Hide Windows Applications from Spotlight

[Edd]

I'm sure it's been mentioned, but I only want the Office 2007 applications visible by spotlight, is there a way to properly configure Parallels to do that?


I could delete the listings in the applications folder, but don't want to break anything.

As an aside. I've been a Parallels User since b4 release, and have been reasonably happy. With a clean install for leopard and a clean install of all mac apps I decided to create a new VM with XP rather than migrate the old VM from tiger (it had been updated from 2.5 to 3). The old one was running about the same speed in leopard as it was in tiger.

It's so fast now I'm no longer using office 2004 under rosetta..just 2007 under XP.

So maybe some issues raised in these forums have to do with general windows decline slowing the VM up rather than anything parallels is (or isn't) doing.. This certainly was true in my case.

Just FYI.

Help on hiding applications from spotlight would be appreciated.

Thanks
Edd

 

[Alicia]

Hello,

there is a way to hide all Windows applications from Spotlight but I suppose it is not possible to exclude particular applications, unfortunately.
Anyway, you can contact Apple support about Spotlight possible features.

 

[Edd]

Hello,

there is a way to hide all Windows applications from Spotlight but I suppose it is not possible to exclude particular applications, unfortunately.
Anyway, you can contact Apple support about Spotlight possible features.

This is also a throroughly unsatisfying answer.

So what happens i I delete the .app entries in the parallels folder?

Does parallels expect entries to be there and so not function normally?

 

[Alicia]

Hello,

if you mean those .app files which are located in the VM folder->Windows Applications, they were created bucause of enabled Smart Select. If you delete them, they will appear again after you run the program in Windows.

 

[alive]

Any progress with this??

I would like to hide or block windows apps results entering my spotlight results.

Is the position of Parallels for me to contact Apple about this??

Many thanks,

Jeremy

 

[Nentecular]

Just stop Spotlight from indexing your VMs and this problem will be resolved.

Click on Spotlight from within System preferences, go to the Privacy section and drag the folder containing your VMs into it (or use the + button at the bottom and select your VM folder that way).

That should stop Spotlight returning your Windows Applications.

 

[RyanT]

Just stop Spotlight from indexing your VMs and this problem will be resolved.

Click on Spotlight from within System preferences, go to the Privacy section and drag the folder containing your VMs into it (or use the + button at the bottom and select your VM folder that way).

That should stop Spotlight returning your Windows Applications.

This doesn't quite work, but I've found what does.

If you go into your Spotlight preferences and then the Privacy section, click the + to add a new location, and navigate to your Applications folder. In there you should find folders titled something like "Windows 7 Applications" for each Windows VM you're running.

Add those folders to the "Prevent" list in Spotlight, and only your Mac apps will show up in Spotlight.

 

[duckworth]

What I did to allow only a few specific apps to show in spotlight was to remove the shortcuts from spotlight as specified above and then copy a few of the shortcuts that I wanted over to a folder that is still indexed by spotlight.

 

[BenjaminThomas]

I am also thoroughly

I just bought Parallels and am also thoroughly that this isn't located in parallel preferences. Stuff like Windows update shouldn't have a .app created. Spotlight can be trained to deal with this but it's a huge hassle, it's more of your responsibility.

 

[jefferis]

Can't stop Spotlight

Hello,

there is a way to hide all Windows applications from Spotlight but I suppose it is not possible to exclude particular applications, unfortunately.
Anyway, you can contact Apple support about Spotlight possible features.

I need to know how to stop Spotlight from indexing Parallels volumes for Mt. Lion and Windows 7. As soon as I boot up Windows, my computer slows to a crawl.
I have tried to use Privacy settings but it doesn't see the VM disks... or can 't add them.

 

[MarcoA23]

Here's what worked perfectly for me:
1. I went to ~/Applications (Parallels)/ and at the folder Windows 11 Applications and manually deleted the shortcuts I didn't want, keeping only the ones I actually use.
2. Then, in Terminal, I ran the following command: chmod 555 ~/Applications\ \(Parallels\)
This removes write permissions for everyone but keeps read permissions.
Parallels integration continues to work normally, but it can no longer recreate the deleted shortcuts the next time you launch your VM.
The only thing is:
If you ever install a new Windows app and want it to appear again, restore write access temporarily with: chmod 755 ~/Applications\ \(Parallels\)
Then restart your Windows VM, delete any shortcuts you don't want again, and finally reapply: chmod 555 ~/Applications\ \(Parallels\)
Note: Don't remove read permissions -- that will break Parallels integration until you restore the permissions. You only need to remove write access so the shortcuts can't be regenerated.