Parallels windows installation media mac os#

For someone expecting a standard Windows interface after installation, this can be disconcerting. Parallels also defaults to booting Windows virtual machines in the fully-integrated Coherence mode, where the Windows desktop vanishes, and WindowsвЂ™ windows are intermingled with those of OS X.

As someone who has personally experienced Windows malware infections, total integration is not something I recommend for most virtual machine users, and yet itвЂ™s the default behavior in Parallels.

Parallels windows installation media mac os#

More troubling is that, when creating a new Windows virtual machine, the default settings are for full integration of the Mac OS and the Windows guest-the default even sets the WindowsвЂ™ user folder to the MacвЂ™s Users folder. ThereвЂ™s no way to avoid this, so if you find the aliases useless (as I do), you have to manually remove them each time you create a virtual machine.

First, every time you create a new virtual machine, Parallels creates an alias to that virtual machine on your OS X Desktop. There are a couple aspects of installing guest OSes that could be improved. It also installs Parallels Tools, which handles the task of mouse integration between the guest OS and Mac OS, as well as allowing easy guest desktop resizing by resizing the guest OS window. Installing both Windows and Linux is easy in Parallels it has assistants that automate the process for both.