Crystal Mode

The Crystal view mode is a variation of the Coherence mode . Crystal provides even higher level of integration between the host and the guest operating systems. In this mode, all Parallels Desktop controls, icons, and menus are hidden, except for the Parallels icon in the Mac menu bar.

Parallels Menu Bar Icon

This icon is used to control your virtual machine and Parallels Desktop while in the Crystal view mode.

• Click this icon to open a basic menu. It allows you to access the Windows Start menu, manage the virtual machine devices, return to the Window view mode by choosing Exit Coherence , quit Parallels Desktop, and to switch between the running virtual machines.
• Right-click this icon to open the Windows start menu.
• Alt-click (or Option-click) this icon to open an extended menu. The extended menu includes additional options, including Report a Problem , Configure , Preferences , and many others.

Switching to the Crystal Mode

Only a running Windows virtual machine with Parallels Tools installed can be switched to the Crystal view mode. To switch your virtual machine to the Crystal view mode, do one of the following:

• If your virtual machine is shut down, choose Use Crystal mode in the Coherence pane of the Virtual Machine Configuration dialog. Then start this virtual machine and when the guest operating system boots up, switch it to the Coherence view mode . The virtual machine will be switched to the Crystal variation of the Coherence view mode.
• If your virtual machine is running, choose Use Crystal mode in the Coherence pane of the Virtual Machine Configuration dialog and click OK to save the changes. Then switch the virtual machine to the Coherence view mode and it will be switched to the Crystal variation of the Coherence view mode.
• If your virtual machine is already running in the Coherence view mode, choose Use Crystal mode in the Coherence pane of the Virtual Machine Configuration dialog and click OK to save the changes. The virtual machine will be switched to the Crystal variation of the Coherence view mode.
• If you want your virtual machine to always start in the Crystal variation of the Coherence view mode, open the Virtual Machine Configuration dialog and do the following:
  1. In the Coherence pane , choose Use Crystal mode .
  2. In the Startup and Shutdown pane , choose Coherence from the Startup view menu.
  3. Click OK to save the changes.

  After that, the virtual machine will be started in the Crystal variation of the Coherence view mode every time you start this virtual machine.

To switch the virtual machine from Crystal to the Window mode, click the Parallels icon in the Mac menu bar and select the Exit Coherence option.

Note: You can switch from Crystal to the Window mode only. You can then switch from Window to any other view mode .

Using Mac OS X Shortcuts

When your virtual machine is switched to Crystal, you can use Mac OS X keyboard shortcuts when working with the guest OS applications: