parallels Desktop. OK, re-read that. It works in Internet Explorer when using Parallels Desktop.
When I copy that URL exactly as it is, and paste it into Safari and hit return, Safari automatically converts it to:
http://.psf/Macintosh%20HD/Work/Downie/Website/HTML/index.html
Note how it has altered it in several respects:
- It has added "http:" to the beginning of the URL.
- It has turned the original "PSF" into a lower-case "psf".
- It has turned all the backslashes into forwardslashes.
I try manually deleting and altering the relevant parts and hitting return again, but Safari just goes back to the "wrong URL".
When you say "the only prefix for local files is file://" you are obviously not familiar with how Parallels Desktop works with and reads "local files".
Remember what I said earlier about how you're not REALLY looking at LOCAL files, because TRUE local files would be on the Windows section of the drive, and I am trying to look at files on the Mac part of the drive.
I'll repeat what I said earlier:
If you are not testing this from within Parallels Desktop like I am, and where I am having the problems, then your words here are not of much use, because you cannot experience what I am experiencing. You cannot comment on the experience on how this works from within Parallels Desktop if you do not have Parallels Desktop and have not experienced it yourself.