Parallels App For Mac

I enabled sharing Mac apps in Windows but, after working for many months, it failed to show Photoshop on the Mac side when I opened a Windows File Manager on a jpg file to Open with. Also, the C: Users deacimac1 AppData Roaming Parallels Shared Applications folder which contains the Mac app menu was empty. Ever wanted to run some OS X app on your Android tablet or smartphone?If so, you are in for a surprise as we show you how to run a Mac app on your Android devices using Parallels Access.

Parallels For Mac Help
Parallels App For Ipad
Best Parallels Software For Mac

Parallels Desktop is virtualization software for macOS. It lets you run multiple operating systems like Windows 10, Linux, and macOS inside virtual installations on your Mac.

While it might not be as fast as a local installation, using a VM is the convenient way to run Windows and its software on a Mac. There’s no need for a dedicated Boot Camp partitionHow to Create a Bootable Windows 10 Installer USB on a MacHow to Create a Bootable Windows 10 Installer USB on a MacMicrosoft offers a simple tool to create a bootable USB on Windows, but there is no such tool for Mac users. Fortunately the process is pretty easy, if you know how.Read More and you don’t need to restart your Mac every time you want to switch.

Parallels Desktop can have your Windows 10 installation up and running in under 10 seconds.

Download:Parallels Desktop 13

Ideal for Beginners and Power Users

The best thing about Parallels is that its seamless user experience scales from beginner all the way to a professional level. When you first install it, Parallels doesn’t ask you to configure the VM environment at all. There’s no need to decide what resources to dedicate to the VM, or how much hard drive space to block off for the new Windows installation.

You just have to hit “Next” a couple of times. The installation assistant will even download and install Windows 10 for you (the feature also works with Linux distrosTop 5 Linux Operating Systems You Should Try in a Virtual MachineTop 5 Linux Operating Systems You Should Try in a Virtual MachineFive Linux operating system distributions are particularly suitable for running virtual machines, so let's take a look at them.Read More, like Ubuntu and Elementary OS10 Elementary OS AppCenter Apps That'll Make You More Productive10 Elementary OS AppCenter Apps That'll Make You More ProductiveHaving an app store of its own has really brought Elementary OS to life with a great choice of apps. I use these AppCenter tools to improve my productivity -- perhaps you will too.Read More).

If you’ve ever used a VM app on Mac, you know that this is not a trivial thing.

In under an hour, I went from downloading the Parallels app from their website to booting into a fresh Windows 10 installation. And all the while, I just hit “Next” a couple of times and I was able to continue my work in other apps.

Once the Windows 10 install is up and running, you’re free to go in and mess about. Click on Settings, go to Hardware, and you can change the amount of RAM and GPU Parallels Desktop can use.

Parallels Desktop Features You Should Know About

The app is filled with features that will make your VM experience pain-free.

Copy and Paste or Drag and Drop

Because Windows is virtualized on your Mac, you can just copy and paste content between macOS apps and Windows apps. You can even drag and drop files between the two. And your macOS DesktopHow to Clean Up Your Mac Desktop and Increase ProductivityHow to Clean Up Your Mac Desktop and Increase ProductivityA cluttered desktop can not only decrease productivity but can also cause cognitive stress. Here's how to clean up your Mac desktop for a better work environment.Read More will show up as the Windows Desktop as well.

Run Windows Apps Alongside Mac Apps

Parallels has a special Coherence mode. In which, the Windows environment disappears and the Windows app shows up as an independent app. This means you can put a Mac app next to a Windows app and work in both environments seamlessly.

If you only need to use a couple of Windows apps for work, put Parallels in this mode and you won’t have to interact with Windows OS at all.

Full Screen and Keyboard Shortcuts

Click on the Parallels menu bar icon, go to View and select Enter Full Screen. Windows 10 will take up a whole new Space in macOS and you’re now basically running a Windows OS inside a Mac.

From Preferences, you can change keyboard shortcuts for common Windows actions. You can change the preset to macOS or Linux shortcuts.

Pin Windows Apps in the Dock

Active Windows apps will show up in the DockMake Your Mac Dock Great Again With These 5 ShortcutsMake Your Mac Dock Great Again With These 5 ShortcutsWhy stick with the jumble of icons that came with your Mac's dock when you can swap them for a bunch of super useful shortcuts?Read More and the App Switcher. This makes it really easy to jump between apps across both OS.

