Tiny Mouse, Resolution Problems for Windows 8.1 on 2014 Retina MacBook Pro

Discussion in 'Windows Virtual Machine' started by beagley, Dec 22, 2014.

  1. beagley

    beagley Member

    Messages:
    34
    Can someone provide general screen resolution configuration advice for Windows 8.1 in Parallels 10?

    Everything I do looks yucky or is unusable. I've been googling and some other threads discuss this in light of older versions of Parallels, and the settings don't seem to be the same.

    Problems: I don't know what resolution to pick in Windows, all of them look too tiny or else are difficult to read. The mouse cursor is super tiny, text is tiny, or else the screen looks blurry or cuts off the right and left side of the screen.

    What I know:
    1. I have reinstalled Parallels Tools
    2. On OSX, in the System Preferences-->Displays setting, I have things set to "Best for display"
    3. In Parallels, Under Actions-->Configure-->Video, I've chosen "Enable Retina resolution", though I'm not sure whether I care or not.
    4. I've been using the "Optimize for games" settings in various other places because I figure that will give me the best performance in various apps and I rarely work without a power cable.
    5. In Windows 8.1, in the Screen Resolution settings window, I've tried various options. Windows highlights and recommends the 1228x768 resolution, which is pretty weird... some icons get huge, some stay small.
    6. The mouse cursor stays SUPER TINY in any resolution I try. I can't find any setting in Windows or Parallels for increasing the mouse cursor size. Sometimes when I click on something it JUMPS to be larger again, but then shrinks to tiny when I let go.

    What are other users doing with Retina displays in 8.1 to get a good work environment? What are the "recommended" settings for a Retina display running Windows?
     
  2. beagley

    beagley Member

    Messages:
    34
    Note: I have tried to follow the instructions here:

    http://kb.parallels.com/114700

    1. The instructive flowcharts refer to settings that do not exist in Windows 8.1
    2. The instructive flowcharts refer to settings that do not exist in Parallels 10
    3. The instructions do not refer to my problems, such as a tiny cursor
    4. The instructions offer no general guidelines... honestly, I just want "Do it like this and your Windows experience will be okay."
     
  3. Nikhil@Parallels

    Nikhil@Parallels Parallels Support

    Messages:
    48
    Hi Beagley,

    Please uncheck the option 'Enable retina display' and see how it goes.
    Feel free to get back to us if you have any questions.
     
  4. beagley

    beagley Member

    Messages:
    34
    Okay, I've unchecked that option. I am not sure where that takes me. In the help for that section, I see descriptions of options for "More Space", "Best for Retina", and "Scaled". None of those options appear. Were they removed for Parallels 10?

    Even with "Enable Retina resolution" disabled, I can still select retina-level resolution in Windows 8.1 after it boots up. Why is that? What does the checkbox actually do?

    Right now, I'm playing with the various options in the "Full Screen" settings. Is there an optimal configuration? Is there a more detailed tutorial for the effects of these settings than the help screen provides? There's a "Scale to fit screen" setting. What should that be set to?
     
  5. beagley

    beagley Member

    Messages:
    34
    Sorry if my questions are getting diverse. I just want Windows 8.1 to work and not be blurry, and the mouse to be an appropriate size. Maintaining Retina ability would be preferable.
     
  6. PaulT1

    PaulT1 Junior Member

    Messages:
    15
    I might know this issue. There is bug in Parallels where it assumes you have the default OS X display settings.
    A workaround (but not a fix) is to:
    Go to OS X System Preferences -> Displays. Choose "Best for display".
    Shut down your Windows virtual machine.
    Configure your virtual machine so that "Enable Retina display" is checked.
    Start your virtual machine. Switch to full screen. Your Windows resolution should now be the actual resolution of your screen. For my 13" Retina, this is: 2560x1600.
     
  7. PaulT1

    PaulT1 Junior Member

    Messages:
    15

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