Get Mac desktop icons off windows desktop

Discussion in 'Windows Virtual Machine' started by JohnM36, Feb 22, 2017.

  1. JohnM36

    JohnM36 Bit poster

    Messages:
    6
    I have not used Parallels in quite some time (Parallels 7 with Windows XP), and am not very familiar with Windows 10 (pretty much can't stand the windows 8 & 10 interface). I do need to use some windows programs from time to time.

    Just installed Parallels Desktop 12.1.3 with Windows 10. Unfortunately, all of the icons from my Mac desktop are showing up in my Windows desktop page. How do I stop that from happening? All I want in my Windows desktop are windows-related programs and files. I would like to still maintain the ability to manually copy files from one OS to the other ("seeing" files/folders on my Mac from within Windows if I specifically navigate to them would also be nice, but not absolutely necessary.) Is there a way to do this?

    While I am asking questions:
    • How do I make the Windows desktop view the default view in Windows? It seems to default to the tiles view, which I hate, and getting to the desktop view often seems to be a multi-step process.
    • How do I make the windows environment stay confined to one window on the Mac?
    Noob questions, I know. Unfortunately, I've been away from Windows and Parallels for so long that I don't even know the terms to search for.
     
  2. Arunraj

    Arunraj Junior Member

    Messages:
    11
    Best Answer
    Hello John,
    Parallels Desktop provides a close integration between your Mac OS and Windows guest OS. You can access certain Mac Home folders(like Desktop) directly from Windows and vice versa. If you don't like to have your Mac desktop folder and files appearing on Windows desktop, you can disable desktop sharing in Windows virtual machine configuration by following the instructions below:

    1. Open Parallels Desktop
    2. Go to your virtual machine's Configuration > Options tab > Sharing
    3. Select " Configuration " under SharedProfile
    4. Uncheck " Desktop " and click on " OK "
    5. Restart the Windows virtual machine and try again.
     
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  3. RogerH6

    RogerH6 Hunter

    Messages:
    219
    Settings
    Options
    Applications
    Un-tick the entry 'share Windows applications with Mac' (also 'show Windows notification area in Mac menu bar', and 'Share Mac applications with Windows' - assuming you don't want it to happen the other way as well....

    On the display mode, it should stay in 'Modality mode', once you have selected this. Look at: <http://kb.parallels.com/115291>

    The drive sharing is separate, and will still work. :)
     
    JohnM36 likes this.
  4. Arunraj

    Arunraj Junior Member

    Messages:
    11
    Best Answer
    Hello John,
    Parallels Desktop provides a close integration between your Mac OS and Windows guest OS. You can access certain Mac Home folders(like Desktop) directly from Windows and vice versa. If you don't like to have your Mac desktop folder and files appearing on Windows desktop, you can disable desktop sharing in Windows virtual machine configuration by following the instructions below:

    1. Open Parallels Desktop
    2. Go to your virtual machine's Configuration > Options tab > Sharing
    3. Select " Configuration " under SharedProfile
    4. Uncheck " Desktop " and click on " OK "
    5. Restart the Windows virtual machine and try again.
     
    JohnM36 likes this.
  5. JohnM36

    JohnM36 Bit poster

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    6
    Thanks Roger and Arunraj. That took care of it.
     
    Arunraj likes this.
  6. Arunraj

    Arunraj Junior Member

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    11
    You are welcome, John. :)
     
  7. Swati@Parallels

    Swati@Parallels

    Messages:
    334
    Hello Guys, thank you so much for sharing the information. Please feel free to reach us anytime.
     
    Arunraj likes this.
  8. MarkA12

    MarkA12 Bit poster

    Messages:
    4
    I want to do this, and also stop the Windows desktop icons from appearing on the Mac desktop. These instructions appear to be obsolete. There is no "Configuration under SharedProfile", and all the options under both Sharing and Applications are greyed out, whether a virtual windows is running or not. How can I do this now?
     
  9. Hemnath@Parallels

    Hemnath@Parallels Parallels Support

    Messages:
    1,004
    Hello MarkA12.
    Please share a screenshot of this scenario, so we can understand what's going on exactly.
     
  10. MarkA12

    MarkA12 Bit poster

    Messages:
    4
    Here are screenshots for "Sharing" and "Applications." Before, I had them up with Win10 shut down and they didn't have the yellow banner, but the options were still greyed out. Now I can't even get to the configuration dialog with Win10 shut down....

    Thanks for checking this!

    upload_2018-10-4_13-54-19.png
    upload_2018-10-4_13-55-38.png
     

    Attached Files:

  11. MarkA12

    MarkA12 Bit poster

    Messages:
    4
    Ok, noob mistake -- I can un-grey the selections by clicking the lock icon and entering my PW. But I still don't know how to make them stop sharing desktop icons!

    UPDATE: Found the desktop checkbox and unticked it, testing now...
     
    Last edited: Oct 4, 2018
  12. Hemnath@Parallels

    Hemnath@Parallels Parallels Support

    Messages:
    1,004
    Yes, that should work.
     

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