Shared Folders Settings

You can manage shared folders and their parameters on the Shared Folders pane of Virtual Machine Configuration.

Shared folders and their parameters can be configured for Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X guest operating systems.

You can also change the shared folders settings at runtime. To learn how to do it, refer to the Changing the Configuration at Runtime section .

Note: To use the functionality available on the Shared Folders pane, you should have Parallels Tools installed in the virtual machine.

The availability of the Shared Folders functionality depends on the security level. For more information, refer to Security Settings .

Sharing Mac OS X folders to Windows

Note: If you have a Linux guest operating system or a Mac OS X operating system, the option name will be Sharing Mac OS X folders with Linux or Sharing Mac OS X folders with guest Mac OS X respectively.

Select the Share Mac OS X folders with Windows option to enable access to the disks and folders on the physical computer from inside the virtual machine. If this option is selected, you can configure access to the physical computer disks and folders as follows:

• Select the All disks option to provide the virtual machine with access to all the disks installed on the physical computer and their folders.
• Select the Home folder only option to provide the virtual machine with access to the Home folder on the physical computer.

Note: When you share the Mac disks or folders with a virtual machine, they still reside and occupy space on the Mac's hard disk.

Defining physical computer folders to be shared

Select the User-defined Mac OS X folders option to manually specify one or more folders on the physical computer that are to be shared with the virtual machine.

To add a shared folder:

1. Click the Add button .
2. In the Add Shared Folder dialog, specify the following settings:
   • Enabled . Select this option to enable the shared folder.
   • Path . In this field, type the path to the folder you want to share with the virtual machine. You can also use the Choose button to locate the folder.
   • Name . In this field, type the shared folder name under which the folder will be accessible from inside the virtual machine.
   • Description . In this field, you can provide a brief description for the shared folder.
   • Read-only . Select this option if you want the shared folder to have a read-only status when accessed from inside the virtual machine.
3. Click OK .

To remove a shared folder, select its name and click the Remove button.

If you select the Map folders to drive letters check box, all your shared Mac OS X folders will be shown as network drives in your Windows computer.

Note: This option is available for Windows guest operating systems only.

For more information about shared folders, see Sharing Folders and Disks .

Sharing Windows disks to Mac OS X

Note: This option is not available for Linux and Mac OS X guest operating systems.

Select the Share all Windows disks to Mac OS X option to enable access to all virtual disks and partitions available in the virtual machine from the physical computer. If this option is selected, you can additionally configure the following settings:

• Select Mount virtual disks to Mac OS X desktop to mount the shared virtual hard disks to your Mac OS X desktop.

  Note: Windows network shares cannot be mounted.

  After you enable this option, the virtual machine's volumes will be accessible from the Mac OS X Desktop where they will appear as connected volumes.

• The Add virtual disks to Spotlight search option lets you use the Mac OS X Spotlight tool to search for items stored on your virtual machine's hard disks.

Note: If the virtual machine's volumes are not mounted on the Mac OS X Desktop or seem to be not included in the Spotlight search, go to Finder > Preferences > General and make sure that the Connected servers option is selected.

Please send us your feedback on this help page