Adjust Full Screen Settings

You can customize how Windows appears and behaves when in Full Screen mode.

To access Full Screen settings:

  1. Do one of the following:
    • Click the Parallels icon in the menu bar and choose Configure > Options.
    • If the Parallels Desktop menu bar is visible at the top of the screen, choose Actions > Configure, and then click Options.
  2. Click Full Screen.
  3. VM_Configuration_Full Screen
  4. In this Full Screen pane, you can adjust any of the settings listed below.

Set What Shows on Displays Connected to Your Mac

If you have a second display connected to your Mac, by default when you switch to Full Screen mode, Windows is displayed on the primary display and macOS on the secondary.

PD8 - Windows on one display

You can choose which display Windows is shown on by dragging its window to that display and then clicking the Full Screen icon PD8_View Mode icons_Full Screen.

To extend Windows across all your displays, select Use all displays in full screen.

PD8 - Windows on two displays

When Use all displays in full screen is selected, you can also choose Activating virtual machine shows all its spaces. With this option selected, click the virtual machine on any of your displays and it will appear on all displays. It's useful when you switched some of your displays to a space that doesn't belong to the virtual machine and then decide to return to the virtual machine and make it displayed on all connected monitors again.

Optimize Full Screen for Games

If you use a virtual machine to play video games in Full Screen view mode, select Optimize full screen for games. With this option selected, macOS Dock, menu bar and notifications will not be displayed when you move the mouse pointer to the top and bottom of the screen.

Allow Windows to set display gamma

If you're using Windows to play video games, Windows may need to temporarily change your Mac's display gamma setting to properly display different visual effects. To allow Windows to change gamma settings, select Use Windows gamma settings.

Scale to fit screen

Using the Scale to fit screen menu, you can configure how Windows is displayed when working in Full Screen:

  • Off. If Parallels Tools are installed, Windows resolution matches that of the Mac. If Parallels Tools aren't installed, Windows resolution remains unchanged. If it is lower than that of the Mac, Windows is displayed on the black background. If higher, Windows has scroll bars.
  • Auto. If Parallels Tools are installed, Windows resolution matches that of the Mac. If Parallels Tools aren't installed, Windows resolution remains unchanged. If it is lower than that of the Mac, Windows is displayed on the black background. If higher, Windows is entirely displayed on the screen without any scroll bars.
  • Keep ratio: No matter whether Parallels Tools are installed or not, Windows resolution remains unchanged. If it is lower than that of the Mac, Windows is displayed on the black background. If higher, Windows is entirely displayed on the screen without any scroll bars.
  • Stretch: No matter whether Parallels Tools are installed or not, Windows resolution remains unchanged but Windows is stretched to occupy the whole screen.

Note: To prevent unauthorized changes to Full Screen settings, click the Lock icon The Lock icon at the bottom of the window. Once locked, an administrator's password is required to make further changes.