External Hard Drives and Simple Backups

If all your friends and coworkers use Windows, sometimes it can be hard to exchange data. They’ll give you an external hard drive that’s formatted in NTFS. macOS just won’t let you copy files to it. And in some situations, you can’t format the drive to macOS friendly formats like FATWrite To Your NTFS Drives Again in OS X El Capitan (For Free)Write To Your NTFS Drives Again in OS X El Capitan (For Free)Some of the most common methods of adding NTFS support broke with the recent release of El Capitan, but you can still write to your Windows drives with a bit of tinkering.Read More.

In times like these, Parallels Desktop can help. Boot up Windows 10 and open the hard drive from Windows 10’s File ExplorerHow to Get the Most Out of the Windows 10 File ExplorerHow to Get the Most Out of the Windows 10 File ExplorerWindows File Explorer is one of the most underrated features of Windows 10. Here we demonstrate how to manage and control the Windows 10 File Explorer from the bottom up and reveal features you never..Read More.

Snapshots in Parallels are a virtual machine equivalent of Time MachineHow to Restore Data From Time Machine BackupsHow to Restore Data From Time Machine BackupsIt's really easy to set up Time Machine, the backup software that comes with every Mac — but how do you get your files back when things go wrong?Read More, but they happen on the device. You’ll see the option in the Parallels dropdown in the menu bar. When you click on it, Parallels will save your virtual machine in the state it was in. You can choose to revert back to a snapshot at a later point.

What’s New in Parallels Desktop 13?

macOS High SierraHow to Try macOS High Sierra Right Now Before Everyone ElseHow to Try macOS High Sierra Right Now Before Everyone ElsemacOS High Sierra is now available for beta testing. If you'd like to give it a try before the general release, here's how to get your hands on it now.Read More introduces a new file format: APFSNew macOS, New Filesystem: What Is APFS and How Does It Work?New macOS, New Filesystem: What Is APFS and How Does It Work?iOS already has APFS. Now it's the Mac's turn. But what exactly are we getting into this Fall?Read More. As Parallels Desktop 13 comes with High Sierra support out of the box, you won’t have to worry about your VM’s compatibility. Similarly, when Windows 10’s Fall Creators UpdateWindows 10 Fall Creators Update Release Date ConfirmedWindows 10 Fall Creators Update Release Date ConfirmedThe Windows 10 Fall Creators Update finally has a release date, but what will be included in the next big update? Let's take a look.Read More ships, it will be supported by Parallels Desktop 13.

Version 13 also brings Windows 10’s People Bar to the Mac. You can now interact with the People Bar right from macOS’s Spotlight search and the Dock. The other major new feature in Parallels Desktop 13 is Touch Bar supportHow Useful Is the Touch Bar on the MacBook Pro?How Useful Is the Touch Bar on the MacBook Pro?Does Apple's thin context-dependent OLED strip improve productivity or is it just a gimmick as some users are making it out to be?Read More. And it’s not just for Windows 10, but also for Microsoft Office apps like Windows, Excel, and more.

Finally, Picture in Picture mode puts your Windows 10 VM into a floating window on top of everything in macOS. This way, you can monitor what’s happening in the Windows 10 installation, while continuing your work in macOS. When you focus on any other application in macOS, the floating window becomes translucent.

Is Parallels Desktop for You?

I’ve been using Parallels Desktop 13 on my MacBook Pro with the default configuration which is 2GB of RAM and 256MB shared graphics. I haven’t faced any issues jumping between macOS and Windows 10. Interacting with Windows apps and browsing the web in Microsoft Edge have all been smooth.

That said if you’re going to be running professional apps, you might want to increase the RAM limit to 4GB.

Parallels Desktop’s chief competitor is VMware Fusion. Both apps have a healthy competition and it leads to better updates every year. For the past couple of years, Parallels Desktop has taken the clear lead when it comes to user experience and ease of use.

If you’re in a corporate or IT environment where you need to roll out virtual machines by the hundreds, VMware Fusion has a clear advantage. But for everyone from beginners to independent professionals, Parallels will offer a better, faster experience (especially for Windows 10).

