Changing Parallels 6's default red menubar icon..

L

LukeCh

Member
It's a cosmetic query only, but my OSX menubar is all black and white, save the ugly red Parallels icon. Ideally I'd quite like to replace this with a simple black Windows logo. I realise this isn't an option in the application itself and I'm happy to go into the application and edit the image manually, but I can't seem to find it.

Would anyone be able to give me a clue as to where this image file is, to replace it?

Thanks!
 
Six months later, and still nothing. Do Parallels support not touch these forums? I realise that this is somewhat of a superflous request, but to simply ignore it?
 
The forums are for user to help other users.
Besides, I don't understan what's your problem with finding Parallels.icns, it's in Contents>Resources, just look at info.plist, if you are accustomed to change app icons it's in the same place every icon for every app is.
This isn't even Parallels specific question google for app icon OSX.
 
I agree with you Mr.specimen. This forum also aims in helping each users..
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Lets be clear on the issue here - it's one that drives me crazy too - the menu bar, NOT the dock icons. Any google search will find multiple solutions and replacement icons for the PD dock icon, and the overlay for any windows application icon added when using crystal mode. The solution LukeCH and I are after is the menu bar icon. 99% of OSX menubar icons are monochrome and very clean, having a big red ugly pause in the menu bar is incredibly unsightly. It appears this has been submitted to Parallels as a feature request, but not yet implemented, and no users have provided a solution...

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,
Ben
 
Correct, I am looking for a way to replace the menu bar icon, appearing at the upper-right of the Mac's display, the red "Pause" icon.
 
Menubar icons are normally located in an app Contents>Resources too, not necessarily as an icns but as a pdf, tif or png, parallels actually has a lot of app bundles, located also in /Library (like /Library/Parallels/Parallels Service.app/Contents/PlugIns/Parallels Updater.app), maybe the icon is in one of those?
 
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I haven't seen anything close to a member of Parallels support on these forums in a long time. It's disgusting, if they're expecting end users to pay additional sums for basic technical support, the least they could do is maintain an active presence on their forums. It isn't the job of unpaid users to provide their support, its theirs.

Incidentally I have emailed Parallels on the menu bar button issue twice now, and have received literally no reply at all to either email.
 
From my perspective, the most frustrating thing is that I'm really not even looking for a fix. I'm just looking for some direction. The png or gif file has to be located somewhere in Finder, I just need to be pointed in the right direction. Also, I searched for png and gif in my entire computer, and quickly scanned every thumbnail, and nothing.
 
Knowing other apps it's likely a tif, a pdf or a .icns.

As for Parallels support and the forums, being a regular user that reads quite some threads I can say I regularly see posts by Parallels staff here. But if you want to contact parallels there are more appropriate options in parallels.com/support.
 
As I said Specimen, unfortunately multiple support requests have been flat out ignored. I realise this isn't a standard support request, but I'm a paying customer, and deserve an answer to the question from somebody in the know, as opposed to (well-meaning and otherwise very helpful, yet ultimately) untrained end users.
 
Guruprasad S.
Thank you for contacting Parallels Technical Support. How may I assist you today?

Derek M
where is the menubar icon file located in Finder?

Guruprasad S.
Derek, can you please elaborate the issue?

Derek M
there is a red parallels icon in the Mac menubar. I would prefer it to be black, so I am going to edit the image file to make black, but I can't find the image file anywhere. Typically you go to the app>show contents>resources>and the image file is listed in that folder, but that is not the case with parallels desktop. where is it? there are several other parallels users that want to know as well as me.

Guruprasad S.
Derek, the two red Parallels lines which appears on your Mac is the brand colour of Parallels Desktop so there is option to change it.

Derek M
i do not want an option to change it....i want to know where the source file is. Do you realize that people like to have a monochrome menubar? Look at dropbox - they have a colored menubar icon but they also have an option to switch to all black for this very reason. I am not asking for this option, I'm simply asking where the image file resides.

Guruprasad S.
Derek, I completely understand your request. But I am sorry to inform you that these icons are all patented.

Guruprasad S.
These are all trademarks which can not be altered. But however I would thank you for coming up with this request...

Derek M
then the folks in development should add a "dropbox" like option where we can switch to monochrome or for that matter, turn off the menubar icon all together

BOTTOM LINE IS THAT THEY WILL NOT PROVIDE INFO THAT WILL ENABLE US TO CUSTOMIZE OUR MENUBAR LIKE EVERY OTHER 3rd PARTY APP WILL. I GUESS THERE IS SOMETHING EXTREMELY UNIQUE ABOUT THIS PARTICULAR RED MENUBAR ICON WHERE IF THEY ALLOW FOLKS TO REPLACE IT WITH SOMETHING ELSE, THE PARALLELS BUSINESS WILL FALL APART. MARKETERS, GOOD GRIEF. WELL HERE'S A LESSON IN MARKET SHARE RETENTION FOR YOU, CUSTOMER SERVICE IS IMPORTANT. THE MOMENT VMWARE OR VIRTUALBOX COMES UP WITH A COHERENCE COMPARABLE, I'M GONE. JUST IN-CASE THIS POST GETS DELETED, I'LL BE COPYING IT INTO A NON-PARALLELS REGULATED REPRINT PAGE LIKE SUPERUSER.COM
 
We're as entitled as we like to change it, the software is installed on our machines. It's just a matter of finding it, and since they're absolutely obstructive and useless, we'll have to keep digging ourselves.

Incidentally, VMWare already has a Coherence-style mode, Unity, I think it's called.
 
Using some find and grep I reached the conclusion that either the image file used is /Applications/Parallels Desktop.app/Contents/Resources/SharedAppIconOverlay.icns (the closest match) or it's hardcoded in some binary and not an external file and thus cannot be changed without recompiling.
 
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If it bothers you that much turn off Crystal Mode. The menu icon only appears in Crystal mode (at least in Parallels 7).
 
Thanks for the suggestion JEarles, I'd prefer having to have an icon in the doc over the red icon in the task bar. A quick question though, I've enabled the Preferences>General>"Use Start Button Icon in Coherence". Is there a way to replace that Start Button icon with a graphic of my choosing? I can't seem to find the source file anywhere.
 
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