# Startup and Shutdown Settings

In the **Startup and Shutdown** pane, you can configure how the virtual machine starts or shuts down.

To open these settings, choose **Actions** > **Configure** > **Options**, then click **Startup and Shutdown**.

<figure><img src="https://4047593329-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FNgaOYFJddKmopmi2cfn5%2Fuploads%2FqILYFMlvEBCow2bImnrX%2FScreenshot%202024-01-19%20at%2016.30.00.png?alt=media&#x26;token=7d2cc0ae-030c-4e44-b842-af43dc888d42" alt="" width="563"><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

| Option                              | Description                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     |
| ----------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Start up and shut down manually** | Select this option if you want to always start and shut down the virtual machine manually.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      |
| **Always ready in background**      | Select this option if you want to make the virtual machine start automatically when the Mac starts.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             |
| **Custom**                          | <p>If you want to specify not only how the virtual machine starts or shuts down but also the view mode and what happens on closing the virtual machine window, select <strong>Custom</strong> and specify the following:</p><ul><li><p><strong>Start Automatically</strong>. Use this menu to set whether the virtual machine starts automatically:</p><ul><li><strong>Never</strong>: The virtual machine never starts automatically.</li><li><strong>When window opens</strong>: The virtual machine starts automatically when you open it from <strong>Control Center</strong>.</li><li><strong>When Parallels Desktop starts</strong>: The virtual machine starts automatically when you start Parallels Desktop.</li><li><strong>When Mac starts:</strong> The virtual machine starts automatically when you start the Mac. If you select this option, you can also configure the virtual machine to delay the startup.</li><li><strong>When user logs in</strong>: Windows starts automatically when the macOS user logs in to macOS on the Mac startup.</li></ul></li><li><strong>Startup view</strong>. Use this menu to choose in which mode the virtual machine starts when you start the virtual machine or guest OS application.</li><li><p><strong>On VM Shutdown</strong>. Use this menu to set what happens when you shut down your virtual machine:</p><ul><li><strong>Keep window open</strong>: If the virtual machine is set to appear in a separate window, the window stays open when you stop or shut down the virtual machine.</li><li><strong>Close window</strong>: If the virtual machine is set to appear in a separate window, the window closes when you stop or shut down the virtual machine.</li><li><strong>Quit Parallels Desktop</strong>: Parallels Desktop quits when you stop or shut down the virtual machine.</li></ul></li><li><strong>On Mac Shutdown</strong>. Use this menu to specify what happens when you shut down your Mac (available in Parallels Desktop for Mac Pro and Business Editions only).</li><li><strong>On Window Close</strong>. Use this menu to set what happens when you close the Parallels Desktop window. These settings affect what happens only when the virtual machine is set to appear in a separate window.</li></ul> |
| **Pause Windows after**             | <p>If there are no active processes in Windows, it still consumes your Mac's CPU resources. Select this option and specify a period of inactivity after which Windows will be automatically paused. That way, less CPU resources are used by Windows services, which allows you to save battery and help the environment.<br><br><a data-footnote-ref href="#user-content-fn-1"><strong>Note</strong>: Starting from version 20.4.0, this option is disabled by default for newly created virtual machines.</a></p>                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             |

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