Parallels Desktop 13 costs $80. If you’ve used Parallels 11 or 12, you can upgrade for $50. If you’re a professional or a business user, you should look into their Parallels Desktop Business plan that starts at $100/year. If you’re okay with configuring and managing your own VM, VirtualBox is a good free alternative to Parallels Desktop.

Try Parallels for Free

Parallels For Mac Help

You can try Parallels Desktop for 14 days before deciding if you want to jump in. That’s enough time to setup your Windows environment and test it in a work environment, before deciding whether or not to take the plunge.

Will you be buying Parallels Desktop for Mac? What is your Windows 10 VM setup like? Share with us in the comments below.

Explore more about: macOS High Sierra, Virtual Machine, Windows 10.

Love OS X but have that one stubborn app you can only run on Windows? With the right tools and setup, you can run individual Windows apps seamlessly on your Mac desktop, as though they were always meant to be there.

Over the years, we've covered virtualization, virtual machines—that is, running full-blown operating systems inside your main OS—quite a bit. What we're going to detail here, however, is not so much the setting up of one operating system (Windows) inside another (Mac OS X), but a setup that makes running one or a handful of must-have Windows applications on a Mac simple and seamless. It makes things much easier for non-expert computer users who just need access to an app that there isn't a Mac version for, and it makes the user experience feel less disjointed and cobbled together. When you're done here, you should be able to run that must-have Windows app on your Mac as though it's just another Mac application.

We'll highlight two methods for achieving this kind of setup. One is with Parallels, which is easy to set up, offers great OS X integration, and isn't entirely cheap. The other is with VirtualBox, an app that's free on any platform, but requires a good bit more fiddling, and doesn't offer all the just-works options of Parallels. (Skip straight to the Parallels or VirtualBox sections.)

Method One: The Parallels Solution

At about $80 for a license, Parallels (Desktop 5 for Mac, in this case) is not exactly free, we know. Parallels is, however, a really smart, attractive, and powerful virtualization tool built for one purpose: making Windows applications accessible on a Mac. If you have a Windows disc and license handy—especially Windows 7—it makes Microsoft's operating system feel like it was made to fit inside a Mac.

The shortlist pitch for why you should consider Parallels for your Mac:

Windows app icons on your Dock: Not everybody uses the Dock, but those who do will find it very helpful to have both individual application icons on it, rather than having to hunt them out in a virtual Windows desktop.
Virtual Windows folder: If you need access to a few Windows apps and components on a regular basis, Parallels keeps a Windows-badged folder stocked with everything stashed inside your virtual Windows installation.
File type associations: If you need to open Microsoft Word .doc files inside an actual Word app inside Windows, and not with Mac's own TextEdit app, Parallels can make that happen. If the Mac has no idea what the file is, but a Windows app might, Parallels is on top of that, too.
Look and feel: It's not an essential tool to getting work done, but having your desktop feel integrated, and your applications feel like they belong on your computer, can matter more than you'd think. Parallels does a pretty great job of forming the windows, buttons, and frame of Windows applications so that they feel right on a Mac.

Adam had previously detailed running Windows apps on a Mac with Parallels, but Parallels has come a long way since 2006, and it's worth taking a look at the most seamless integration around.

Hack Attack: How to run Windows and Mac apps side-by-side with Parallels

by Adam Pash

Parallels App For Ipad

Install Parallels and Your Windows Application

Installing Parallels itself is fairly easy—grab the download from Parallels' site, double-click the resulting file, and enter your Mac administrator password to proceed. When it's finished installing, if it doesn't happen automatically, go ahead and run Parallels Desktop yourself for the first time—head to the Spotlight menu in the upper-right corner, type in Parallels, and hit the result.

You'll get a window that only has one real option, to create a new virtual machine. https://luckydon7.netlify.app/parallels-for-mac-1058.html. The easiest way to go through the process is use an installation DVD, though if you've got your installation disc stored as an ISO or Mac disk image, you can go ahead and point Parallels at that, too. Proceed through the Windows installation, and when you're done entering your license key, user name, time zone, and the like, and moved through the virtual reboots, Parallels will be running on your desktop—a full Windows installation inside a little window.

