Parallels Desktop 13 full screen issue with second monitor

[Rob Grayson]

This afternoon I finally upgraded from PD11 to PD13, mainly so I can also upgrade my Mac's operating system.

I'm a longtime PD user, and I've always had my Windows VM run in full screen mode on my second monitor, while my Mac apps run on my iMac's main screen. Upon launching my Windows VM in PD13, it went into full screen mode... and my iMac's main screen promptly went black. It seems it will not run in full screen without blacking out any other displays.

I googled around and tried a few things, to no avail, so I called Parallels support. I was on for just over 30 mins and the technician remotely accessed my desktop. In the end, she could not fix the problem and said she would have to escalate it. She was not able to give a timescale for further response.

So for the time being, I'm stuck with either running my VM not in full screen mode, or running it in full screen but with my Mac apps blacked out.

I'm mightily p****d off about this: I've paid to upgrade, and something that has worked flawlessly for years is now not working any more. And Parallels support has utterly failed to resolve it and left me in the s**t.

 

[Rob Grayson]

I assume from the lack of responses that no one else is having this problem.

Can anyone please confirm that they are able to run PD13 in full screen on a dual monitor setup without the other monitor being blacked out?

 

[PaulChristopher@Parallels]

Hi @Rob Grayson, could you please go to Help menu of Parallels Desktop application and send us the technical data report via Send Technical Data... menu item? Then, post the number here.

 

[Rob Grayson]

Hi Paul,

Hi @Rob Grayson, could you please go to Help menu of Parallels Desktop application and send us the technical data report via Send Technical Data... menu item? Then, post the number here.

OK, I've sent the technical data. The ID no. is 233753693.

 

[Rob Grayson]

After a bit more research, to my horror, it seems this is a known issue that was introduced with PD12 and is still not fixed. See the following threads:
- https://forum.parallels.com/threads/pd12-messes-up-multiple-monitors.337791/
- https://forum.parallels.com/threads/pd13-multiple-monitors-still-a-problem.341601/
- https://forum.parallels.com/threads/usable-multi-monitor-support.341832/
I can't believe Parallels have screwed up multi-monitor support so badly.

 

[Rob Grayson]

OK, after upgrading my OS to High Sierra, I have made some progress. I changed the following two settings:

- macOS System Preferences > set "Displays have separate spaces" to ON.
- Parallels > Configure > Options > Full Screen > UNCHECK "Use all displays in full screen"

This way, I can have my VM on my second monitor without my main monitor being blacked out, and without a menu bar taking up screen real estate at the top of the second monitor screen. If I need to access the Parallels menu bar, I just have to move the mouse pointer to the top of the screen and the menu bar appears.

This just leaves one issue: in my Windows VM, I have the Windows Taskbar set to autohide. I also have my macOS dock set to autohide at the bottom of the screen. This was previously never an issue, because the second monitor had no dock. Now it does, so if I move the mouse pointer to the bottom of the VM screen to access the Windows Taskbar, the macOS dock also appears. I realise I could stop this happening by changing the position of the dock to the left or right side of the screen, but that's not convenient for other reasons.