Configuring Deployment Options
The autodeploy package contains a special script, which is automatically executed on a target Mac after the package is transferred to it. When executed, the script reads the configuration parameter values from the deploy.cfg
file, which you can modify according to your needs.
To modify the parameters, expand the License Key and Configuration folder in the autodeploy package and open the deploy.cfg file in a text editor. The configuration parameters are organized in sections, which are described below.
License
The License section is used to specify the Parallels Desktop Business Edition license key.
Variable | Description |
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| Specifies the registration mode for the deployed virtual machines. Accepted values:
The default destination folder for virtual machines can be modified using the |
| Specifies whether the virtual machine's SMBIOS ID (hardware ID) will be regenerated. Each Parallels virtual machine is assigned a universally unique SMBIOS ID when created. For your enterprise management software (e.g., Microsoft Intune) to properly account for unique Windows and software activations, unique SMBIOS IDs are required. However, specific scenarios like software development may require keeping SMBIOS IDs unchanged. Set the value of the
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| Specifies whether the virtual machine(s) will be copied or moved from the autodeploy package to their destination folder on a Mac (see the explanation below). Accepted values:
If your autodeploy package contains one or more virtual machines, they need to be copied or moved to their destination folder on a Mac during deployment (see
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| Alternatively, compressed or packed virtual machine files included in the autodeploy package are copied to the default location on a Mac, which is determined by the The variable name must be the same as the original virtual machine file name (including the “.pvm” or “.pvmz” extension). The value should contain a name and path where you want the virtual machine to be copied on a Mac. Please note the following:
Examples:
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| The URL of a custom HTML page is to be displayed as a banner in the Parallels Desktop Control Center window. To disable the banner, comment out the variable or specify an empty string as a value. |
| The banner height, in pixels. The recommended value is 350. To use the current value (if you are updating Parallels Desktop on a Mac), comment out the variable. |
| The banner's minimum width measured in pixels. When resizing the Control Center window, its minimum width will be limited accordingly. The recommended value is 350. To use the current value (if you are updating Parallels Desktop on a Mac), comment out the variable. To disable the minimum width limitation, comment out the variable or specify 0 (zero) as a value. |
| Specify whether the installer should override the hypervisor type of each deployed VM to 'Apple' on macOS 11.0 Big Sur and newer. All macOS versions since macOS Big Sur require a Mac reboot to run a VM with a hypervisor type other than 'Apple'. To forcibly change the hypervisor type to 'Apple', use the following setting:
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Software Updates
The Software Updates section is used to configure automatic updates for Parallels Desktop.
Please note that a configuration profile can be used to control upgrades over major versions of Parallels Desktop. But if the updates_url
variable is used (see the table below), then the configuration profile option is ignored. The recommended approach is not to use the updates_url
variable and instead, use a configuration profile to enable upgrades when the IT feels confident about the new version.
Variable | Description |
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| Specifies the update URL. Possible values are:
2) If you don't want to wait until Parallels Desktop Business Edition updates become available, you can specify the URL to download updates intended for Parallels Desktop Standard and Pro editions, which are released a bit earlier. For more info, please see Configuring Parallels Desktop Update Options. The URL is as follows (when assigning it to the variable, put it in quotes): https://update.parallels.com/desktop/vNN/parallels/parallels_sbscr_updates.xml Note: The "vNN" part in the URL above represents the current Parallels Desktop version number. Whichever version you would like to use, substitute the NN with the correct number. |
| Specifies how often Parallels Desktop should check for updates. Possible values:
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| Specifies the automatic update download options:
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Help & Support
The Help and Support section is used to specify the action for the Help > Support Center menu item in the Parallels Desktop graphical user interface.
Variable | Description |
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| Specifies a URL of a page that will be displayed when a user selects the Help > Support Center menu option in the Parallels Desktop graphical user interface. To display the default message, specify an empty string (this is the default behavior). To display your own Web page (help desk, wiki, etc.), specify its URL. |
| Specifies a URL that will be included in error message dialogs related to licensing operations. The URL should point to a web page or a resource that the user can visit to get help with the problem. The error message appears when there's a problem activating, renewing, or deactivating a Parallels Desktop license. If you specify a URL using this variable, it will be included in the message dialog in the form "For details click <URL>". If you don't specify a URL (comment out the variable or specify an empty string), the default "Contact your system administrator" message will be displayed. |
Technical Data Reports
The Technical Data Reports section is used to specify whether Parallels Desktop issue reports should contain screenshots of the macOS and virtual machine desktops. You can exclude screenshots for security reasons.
Variable | Description |
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Customer Experience
The Customer Experience section allows you to specify whether the Macs should participate in the Parallels Customer Experience Program (CEP). The Parallels Customer Experience Program is a feedback solution that allows Parallels Desktop to automatically collect usage statistics and system information that will help Parallels develop new features and updates for future releases. For more information, please see https://www.parallels.com/pcep/.
NOTE: Starting from Parallels Desktop 18, the CEP Participation option in the deployment package and in Parallels Desktop user interface is ignored. The setting for all users is managed by the license administrator in the Parallels My Account portal (https://my.parallels.com).
Variable | Description |
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Security
The Security section allows you to enable or disable the password requirement for a number of Parallels Desktop operations.
Variable | Description |
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| The current password (if one is already set in target Parallels Desktop installations). Use this key if you want to disable or change the current password, or if you want to enable/disable any of the protected actions when the password is already set. For the following cases, both the 1. To disable the password completely, the 2. To change the password, the 3. To enable/disable any of the actions without changing the password, both the |
| Custom password. If no password is currently set, use this key to specify the password. If a password is currently set, see the description above. |
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The following set of parameters allows you to specify whether a local Mac administrator password is required to perform a corresponding action in Parallels Desktop. Please note that the parameters described above provide a higher level of security since they allow you to use a custom password. | |
| Note: Supported since Parallels Desktop 15.
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| Hide hostname in activation/heartbeat requests.
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User Experience
The User Experience section allows you specify options related to user experience.
Variable | Description |
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If the parameter is commented out, Parallels Desktop will be deployed using the "standard" mode. When using the Single Application Mode, it is recommended to prepare Windows guest operating system to have auto login enabled. NOTE: Please note that you cannot redeploy Parallels Desktop with this option set to |
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Please note that this setting will be applied to every virtual machine included in the autodeploy package. You can also configure each virtual machine to hide (or show) developer tools before deployment, but with this option, you can apply the setting automatically during deployment. |
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