Solidworks - Windows 11 VM - Unrecognized graphics card - Registry Patch Not Working.

Discussion in 'macOS Virtual Machine' started by CraigH23, Aug 1, 2023.

  1. CraigH23

    CraigH23 Junior Member

    Messages:
    21
    Hello,
    I'm experiencing an issue while running Solidworks on Parallels Desktop 18: Solidworks doesn't recognize the graphics card in my M1 MacBook Pro. Consequently, the 'Realview Graphics' feature in Solidworks is non-functional. Does anyone have suggestions for a workaround, or know of any virtual drivers that I could install to rectify this problem?

    NOTE: Registry patch from Parallels website does not work.

    Best regards,

    Craig
     
    CraigH23, Aug 1, 2023
    #1
  2. rumours

    rumours Bit poster

    Messages:
    8
    Best Answer
    Parallels Desktop has no access to the Mac's device's physical graphics cards. Instead, Parallels Display Adapter driver (which is part of the Parallels Tools installation) interfaces with virtual hardware and provides 3D acceleration features. The actual acceleration is achieved by translating Direct X commands from the guest OS to the OpenGL API on the macOS side.

    Anyway, most likely, your actual issue is that you can't use 'RealView Graphics' feature in Solidworks. Solidworks deliberately disables OpenGL acceleration on hardware that is not on their allowed list. To turn off disabling of Parallels drivers in SolidWorks you can take a snapshot (Actions > Take a snapshot), open Registry Editor inside Windows, and navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\SolidWorks\AllowList. From there, delete or rename every sub-key that starts with Parallels.
     
    rumours, Sep 12, 2023
    #3
    MatthewR20 and Mikhail Ushakov like this.
  3. CraigH23

    CraigH23 Junior Member

    Messages:
    21
    I'm not sure I understand. Isn't it obvious I know Windows can be installed on MacOS through parallels desktop. I am writing this on their forums. I have SW installed on the Windows VM right now, my issue is specific to "unrecognised graphics card" and "RealView Graphics". I don't mean to be rude but please read my initial post before replying. I don't want irrelevant replies to hi-jack my post and subsequently my post becomes buried, which will result in me not finding the help I need.
     
    CraigH23, Aug 2, 2023
    #2
  4. rumours

    rumours Bit poster

    Messages:
    8
    Best Answer
    Parallels Desktop has no access to the Mac's device's physical graphics cards. Instead, Parallels Display Adapter driver (which is part of the Parallels Tools installation) interfaces with virtual hardware and provides 3D acceleration features. The actual acceleration is achieved by translating Direct X commands from the guest OS to the OpenGL API on the macOS side.

    Anyway, most likely, your actual issue is that you can't use 'RealView Graphics' feature in Solidworks. Solidworks deliberately disables OpenGL acceleration on hardware that is not on their allowed list. To turn off disabling of Parallels drivers in SolidWorks you can take a snapshot (Actions > Take a snapshot), open Registry Editor inside Windows, and navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\SolidWorks\AllowList. From there, delete or rename every sub-key that starts with Parallels.
     
    rumours, Sep 12, 2023
    #3
    MatthewR20 and Mikhail Ushakov like this.

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