Parallels made quite the splash lately with its new remote desktop client for iOS. The product is great for getting your Mac desktop on an iOS device, but only if IT takes care to control deployment.
Parallels Access is available for free in the Apple app store, but you have to subscribe to continue using it after two weeks. When you first run the app, you'll need to register with Parallels, after which you're sent an email with instructions for how to use it and from where to download the agents. Currently, it only supports OS X, although there is a beta for Windows.
Installing and using Parallels Access
Installation itself is really easy and doesn't require a reboot (something that is uncommon among remote access packages on the Mac). After running the installer, my Mac immediately appeared accessible on my iPad. This is a service that is brokered by Parallels, which is why you can use it over mobile connections without any changes on your side. There is an agent that runs on your desktop that talks to Parallels, and when the iOS app signs in, Parallels brokers the two together securely.
Parallels Desktop 7 For Mac not only integrates with many of the new features in Lion, such as Launchpad and full-screen apps, the folks at Parallels have also been tweaking the code to provide higher performance, both in the basic virtualization application and in graphics performance. Have your cake and eat it too! How to run Windows 10 on your Mac using Parallels Desktop 13 If you want to use Windows on your Mac, but don't necessarily want to partition your hard drive, you can run Windows using a virtual machine like Parallels Desktop. Solutions, like the Parallels RAS HTML5 Gateway, Parallels Remote Application Server allows you to publish full desktops, applications and documents within a virtual environment, improving desktop manageability, security and performance.
You have to watch an annoyingly long video to start using Parallels Access. After it ends, you're presented with a Launcher-like screen with all your apps listed. This is really slick looking because they almost look native. When you select an app, more tutorials appear to roadblock you, though. Eventually, you're presented with your app (I chose Chrome). The experience is really nice, which alleviates my concerns about using garbage protocols or hacked-together JPEG streams.
A quick check of netstat shows no known ports being used, but there is a connection between my Mac and iPad across multiple TCP and UDP ports. That's encouraging, because it means that this was purpose-built for mobile use cases, too, rather than just making a VNC client or something. Until now, I'd only been using it via the LAN, but using it over a 4G connection is just as good.
When using a Mac, the remote desktop controls the physical desktop, so I could see an issue with privacy. Right now, as I type this from the iPad, I can watch what I type appear on my screen. Citrix wrestled with this before releasing RemotePC, and it successfully integrated a screen-blanking feature to avoid it. There is a setting to lock the computer when working remotely, but when I turned it on, it was clear that this functionality was experimental.
You can see a lot of effort has been placed into the controls of the app, and the keyboard is the most comprehensive remote desktop 'soft' keyboard I've seen. It has arrow keys, tab, command, function keys and even a Windows key when connecting to Windows desktops. There are numerous gestures that make things like switching between apps super easy.
![]() Downsides of Parallels Access
Is this going to replace virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) or Remote Desktop Session Host (RDSH) in your organization? Almost certainly not.
What it will do, however, is spare you the time of setting up VDI or RDSH just for the sake of enabling one user to access Windows apps from the golf course. Deployed carefully by IT, Parallels Access could be a remarkably easy-to-deploy remote desktop tool for one-off use cases where virtualization isn't necessary or is too restrictive.
The app is free to download and free to try, but there is a $79.99 per year subscription required to use Parallels Access. This fee is per machine, so if you have more than one you'll wind up spending some money. If you already have access to Citrix RemotePC, you could get similar functionality with it and not have to pay more. If you have nothing in your environment to support this use case, though, the cost isn't so bad.
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It's worth considering the opposite of the IT-deployed situation, too. This is accessible through the app store, and anyone can pop in their credit card number to subscribe, so anyone with admin rights to their desktops can install their own remote desktop software. Since Access can be configured to not require a password to log in remotely, it's conceivable that a careless employee could install it on their machine, then lose their iPad somewhere. If it's unlocked, whoever finds it could have full access to the employee's PC. Yikes! The only thing keeping this situation from unfolding is probably the price tag.
There are two takeaways from this release. First, Parallels Access is a clean interface with a good performing protocol on both LAN and WAN that can address specific needs in your organization. Also, it can be deployed by users in an insecure way, especially if they have admin rights.
So, Parallels Access is a 1.0 app without a broad enterprise use case, but you have to start somewhere. That means that IT departments should both embrace it and watch out for it. There's always a catch, right?
Parallels lets you run many different types of operating systems on your Mac. Because the developers knew that most Mac users will want to install at least a Windows OS, Parallels includes a Windows Express installation option that eliminates the need to babysit a Windows XP or Vista installation.
This guide will take you through the Windows Express installation, which creates a virtual machine on your Mac. We'll stop short of actually installing Windows, because the specific steps depend on whether you're installing Windows XP, Vista, Win 7, or Win 8.
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What You Will Need
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The Parallels OS Installation Assistant
By default, Parallels uses the Windows Express installation option. This option creates a virtual machine with settings that will work just fine for most individuals. You can always customize the virtual machine parameters later if you need to.
The real advantage of Windows Express is that it's fast and easy; it does most of the work for you. It will collect most of the information that Windows needs by asking you some questions. Once you supply the answers, you can leave and then return to a fully installed version of Windows. This is a much more pleasant Windows installation than the standard. The downside is that the Windows Express method doesn't let you directly configure many settings, including type of network, memory, disk space, and other parameters, although you can always tweak these and other settings later.
Using the OS Installation Assistant
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Configuring a Virtual Machine for Windows
Parallels needs to know which operating system you plan to install, so it can set the virtual machine parameters and collect the information necessary to automate the installation process. https://lookever385.weebly.com/blog/parallels-for-mac-upgrade-coupon.
Configure the Virtual Machine for Windows
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Parallels For Mac Vdi VirtualboxEntering Your Windows Product Key and Other Configuration Information
Parallels for mac os 10.6.8. The Parallels Windows Express installation option is ready to collect some of the information it needs to automate the installation process.
Product Key, Name, and Organization
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Name That Virtual Machine
It's time to specify a name for the virtual machine that Parallels is about to create. You can choose any name you like, but a descriptive name is usually best, particularly if you have multiple hard drives or partitions.
In addition to naming the virtual machine, you will also choose whether your Mac and the new Windows virtual machine should be able to share files.
Pick a Name and Make a Decision About Sharing Files
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Performance: Should Windows or OS X Get Top Billing?
Upgrade windows xp to windows 7 on parallels for mac. At this point in the configuration process, you can decide whether to optimize the virtual machine you're about to create for speed and performance or allow applications to have dibs on your Mac's processor.
Decide How to Optimize Performance
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![]() Parallels For Mac Vdi286Start the Windows Installation
All of the options for the virtual machine have been configured, and you've supplied your Windows product key and your name, so you're ready to install Windows. I'll tell you how to start the Windows installation process below, and cover the rest of the process in another step-by-step guide.
Begin the Windows Installation
Parallels will start the installation process by opening the new virtual machine you created, and booting it from the Windows Install CD. Follow the onscreen instructions to install Windows.
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