Better integration of macOS guest into host

Since macOS 10.12 is the last version with support for 32bit Apps, I'm running it on a VM to be able to use some of my older (but once expensive) programs. But the integration into the host OS is lacking most of the features that are available for other OSes:

• While I can switch the machine to Coherence mode after starting it up, there's no option to start directly into Coherence
  
• In Coherence mode, there's no option to show the guest's programs in the host's dock
• In Coherence mode, I end up having 2 Docks on my screen, and the guest's menu bar being displayed below that of the host instead of replacing it
• There is no option to share my folders, like Pictures, Documents, Downloads, ... with the guest.

All these problems seem easy to fix (well, I don't know about the last one), so it would really be great if you could just do that.

 

Hi ChristianS20,
Thank you for suggestion!
Items #1-3 are clear.
On the #4 - you mean the lack of a Shared Profile feature, when host Mac user folders are available under the same names/places in guest, right? Now you can reach host Mac folders by browsing to Parallels Shared Folder in guest and it is not that convenient as Shared Profile.

Can you name 32bit apps titles that you are will run in macOS VM? We know some, but all of them are from big well doing developers and we believe they will update them in time for 10.14.

 

#4: yes, that's what I meant. And yes, it's just not not that convenient. And some unlovely side effect of the Parallels Shared Folder solution: the guest OS seems to treat the host OS's folders as being on some 'foreign' file system, so whenever I interact with files on the host, additional ._ macOS metadata files are created.

The 32bit apps I'm referring to have been available in 64bit for some time now. Frankly it's just that I don't have a few thousand euros lying around to purchase new licenses.

 

What I really liked about Coherence Mode in older versions of Parallels Desktop, was that the menu bar of the host macOS was hidden.
I know it is possible to achieve that by adding the appropriate setting for LSUIPresentationMode to the info.plist inside ~/Parallels/"YourVirtualMachine".pvm/"YourVirtualMachine".app/Contents/ using Terminal:

Code:

plutil -insert LSUIPresentationMode -float 3 ~/Parallels/"YourVirtualMachine".pvm/"YourVirtualMachine".app/Contents/info.plist

This will add the following lines to the info.plist:

Code:

    <key>LSUIPresentationMode</key>
    <real>3</real>

It also keeps the host's Dock out of the way so it doesn't open when hovering over it.

However, unlike older versions of Parallels Desktop, in present ones there is no way to get the guest's menu bar in place of the host's menu bar. That is, (with described addition to the info.plist) instead of the host's menu bar, with a height of 23 px a "bar" with the host's desktop background is shown. And right under that the guest's menu bar is displayed.

Though clicking on that empty "desktop bar" may be used as a way to bring one back to the host system, that also happens when clicking the guest's menu bar and missing it by just a px or more. Now as moving the cursor to the very top of the screen and clicking the menu bar is something very natural and done quite frequently, this behaviour is very annoying as it disrupts the workflow.

I know that making the menu bar invisible and allowing an application (in this case a Parallels VM) to use its space, in older macOS versions could easily be achieved by editing the info.plist, while Apple removed that possibility from newer macOS versions. However, I also know that it is still possible to achieve that behaviour by implementing it in the program's code before compilation.

Therefore I'd very much appreciate if you'd re-add this functionality in future versions of Parallels Desktop. For macOS guests, that would be very helpful.