If you've got an installation disc for your application, the easy thing is to just insert it. Parallels will likely detect that it's a disc with a Windows auto-run application and launch a familiar Windows pop-up, asking if you want to run 'Install.exe,' 'Setup.exe,' or whatever your disc offers. If not, open the CD from your Mac desktop, then double-click on any install/setup files that seem to have two red lines, looking like a pause symbol, attached to them.

If you're looking to install from an executable package you can download, the easy solution is to open Internet Explorer from the Windows frame (or the Windows-badged folder that just showed up on your Dock), head to the software's web site, then download and run the installer right from the web. If that doesn't fly, you can always just drop the .exe file or installation folder onto a USB drive from your Mac OS, then un-plug it and plug it back in. By default, Parallels should automatically pick up the device and offer it to Windows. If it doesn't, right-click on the glowing Windows-like icon on your dock, hover over the Devices menu, and then select the drive you've dropped it on.

Got your application installed? Let's make it so it runs like any other Mac application.

Fine-Tuning Your Parallels Setup

See that folder that's now sitting on the far-right side of your folder bookmarks? It contains the majority of applications contained in your little self-contained Windows installation. Click on it, then pick out the application you just installed and click that. In almost every case, you'll witness the small miracle of a Windows application launching inside a Mac. It may look a little incongruous, with its Windows title bar and coloring, but we'll fix that right now.

Once your virtual Windows is launched, Parallels adds a Start-Menu-style Windows icon to your dock. Right-click on it. Head up to the View menu that pops out of the Start button and select 'Coherence' in the top-most section, if it's not already selected. If you don't see it, your Windows machine has already paused or suspended, but you can start it back up by hitting 'Resume' from the Actions menu. This sets Parallels to hide away the bulk of Windows—the desktop, the taskbars, nearly everything—so that the only evidence of Windows you see is the window for the application you're using, along with one or two Dock icons. From the same right-click menu, under the 'View' section, choose 'Use MacLook.' This applies a theme to Windows that makes it a good bit less incongruous when its applications are running on your Mac screen.

Back to that application you've got running in Windows. If you're using your Mac Dock to launch applications, right-click on the icon of your Windows app and choose 'Keep in Dock.' If you're more inclined to launch an application from Spotlight or Quicksilver, you should be able to find your app, since there's already a shortcut created inside that 'Windows Applications' folder on your Dock. Want to put the shortcut somewhere else? Right-click on that folder full of Windows applications, then simply make a copy of the shortcuts you need, wherever you need them.

File Associations, Shared Folders, Auto-Suspending

We're now going to configure our Windows virtual machine for a little smoother integration. Open up Parallels Desktop from Spotlight, hit the Virtual Machines menu, and select 'Configure.' If you're using a Dock, you can also right-click on the glowing Windows orb and select 'Configure.'

Hit the Shared Applications category on the left, select your crucial Windows application, then click the SmartSelect button in the resulting panel.

In the case of WordPerfect, it uses pretty specific file formats not used by other applications, so you can see that Parallels has already informed the Mac that if it encounters a .wpd file, it should launch the virtualized WordPerfect and pass that file to it. Other applications may use formats that a Mac can open, too—Word files, particular image files, and the like. You can get specific in this menu, parceling out, for example, basic JPG and PNG opening to Mac's Preview, but opening TIFF files in that one Adobe app you only have a Windows copy of. In any case, when you see a file in your Mac that your Windows application will end up opening, you'll know it—the icon will be formatted for that app, and have the distinct Parallels 'stripes' in the bottom-right.

Now, in the Shared Folders category, you can choose to keep your Mac home folder—containing Documents, Music, Pictures, and all your stuff, really—shared with Windows, which makes it fairly easy to trade files back and forth to an application like WordPerfect. You can go one further, though, by 'sharing' your Desktop or Documents folder with Windows. Check off the options if they're there, or hit the + button and set up the synchronization between your Mac and Windows desktops and documents. Now, when you've got an app like WordPerfect running, you don't have to dig into your Mac home folder to find a place to save. Save a file to what Windows considers its own Desktop, and it'll show up on your Mac Desktop.

