Controlling Virtual Machine Settings from the Management Portal

VM startup and shutdown

This drop-down menu controls how the virtual machine starts.

• Manual. This option leaves the decision to launch or shut down the virtual machine to the user.

• Ready in background. With this option, the virtual machine starts automatically with your Mac and remains ready in the background. This way, clicking on a Windows app icon in macOS instantly launches it without having to wait for the virtual machine to boot up.

Network source Note: If this setting is controlled remotely, the users won't be able to change other Network settings like Network Conditioner either. Adding another network adapter to the virtual machine's hardware configuration won't help: its settings will also be set as prescribed in the policy and won't be available for changing.

This drop-down menu controls the network settings for the Parallels virtual machines covered by a specific policy. The options are:

• Disconnect. This option fully disconnects the virtual machine from any networks.

• Shared Network (recommended). This option enables the Network Address Translation (NAT) feature for the virtual machine. In this case, your virtual machine shares whatever network connection is currently used by your Mac.

• Host-Only. This option allows the virtual machine to connect to your Mac and other Parallels virtual machines on it but make it invisible outside the Mac. If this option is selected, the virtual machine cannot connect to the Internet.

• Bridged Network (Default adapter). This options allows the virtual machine to access the local network and Internet through the default network adapter of your Mac. The virtual machine is treated as a stand-alone computer on the network and should be configured as such. Note: When set locally, this option allows you to select which Mac network adapter to use. However, when controlled remotely via a policy, the only option is to use the default adapter.

Isolate VM from Mac Note: Some of the settings in this section are not available on all supported platforms.

This section contains several ways to isolate the virtual machine from macOS, so that they no longer share folders, profiles, and applications. Connected external devices are no longer automatically accessible by the guest OS, the virtual machine and Mac no longer synchronize volume, and you can no longer copy or move objects between the virtual machine and macOS. Isolating your virtual machine from macOS may provide a higher level of security by not allowing compromised items from one OS to come into contact with the other. The section contains several specific settings for a more granular setup:

• Disable sharing Mac folders with VM. This will prevent the virtual machine from accessing folders in the host Mac's macOS.

• Disable sharing VM folders with Mac (Windows only). This will prevent the virtual machine from accessing folders in the virtual machine.

• Disable sharing VM apps with Mac (Windows only). This will prevent opening Windows applications from the host Mac's macOS Finder.

• Disable sharing Mac apps with VM (Windows only). This will prevent opening the host Mac's macOS applications from within the virtual machine.

• Control clipboard synchronization (not supported for macOS virtual machines on Apple silicon Macs). This setting controls the contents of copy-and-paste clipboard between the Mac's macOS and the virtual machine.

  • Disconnect. Use this setting to completely isolate the clipboards of the Mac's macOS and the virtual machine.

  • Bidirectional. Fully syncronized clipboard, allowing users to freely copy and paste between the two systems.

  • Guest OS to Mac only

  • Mac to Guest OS only

Disable sharing smart card readers with VM (not available for macOS virtual machines on Apple silicon Macs)

Activating this option will isolate the smart card readers connected to the Macs from the Parallels virtual machines that run on them.

Do not allow external devices

Activating this option will bar your users from connecting external (i.e., USB) devices to the Parallels virtual machines running on their Macs. Note: When activated locally, this option enables you to granularly blacklist specific types of USB devices that you want to prevent, e.g., storage devices, mobile phones, or cameras. The Management Portal policy doesn't allow blacklisting specific types of USB devices yet. Learn more.

Always lock VM on suspend (not available for macOS virtual machines)

This option enforces the locking of virtual machine operating systems when they are suspended. Once the virtual machine is resumed, you’ll have to log into its operating system to unlock it.

Do not allow changing VM configuration (not available for macOS virtual machines on Apple silicon Macs)

Activating this option would prevent users from changing any virtual machine settings that are not listed here. For a complete list of virtual machine settings available in Parallels Desktop, read this chapter. Note: The linked chapter primarily describes settings available for Windows virtual machines. Available settings for Linux and macOS machines may differ.

Show Developer Tools (not available for macOS virtual machines on Apple silicon Macs)

This option unlocks an additional Parallels Desktop macOS bar menu that allows users to start SSH and debugging sessions with their virtual machines, generate core dumps, edit Windows registry, and more. Developer tools are also available via command line.

Disable automatic updates of Parallels Tools

Parallels Tools are a suite of behind-the-scenes tools that allow seamless interaction between your Mac's macOS and a guest operating system. They normally update automatically, but this setting enables you to prevent that. To learn more about Parallels Tools, follow this link.