Using Mouse in the Virtual Machine

To start working in a virtual machine, you need first to capture the keyboard and mouse input in the virtual machine. To this effect:

1. move the mouse pointer over the virtual machine window
2. click in the window

When the keyboard and mouse input is captured in the virtual machine, you cannot move the pointer out of the virtual machine window and all keystrokes and button clicks go to the virtual machine. To release the keyboard and mouse back, press Ctrl+Alt. The keyboard and mouse will be released immediately.

Note: The default hot key combinations can be configured on the Keyboard and Mouse pane of the Preferences dialog.

Using SmartMouse

If you want to automatically capture and release the keyboard and mouse input, you should install Parallels Tools in your virtual machine. The Parallels Tools installation enables the SmartMouse feature. You can configure or disable this feature in the Services pane of Virtual Machine Configuration:

• If you select On , the mouse input will be automatically captured in the virtual machine window when the mouse pointer hovers over it and then released when it moves back to Mac OS, which will make the mouse move seamlessly between your Mac and the virtual machine.
• If you select Off , you will need to click inside the virtual machine window to capture the mouse input, and press Ctrl+Alt to release it back to your Mac. It may be convenient if you want the mouse pointer to always stay inside the virtual machine window in the Window and Modality view modes .

  Note: Ctrl+Alt is the default key combination. You can define another key combination for releasing the mouse in the Keyboard and Mouse pane of Parallels Desktop Preferences.

• If you select Auto , the option will automatically become disabled ( Off ) each time you use a game, graphic application, or any other program that uses its own mouse pointer instead of using the operating system pointer. The option will be automatically enabled ( On ) after you quit the application.

Mouse Wheel Horizontal Scrolling

In this version of Parallels Desktop, you can use the mouse wheel horizontal scrolling when working with virtual machine applications windows. This feature is available only if Parallels Tools are installed in the virtual machine.