Option

Description

Share folders

With folder sharing enabled, you can navigate to any shared macOS folder from within a Windows application. When you open a file (for example, by choosing File > Open in many applications), your shared macOS folders appear as network shared directories labeled "\\Mac".

To enable macOS folders for sharing with Windows applications, do one of the following:

• To share just the folders in your Home folder, choose Home folder from the Share folders menu.
• To share all your macOS folders, choose All disks from the Share folders menu.
• To share any folder you want, click Custom Folders and click the add (+) button, then choose the folder you want to share. You can add more folders by clicking the add (+) button again. Once you share a macOS folder with Windows you can:
  • Disable the folder sharing by deselecting On.
  • Change the folder name that will be displayed in Windows by double-clicking the folder name in the Name column and typing another name.
  • Restrict writing to this folder by clicking Read & Write in the Permissions folder and choosing Read only. You will not be able to add items to the folder.

Shared profile

You can set macOS and Windows to use the same folders for things like music, documents, pictures, your desktop, and deleted files. So for example, if you save a file to the Documents folder, it will be in the Documents folder whether you're using a macOS application or a Windows application.

To enable this functionality, select Share Mac user folders with Windows.

Your macOS Desktop, Documents, Pictures, Music, Movies, and Downloads folders are merged with the corresponding Windows folders, and the macOS Trash is merged with the Windows Recycle Bin.

If you only want to map some of the folders, click Configure and select the folders you want. To map the macOS Trash to the Windows Recycle Bin, select Merge Recycle Bin with Trash.

Map Mac volumes to Windows

When you connect an external storage device, such as a USB drive, to your Mac, you can access the contents from macOS applications.

You can set Parallels Desktop to automatically mount storage devices and volumes to Windows. That way, you can access the contents from both macOS and Windows.

The following items can be mounted to Windows:

• Removable drives: External storage devices, such as USB hard disks and USB flash drives.
• CD/DVD drives: CD and DVD drives or mounted CD/DVD images.
• Network folders: Folders shared over the network.

To make these items mount to Windows automatically, select Map Mac volumes to Windows.

When you connect a storage device or volume, it is mounted as a network drive. For example, a USB flash drive plugged in to your Mac will be accessible from both the /Volumes folder in macOS and My Computer in Windows.