Hmm, it sounds as if the .net libraries that we use are failing to interface with the mac's internet drivers correctly and they aren't succeeding in doing the initial http POST message.

What do you get if you open a Windows browser under the same emulation and go to this URL?

https://secure.gateway.gov.uk/submission

You should get something like:

OK, Googling MAC parallels "hostname could not be parsed" gives several hits relating to a wide variety of applications running on that platform. We'll see what we can work out from other people's experience with this error.

EDIT: OK, from the melange of competing explanations I think it may be that the .NET libraries don't like the parallels hostname of ".psf" (windows considers a fullstop in a hostname to be an error). If maybe you can find a way of running the software from a share that doesn't reference that hostname, perhaps by setting up a drive letter redirection or something, the problem might go away. Or it might not, as really we're groping in the dark here.

OK, Try starting the software up by opening the Y: folder, drilling down to the folder with your .PAY data file in it, and double-clicking it.

However the problem may lie in the software being installed on the .fsp path. In which case it might be worth uninstalling it and re-installing it pointed at a subfolder of Y:

(Not promising that any of this is anything to do with the problem...)

Dave, I don't think you have to create a new drive. You just need to make "X:" (or similar) an alias for the folder where the 12Pay data is stored. And then start the software up by clicking in the .PAY file from the X: folder. We think that Bones did something similar to that on our suggestion.

But we don't have Macs here and we don't really know anything about them so it is hard for us to produce an idiots' guide. Bones, I wonder if you could help Dave? Could I have permission from one of you to send their email address to the other so that Bones could talk Dave through the process?