ignoring Mac key bindings when in fullscreen?

H

harada

Bit poster
Is there a way to somehow have Parallels ignore Mac key bindings (such as Command-tab) while Parallels is running in full-screen mode, such that I can remap those keys in my guest OS (in my case Windows XP) to other functions (primarily, I'm trying to use Input Remapper to map the Command key to the Alt key in Windows).

I've been using Bootcamp and Input Remapper to configure the key bindings in Windows to match the Windows keyboard, and it would be great if I can use the same mapping in Windows running under Parallels as well. Thanks!

Susumu
 
Hmmm. I have the opposite problem. I want to use some of the Mac keyboard shortcuts like for Dashboard and command tab while in full screen mode in Parallels, but cannot. I guess I have the answer you want, I just don't know it!
 
"Enable access for assistive devices"

There is an option in the "Universal Access" pane of the System Preferences, called "Enable access for assistive devices". When it is turned on, it disables the command-tab keyboard shortcut to move away from Parallels and the F12 key for the Dashboard (but you can still use command-h and the volume and brightness keys). If you turn this off, you can use command-tab and F12 for their Mac operations.
 
mfripp said:
There is an option in the "Universal Access" pane of the System Preferences, called "Enable access for assistive devices". When it is turned on, it disables the command-tab keyboard shortcut to move away from Parallels and the F12 key for the Dashboard (but you can still use command-h and the volume and brightness keys). If you turn this off, you can use command-tab and F12 for their Mac operations.
Click to expand...
mfripp,

Hm, I tried turning on "Enable access for assistive devices", but command-tab keyboard shortcut still allows me to move away from Parallels. Are there other settings that I need to change in Parallels/Mac OS to get it to work? Thanks!
 
mfripp said:
There is an option in the "Universal Access" pane of the System Preferences, called "Enable access for assistive devices". When it is turned on, it disables the command-tab keyboard shortcut to move away from Parallels and the F12 key for the Dashboard (but you can still use command-h and the volume and brightness keys). If you turn this off, you can use command-tab and F12 for their Mac operations.
Click to expand...

Thanks, fripp! Now that you mention it, I must've turned on that setting at some point. Turning it off fixed it and now I can command-tab and F12 as I prefer.
 
harada said:
mfripp,

Hm, I tried turning on "Enable access for assistive devices", but command-tab keyboard shortcut still allows me to move away from Parallels. Are there other settings that I need to change in Parallels/Mac OS to get it to work? Thanks!
Click to expand...
Ah, I just had to reboot and now it works just as I wanted! Thanks!!
 
sfatula said:
Ok, I have to keep assistive devices on as a number of Applescripts we use require it.
Click to expand...

I would prefer to leave "access for assistive devices" on too, because it is needed for the "Witch" window switcher. And I imagine people who actually use assistive devices really want to keep this setting turned on!

I don't know any obvious way to switch programs when "access for assistive devices" is turned on. You can use Cmd-H to hide Parallels, and then use Cmd-tab to switch to another program. Or you can use ctrl-option to release the VM's hold on the keyboard, and then use Cmd-tab. Or you can use whatever your "exit full screen mode" shortcut is, if you're in full screen mode. Unfortunately, either of these last two will take you out of full-screen mode.

The "assistive devices" option also disables the keystrokes used by the VirtueDesktops switcher, so that's not an option.

Also, even when "assistive devices" is turned off the Cmd keystroke gets passed to Windows and pops up the Start menu whenever you press Cmd-Tab, which is pretty annoying.

I think the folks at Parallels need to address this one. They could get part way there by making the keystrokes work independently of the "assistive devices setting". It would be even better if they passed all Cmd keystrokes out to the Mac OS, unless they are an official Windows-key shortcut (like Window-D, Window-E, Window-F).

The ultimate solution would be to add a keyboard preferences panel, where you can list key combinations, and then assign actions to them, like this:

Cmd-0: Enter/Exit full-screen mode
Cmd-Return: Enter/Exit full-screen mode
Cmd-Tab: Send keystroke unchanged to Mac OS
Cmd-v: Send 'ctrl-v' to VM
Cmd-right-arrow: Send 'end key' to VM
ctrl-option: Release keyboard from VM
Cmd-f: Send 'Windows-f' to VM
All other Cmd keys: Send to Mac OS (or) Treat as Windows keys
 
If anybody from Parallels is reading this, one request: PLEASE don't fix the "Enable Access for Assistive Devices" bug described above without putting in an option to let Command-Tab and other such keystrokes be processed inside the virtual machine. I don't use any other apps that require it, but I've enabled this option in my Mac OS system preferences specifically to get the "buggy" behavior in Parallels, because it's almost exactly what I want!

What I really want is to have my Windows virtual machine behave just like a real windows PC with respect to the keyboard. That means all my keystrokes--ALL of them (except, of course, the one shortcut that releases the keyboard and mouse) should go to the virtual machine.

Also, it would be nice if I could remap the Command key to behave as Alt in the virtual machine, and the Option key to behave as the Windows key. Parallels gives me the option to to switch Command with Control, but that's not what I want--I'm not trying to get my windows applications to behave like Mac apps. Instead, I want my the same keyboard layout of Control, Windows-Key, and Alt as a normal PC keyboard. The good news is, I can already make this happen inside the Windows virtual machine by using a utility like this one to edit the keyboard mapping in the registry. The only problem with that is that solution is that if I have multiple VMs, I have to redo that mapping in each one of them.
 
Okay, this looks like the solution for which I've been searching. Indeed, this does need some work by Parallels to allow both sets of users to be happy. This is definitely a critical function (I'm needing Universal Access as well as cmd-tab and VirtueDesktop functionality).
 
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