Virtual Machine Window

When you choose a virtual machine from the Parallels Virtual Machines list , the virtual machine window appears. If you start this virtual machine, the virtual machine window changes to the guest OS window that acts as the virtual machine's display. You can resize the virtual machine window by dragging its right corner. Its resolution changes automatically in Windows (starting from Windows 2000) and in most Linux operating systems if Parallels Tools are installed .

The virtual machine window consists of three parts:

• Toolbar - comprises buttons that can be used to manage the virtual machine and its appearance.
• Screen - acts as the virtual machine's screen.
• Status bar - contains items for managing the virtual machine's devices and changing the view mode and state. For more information, see Status Bar .

When a guest operating system is running, you can switch between several display modes of the guest OS window. For detailed information on the view modes, see Changing the View Mode .

Toolbar

The Parallels Desktop toolbar has buttons for the most frequent commands used to start, stop, and otherwise manage the virtual machine and its window appearance.

To show the toolbar, click the button in the upper right corner of the virtual machine window.

Most of the toolbar buttons become enabled only when you start the virtual machine. If you click a toolbar button, it becomes visibly pressed.

The default toolbar buttons:

Start . Use this button to start the virtual machine if it is stopped, paused or suspended.

Shut Down . Use this button to shut down your guest OS correctly.

Suspend . Use this button to put your virtual machine into the sleep mode for a certain period of time. If you need to restart the host computer, you may temporarily suspend your virtual machines and easily resume them after the restart.

Configure . Use this button to open the Virtual Machine Configuration dialog.

Full Screen . Use this button to switch the virtual machine to the Full Screen mode. To return back to the Window mode, press Alt+Enter. The key combination for switching to the Full Screen mode and back can be changed in the Preferences dialog available from the Parallels Desktop menu.

Coherence . Use this button to switch the virtual machine to the Coherence mode.

Crystal . Use this button to switch the virtual machine to the Crystal mode.

You can easily add other buttons to the toolbar: just right-click the toolbar, choose Customize Toolbar from the shortcut menu, and drag the items you need to the toolbar.

Pause. Use this button to pause the virtual machine. Use this button when you need to instantly release the primary OS resources used by this virtual machine.

Restart . Use this button to restart the fully loaded guest operating system. This button is available only for Windows virtual machines if Parallels Tools are installed. To view the list of Windows guest operating systems supporting Parallels Tools, refer to the Parallels Tools Overview subsection .

Stop. Use this button to stop the virtual machine in cases when the machine does not run properly and prevents you from shutting it down.

Note: If you click this button when the virtual machine is running, you may lose all the unsaved data. To turn off the virtual machine, use the shutdown procedure specified for the guest OS installed in it or the Shut Down button .

Safe Mode . Use this button to run the virtual machine in Safe Mode .

If you often work with snapshots, you can drag any of the three snapshot buttons to the toolbar as well:

Take Snapshot . Use this button to create a snapshot for the virtual machine.

Revert to Snapshot . Use this button to roll back the changes made to the virtual machine since the moment the last snapshot was made.

Manage Snapshots . Use this button to open Virtual Machine Snapshots. For more information, refer to the Working with Snapshots section .

To hide the toolbar, click the button in the upper right corner of the virtual machine window.

You can also manage a virtual machine by using the Parallels Desktop menus. For more information about the menus options, see the Menus section .

Status Bar

The status bar displays the virtual machine devices icons and the menus for managing the virtual machine view mode and state. You can easily connect or disconnect the devices using the devices icons on this bar: right-click the device icon and choose the necessary option from the shortcut menu. To change the virtual machine view mode and state, you can use the view mode menu and the virtual machine state menu correspondingly.

For more information on the status bar functions, refer to the Status Bar section .