Capturing Keyboard and Mouse

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

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 the hot key combination (Ctrl+Alt by default). The keyboard and mouse will be released immediately.

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

If you want to automatically capture and release the keyboard and mouse input, you should install Parallels Tools in your virtual machine. After the Parallels Tools installation, you can capture and release the mouse and keyboard input more easily:

• Click anywhere in the virtual machine window to capture the input; and
• Click anywhere outside the virtual machine window to release the input.

Using SmartMouse

If you install Parallels Tools in your virtual machine, you will also be able to use the SmartMouse feature to capture and release the keyboard and mouse input. This feature can be configured or disabled in the Advanced pane of the Virtual Machine Configuration dialog:

• 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. This 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 the hot key combination (Ctrl+Alt by default) 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: You can define another hot key combination for releasing the mouse in the Keyboard pane of the Preferences dialog.

• 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

You can use the mouse wheel horizontal scrolling when working with windows of virtual machine applications. This feature is available only if Parallels Tools ( Installing Parallels Tools , Installing Parallels Desktop ) are installed in the virtual machine.