Resize Parallels "Window" under Mac

X

xray

Junior Member
Shees, this might be such a simple fix but I've pondered it and tried everything I can think of.

Somehow my Parallels screen exceeds the size of my MacBook Pro's screen which leaves my taskbar far below my visible screen. There's no slider to get there so I have to switch to full screen mode in order to do much.

What am I doing or not doing properly? How can I resize the visible screen in "non-full screen mode"?

Thanks for the tips.

X
 
When Parallels is NOT in full-screen mode, the size of the window is determined by the screen resolution of the guest VM. So, if you are running Windows XP as your guest (possibly the same instructions for earlier versions of windows but I'm not sure), either right click on the Windows desktop and select 'properties' or else go to the control panel and select the display control panel (both will bring you to the same place) and then change the screen resolution to something smaller.
 
The resolution is good, it's just that I can't get down to the lower right corner of the XP workspace to make it smaller by dragging the handle up and left to resize it...

Any ideas?
 
xray said:
The resolution is good, it's just that I can't get down to the lower right corner of the XP workspace to make it smaller by dragging the handle up and left to resize it...

Any ideas?
Click to expand...

Repeat:
alkalifly said:
When Parallels is NOT in full-screen mode, the size of the window is determined by the screen resolution of the guest VM.
Click to expand...

There is no handle to drag up and to the left to make the window smaller. Make the window smaller by changing the resolution.
 
I'm experiencing a glitch on this topic.

Initially I set the display size in XP to a satisfactory 'console' size. It worked fine for a while and today the console resized itself larger without me having made any changes.

I went into the display settings in XP and changed it back to the desired size, clicked Apply and OK, the window changed size, but then had a black border around it instead of the Mac desktop, and despite multiple iterations, whenever I went back to console view, it reverted to the too-large size as the other poster is talking about.

Full-screen mode works ok but I kind of like having the Dock and part of the Mac desktop showing...

Any idea why XP refuses to hold the change? and what to do to get it to work properly?

Thanks, dn.
 
Parallels actually holds individual resolutions for 2 different windows, namely:


1) For MAC OS window
2) For WINDOWS Full Screen

You would HAVE to set INDIVIDUAL resolutions when you are at the screen you desire to resize.

GO TO FULL SCREEN MODE, THEN right click, settings and set the resolution you want to see AT FULL SCREEN.

Do the same when you are back at MAC OS X.

This way you can set small screen when you are at MAC OS, and max resolution of your display when you are full screen.

Cheers

Sarper

:D
 
I think you have to set the screen resolution in
XP​
to 800 x 600. I think. All I know is I followed the instructions that someone posted here, and it worked fine for me.
 
Solution to resolution

David, I agree with you on the glitch.

I solved the issue like this:

With your PC (i e Windows under Parallels Desktop) running, do the following:

1. In windowed mode, uncheck both allow to change-boxes under Parallels Desktop --> Preferences --> User Interface
2. choose full screen with the PC, in Windows display settings set the resolution to the size that you would like the window to have later on when in windowed mode, 800x600 for instance.
3. move back to windowed mode, the window will now look too big again, however, redo the Windows screen settings once more (although now do it while in windowed mode). The window now shrinks
4. check the allow to change guest screen resolution under Parallels Desktop --> Preferences --> User Interface
5. Thats it! Now, when you are in windowed mode, the window will only use some 800x600 pixels (or whatever you chose) of your Mac OS screen. Whereas when youre in full screen mode, the Windows environment will use the same resolution as Mac OS due to your checking the box telling it to do so, no black borders, just full screen.

:)

/J
 
Great solution Jaykay. I'm another one who couldn't figure out how to get Parallels to fit my screen in windows mode. Thanks very much.
 
jaykay said:
David, I agree with you on the glitch.

I solved the issue like this:

With your PC (i e Windows under Parallels Desktop) running, do the following:

1. In windowed mode, uncheck both allow to change-boxes under Parallels Desktop --> Preferences --> User Interface
2. choose full screen with the PC, in Windows display settings set the resolution to the size that you would like the window to have later on when in windowed mode, 800x600 for instance.
3. move back to windowed mode, the window will now look too big again, however, redo the Windows screen settings once more (although now do it while in windowed mode). The window now shrinks
4. check the allow to change guest screen resolution under Parallels Desktop --> Preferences --> User Interface
5. Thats it! Now, when you are in windowed mode, the window will only use some 800x600 pixels (or whatever you chose) of your Mac OS screen. Whereas when youre in full screen mode, the Windows environment will use the same resolution as Mac OS due to your checking the box telling it to do so, no black borders, just full screen.

:)

/J
Click to expand...
I have followed these steps exactly, several times, but no luck. I'm working on a 17" MBP, so I would think this would be pretty standard for me.

Basically, I have the same problem as everyone else. I want to have a smaller window for the "windowed" VM and utilize the native resolution for the full screen view, but this doesn't work for me.

Please help. I'm obsessing about this...


thanks,
.brit
 
I found the solution to my problem. Apparently my install of Parallels Tools was partially unsuccessful. I realized this when I noticed the shared folders weren't accessible. I reinstalled tools and everything is just peachy now. I can finally sleep!


.brit
 
Hello: I have followed the full screen/windows mode instructions that JayKay provided and they are not solving the problem for me. Brit seems to have had the same issue and is using a MBP 17", just as I am. Her problems seemed to have magically resolved by re-installing Parallels' Tools, but this did not solve the problem for me.

Does anybody have a solution to this vexing problem? All we want is a hi-res, native full screen and a small window in windows mode. If anyone at Parallels is reading this, please give explicit instructions becuase this is a pretty basic issue.

It is a problem that makes use of Parallels very unsatisfying, which is too bad becuase it is a great application otherwise.

Seann
 
Last edited:
Seann said:
It is a problem that makes use of Parallels very unsatisfying, which is too bad becuase it is a great application otherwise. Seann
Click to expand...

Perhaps, if all of you would post this 'problem' in the proper mac forum instead of a forum that is clearly titled as a SOLUTION forum you might get even more appropriate responses. And, by viewing the proper mac forum entries, you might also discovery that this topic has been covered numerous times.
 
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