Open file in host, choose which virtual machine to load

J

JoelH

Bit poster
Hello all,

My first post on these boards and I have searched without luck for how to do this. I hope someone can help. I have two virtual machines using the same OS. When I open a file straight from OS X, how do I tell parallels which virtual machine it should open with?

Thanks.
 
It's version 4. I tried to state the problem in an OS-independent way (which it is) - allow me to rephrase.

I have two XP virtual machines. I downloaded an XP .exe file in Safari on my host, and when I double click on this new file I don't know which virtual machine will load until it has loaded.

I would like an option to make a certain one of these the default for opening XP files initiated by the host, but I don't if this exists or where it is.
 
Need to know too, run exe and choose default virtual machine

I just bought parallels 5. I have both a Windows 7 and a Windows XP installation. When I double-click an exe file in Finder, it defaults to launching Windows 7, even though the XP virtual machine is already running. How do I set it so windows files (exe for example) are run with my Windows XP virtual machine?
 
I have the same issue, I am running Parallels version 5, and have Windows XP installed on one machine and Windows 7 on the other one.
 
Same problem here

I have the same problem. For me it would be ideal if I could set windows file types to open in whichever virtual machine was already running and if more than one were running that they would open on whichever machine was first in the virtual machine list.

But even if it's just a single machine that you pick that would be better than nothing.
 
Very Annoying Indeed

Hi,
I'm running Parallels 7, and I can't figure out how to setup which machine will run an exe launched from Finder by default. In my case, I want it to always use Windows 7, but it will launch Windows 8 even if Windows 7 is already running.
I'm considering removing Windows 8 altogether since I hardly use it, but there has to be a better answer...
 
Solution

I just found a solution working for me with Parallels 8 (should work with older versions too):

If I right-click the .exe in Finder, under "Open With..." I get two options: "Windows Explorer (Windows Server 2008)" (default) and "Windows Explorer (Windows 7)", which I wanted.

If you want to change the default machine for all .exe files, right-click the file -> Open With... -> Another Program, then navigate to your "Applications (Parallels)" folder in your home folder. Parallels puts there a .app file for every windows program you have installed. Navigate to your machine and choose the program (Windows Explorer in the Windows 7 folder in my case), click on "Always open with" an it'll always use that machine.
 
Hi,

In Version 9 I found that if I open Finder select an .exe that I wish to open select Get Info then Open with click drop down box and select your windows vm then click change all. You should now open all exe files in the VM of your choice.
 
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