Hi, is there a way to manually convert exe files to app files that can be opened in mac environment with PD. Normally installed windows applications will appear as app files in /home/Applications (Parallels)/Windows 7 Applications However, exe applications without installation will not be converted to app. Is it a way to manually make exe applications to app ? Thanks
The .exes aren't really converted to .apps, these are only a sort of shortcuts that make the Windows virtual machine start in the background and launch the application within Windows (albeit hidden), it's just a sort of abstraction that hides its inner workings. Having said that I don't use this feature personally (I like to keep my Windows things in Windows itself) but I would look inside the .apps (.app are really just folders, use show package contents) for those Windows programs to get a gist of how they work, and if there's a path to an exe there somewhere. Next I would copy one of those .app and edit the paths in there. Although this would probably break what is basically an automated and dynamic system to populate that folder, the seamless integration of Windows programs on the Mac uses quite a lot of 'trickery' to achieve the smooth transition in the eyes of the end user, it's not open in a friendly way to tweaks. Personally, because I know it's just a facade, I rather use Windows as Windows itself.
The previous post pointed out the main difference - exe files are not convted to apps, they are running in the background. Parallels Desktop helps you to run Windows Virtual machine which itself is a separate computer which uses the virtual hardware and real Mac's resourses. You cannot see it cause your virtual machine is always running in the Coherence view mode. You can nchange it to Window mode to understand how it works - find Parallels icon in the right up corner of your screen - on the Apple menu, click it and choose 'exit Coherence'. Windows applications installed from exe files are running under the virtual machine, apps which you can see in the application folder in Finder are just links to the virtual machine - aliases. So, there is no way to convert exe filto app, you need to install it to the virtual machine in order to run it o your Mac
Thank you to both, now I understand that actually the .app is acting like a shortcut to the .exe which run under parallels desktop. By looking into the package contents as advised by Specimen, I now understand that I could manually create shortcuts to .exe by editing the associated text files.
