Add Windows Desktop Shortcut causes Mac Desktop Link Icon

[rauckr]

A strange thing just happened. I created a shortcut on my Windows 7 desktop to clear my Windows clipboard. I then noticed that a link to that shortcut appeared on my OS X 10.7 desktop. If I delete the Mac link icon the shortcut disappears from the Windows desktop. Where is this link coming from?

 

[rauckr]

Windows Link files

The answer appears to be related to the fact that there is more than one type of Windows shortcut entity. The one I was using in this case is a Link (similar to AppleScript) that is linking to an executable file (cmd.exe) with attached directives that cause it to clear the clipboard. It appears that Parallels has chosen to mirror such icons to the Mac desktop based on my settings. I did not attempt to determine which setting caused this behavior.

 

[jcjost]

I realize that this is an old thread, but I haven't found anything more recent that addresses this problem. I have the same problem: when I create a desktop shortcut within Windows XP while running it as a VM within Parallels, a shortcut is automatically created on the Mac OSX (Mountain Lion) desktop. I don't want the latter, but deleting it deletes the former. Is there a setting in Parallels that that would fix this?

Thanks,
John

 

[jcjost]

Solved (I hope)

To answer my own question and for future reference, the problem is solved loading Paralles and then going into Virtual Machine -> Configuration -> Sharing -> Advanced, and then unchecking "Desktop".

John