I have a Mac and when I run Windows 7 with Parallels, the layout of my mac keyboard is not utilized, only Windows keyboard layout is active. When I type the key! (number 8) it write _ on Windows 7 not! So it is difficult to use it when writing scripts or coding as you can easily imagine. Keyboard layouts in Parallels Desktop for Mac are inherited from Mac side. If you would like to use Windows-like layout, please follow these simple steps: For Windows 8, 8.1 and 10. Right-click on Windows Start button and choose Control Panel. Open Clock, Language and Region.
Running Windows on your MacBook isn’t uncommon, but running it on a new Touch Bar MacBook Pro has its own set of challenges thanks to the removal of the function keys. Luckily, a trip through your MacBook’s settings can bring those precious keys back when using Windows 10, either virtually or natively.
The Touch Bar MacBook Pro ditches the traditional function keys in favor of its set of system adjustments like brightness and volume, leaving Windows users without some important keys they’ll need to use their OS. Function keys that enable convenient features like instant browser refreshing or screenshotting pages are lost unless you hold down the “fn” key on your keyboard.
Advertisement
Using Parallels
If you’re running Windows 10 through Parallels (or any virtual machine app) on your MacBook, you can make some simple settings modifications in your keyboard settings to enable function keys in the app, or any virtualized Windows app.
Advertisement
Head to your MacBook’s System Preferences, select Keyboard, then select Shortcuts. From there, choose the Function Keys section and hit the + button. You can add Parallels to the list of apps that pull up the function menu. You can even choose particular virtualized apps, configuring the keys on a per app basis if you know which ones depend on having them around.
Parallels For Mac Free
Advertisement
Using Bootcamp
Dual-booting your machine with Apple’s Boot Camp will let you run Windows as normal, but still restrict Touchbar support to Apple’s default adjustment options. Windows does recognize the Touchbar itself, but apps don’t support it, rendering it a set of static but usable adjustment keys.
Advertisement
To regain your precious function keys, you’ll have to take a trip to Apple’s Boot Camp Control Panel. From there, select Keyboard, then check “Use all F1,F2, etc. keys as standard function keys.” That will switch the Touchbar’s default setting to the function keys, though you can access the convenient brightness and volume buttons by holding the “fn” key on the bottom left of your keyboard.
Different Keyboard For Iphone
The conversion of my Windows-based Physical Computer (PC) to a Parallels-based Windows Virtual Machine (VM) went surprisingly smooth, but as with so many technical projects the devil is in the details. In this case there were two areas where I needed to learn a few things to make things clean: the serial ports and the keyboard. To keep things simple, this article will address a few simple things that make the keyboard more effective.
In an effort to save a few dollars and avoid sending yet-another-keyboard to the landfill I decided to keep my existing Windows-specific mechanical keyboard and use it with the Mac Pro and the Parallels Windows VM. I have found that mechanical keyboards just work better than the various Bluetooth and no-travel no-sound keyboards being cranked out today and I’ve put aside the latest Mac mini-Bluetooth keyboard and Magic Mouse. I find them painful to use over long periods of time and I always feel more productive with a true mechanical keyboard and a mouse with additional programmable buttons.
The first thing to do when you are using a Windows keyboard is to remap the Window and Alt keys to be Option and Command. This will help make the keystrokes consistent with a true Mac keyboard under Mac OS so you don’t need to look down at the keyboard all the time. You accomplish this through Mac OS System Preferences -> Keyboard -> Modifier Keys (button) and switch the Option key to Command and the Command key to Option. (I stick a label on the keyboard to remind me I’ve changed things.)
Parallels Windows Key
The second thing you might need is for Function Keys to pass through to the virtual machine. The System preferences are different for Bluetooth keyboards, but the wired keyboard simply needs the System Preferences -> Keyboard -> Shortcuts -> Mission Control to uncheck the F11 and F12 keys so they no longer do things for Mission Control.
The third thing is to replace the functions you lost in step two, the F11 and F12 capabilities. I remap the mouse to use Mouse Key 4 and Mouse Key 5 for those through System Preferences -> Mission Control and I set mouse Key 4 and mouse key 5 on the right column to set the items I want them to trigger, in this situation I use the right bottom mouse button to launch Mission Control.
The fourth adjustment is the Alt key within the VM. Some of the software that I use has extensive shortcuts that use Alt, but the left Alt was not working as expected and I knew I wouldn’t remember to use the right-Alt key that was working. So, from within the Parallels VM, I again selected DEVICES -> Keyboard -> Customize -> VM Name and added a key mapping of Alt to Alt.
Parallels Keyboard Map For Macbook
Finally, the keyboard is a programmable unit, and running the programming software inside the virtual machine requires the keyboard to be there as a keyboard, not a virtual interface. So, from within the VM you scroll the mouse to the top, select the Parallels DEVICE menu and click a check next to the keyboard. This provides a direct line between the keyboard and the VM (and hides the keyboard from Mac OS). You can run the programming utility, update the keyboard, close the programming application and uncheck the keyboard device so it is visible to Mac OS again. This is also a means to have a dedicated keyboard for the VM and a different dedicated keyboard for Mac OS, if you like.
Parallels For Mac Reviews
I have tested this for a short time and may find additional issues and will add them as they are resolved. Enjoy your day! 73