Problem launching Mac apps from Win10 in Parallels Desktop

We recently got a new iMac Pro 5K 128GB, and set up Parallels Desktop for access to Windows apps used in our business. This is the first Win10 virtual machine we have set up (all previous deployments were Win7).

We got things working so web links received in Outlook in Windows open in Safari on the Mac side (had to set it in Parallels options and in the default program for file types for .html in Win10 settings).
We want PDF files received as attachments to open up in the full Acrobat program on the Mac (where we have Adobe CC 2018 Suite installed) rather than in Adobe Reader or Edge on Windows. When we go in the control panel and find the PDF extension, we can pop up the list of available apps, and can see "Adobe Acrobat (Mac)" and click on that. But then the setting Win10 displays says "ColorSync Utility (Mac)". We can't get it to hold "Adobe Acrobat (Mac)" as the setting.

Any ideas?

 

Hi @BrianRoden , please try Actions > Reinstall Parallels tools and check if that helps.

 

Reinstalling Parallels Tools in the VM didn't help.
We also tried to assign .jpg and .jpeg to open in Adobe Photoshop on the Mac side, and got the same thing, where even though we select Adobe Photoshop (Mac) the Windows default app for the file extension setting actually changes to "ColorSync utility (Mac)"

 

Hi @BrianRoden , when you try to select the default application have you checked a box that says "Open all with the same extension using this application" ?

 

We don't see such a checkbox

 

Hi @BrianRoden , please click "Change all" option while selecting Get info windows on mac.

 

How will changing a setting in Get Info on the Mac side change the Windows 10 extension associations?

 

Hi @BrianRoden , there might be some conflicts in applications when sharing is enabled. Please let us know if you are still experiencing this issue.

 

I am having this same issue. I have tried reinstalling Parallels Tools but no change. When I try to change the default app in Windows, even when I click Adobe Acrobat it changes itself back to Color Sync Utility. I can choose Adobe Acrobat in Windows without a problem but cannot choose it for Mac. Also I have noticed that all of the icons where you can choose a default app for Mac, are just black boxes. I am running Parallels on another machine and it is working fine and all of the icons appear normal for Mac. Also I have gone into Mac and set the default for all pdf files, it was already set to Adobe Acrobat but I clicked change all anyway, there is no change; Windows still won't let me choose any Mac program other than Color Sync Utility for pdf's. Also I should mention on the machine that IS working, I have the latest version of Parallels; on the one that is not it is an older version.

 

I believe all our deployments are still on Parallels Desktop 13. I need to try updating to 14 under our maintenance.

 

If Color Sync Utility is getting selected instead of Adobe Acrobat Reader on Mac then the issue is within Windows as Color Sync is a Mac utility. Have you uninstalled and reinstalled Parallels Tools or just installed Parallels Tools over existing installation? Try reinstalling Parallels Tools which will resolve the issue most of the time.

 

Try to uninstall Parallels Tools completely then reinstall it and check.

 

I have a very similar problem. I can select some Mac applications from Windows to be the default (for example Mac Chrome for PDF files), but can't select Adobe Acrobat. I just installed an update for Parallels (now on Version 14.1.0 (45387)) that said it corrected a problem with Mac applications opening from windows, but hasn't changed this problem.

Other apps from Windows work fine. For example, I can open PPTX from PowerPoint on the Mac. But while I can see "Adobe Acrobat (Mac)" and manually choose open with, when I go to Properties or Open With->Choose another app, even if I select Adobe Acrobat (Mac) it doesn't save. To be clear, the problem isn't opening Mac applications for a given file type from Windows, but rather setting the default.

 

Please let us know your Mac OS version and virtual machine OS version.

 

I'm running Mac OS Mojave 10.14.1 (18B75), and Windows 10 Pro, Version 1803, OS Build 17134.345

Thanks for your help.

 

Any feedback? This is a really annoying problem.

 

Here is your solution:
Right-click a pdf > select Get Info > Open With > select Adobe Acrobat > then select Change All > Reboot