Finally, in the Startup/Shutdown category, I recommend the setup pictured above. Your virtualized Windows suspends itself when nothing is happening with any Windows application, which saves you memory and battery power, but makes it fairly quick to pull applications back up when you need them. Setting the startup view to Coherence also eliminates having to watch a glitchy Windows desktop appear and disappear as it boots up. On the Mac's shutdown, I like to quit out of Parallels, so it's a clean slate when starting up again, but you can set Parallels to suspend its machine instead when you power things down.

That's how I set up WordPerfect to run on a MacBook in such a way as to be nearly invisible as a Windows application. There are many, many more settings you can explore, including those that set up the keyboard shortcut equivalents between Windows and Mac applications, but those are best discovered and configured to one's own tastes.

Not quite sold on the utility of Parallels over a DIY solution? Here's how you can achieve nearly the same end result, though with, admittedly, less convenience and cohesion.

Method Two (the Free One): VirtualBox in Seamless Mode

VirtualBox requires a bit more hands-on operation to get Windows 7 installed. Luckily, we've run down those operations before. Consult our beginners guide to creating virtual machines in VirtualBox for help getting Windows installed. If you'd been considering a Boot Camp installation, or already have Windows installed in a Boot Camp partition, you can still benefit from VirtualBox. Blogger and entrepreneur Anil Dash has written up a guide to running Windows 7 under Mac OS X 10.6 for free, which makes your Boot Camp installation VirtualBox-friendly and then links the two up for the best of both worlds.

The Beginner's Guide to Creating Virtual Machines with VirtualBox

Virtual machines can seem juuuuust a bit too geeky for most otherwise computer-friendly people.…

Best Parallels Software For Mac

Read

Which leaves Parallels Desktop and VMware Fusion as your best alternatives. And while VirtualBox is free, setting it up is complicated—downright geeky, at times—and it lacks some bells and whistles you might want. Free operating system for mac. In the past, I tried to answer that question by, to see how they did on specific tasks. So, of those two, how do you decide which one is right for you?

After you've got Windows 7 installed, you'll want to be sure to install VirtualBox Guest Additions, which is really a two-click process—hit 'Install Guest Additions' from the Devices menu of VirtualBox, and then choose to run the installer when when it pops up. Restart your Windows installation after it finishes. Fire up a new 'Seamless' option by selecting it from the Machine menu, or hitting Left Command+L.

You'll notice that Windows basically disappears—except for your toolbar/taskbar, which hovers over your Dock, or at the bottom of your screen, if you don't use a Dock. That's, well, ugly. Right-click on the Windows taskbar, select Properties, and look for the option to auto-hide the taskbar.

Now it's out of the way, but what about when you need to get to something? VirtualBox lets you assign a key, or key combination, on your Mac to represent the Start menu. It's Ctrl+Esc by default, but you can change it in your VirtualBox preferences. Given the power of the Start Search feature in Windows Vista and 7, it's easy to launch applications by typing out the first few letters—kind of like Spotlight. When applications launch, they get a Mac-like window frame, and closing them means Windows basically disappears.

Be sure to head into the settings of your Virtual Machine for Windows and set up the Shared Folders. It's not that much harder than Parallels, really, but the way they show up—as network drives—is a bit different. You can connect your Windows and Mac desktops and document folders for easy file saving and retrieval.

To finish up making your VirtualBox a bit more convenient than just running a Virtual Machine, learn the keyboard shortcuts for pausing the machine when not in use (Left Command + P), and be sure to choose the 'Save Machine State' option when shutting down VirtualBox. That way, when you fire up Windows 7 again, it will resume in its Seamless state, waiting for you to launch the Start menu and get at what you need.

Another Possible Option: WineBottler/CrossOver

When WINE works, it's a great thing, running applications meant for Windows on Mac or Linux, without the overhead of an entire virtual machine. Thing is, it doesn't always work. Luckily, two applications that make it easy to try out an app in WINE on Mac exist: CrossOver Mac, a paid application that offers a trial period, and WineBottler, a custom build of WINE that works great at framing small Windows apps as native OS X programs. Both are worth looking into if you've got one or two applications you need to run, but don't necessarily need access to an entire Windows OS.

Those are two options for running Windows applications inside a Mac with minimum disruption. Got a setup that's better than ours? We're not ashamed to admit our newcomer status. Tell us about it in the comments, and we'll link you up and include your tips in an updated post.