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Startup and Shutdown Settings

Using Startup and Shutdown settings, you can choose how to start and shut down the virtual machine.

To access Startup and Shutdown settings:

  1. Do one of the following:
    • Click the Parallels Desktop icon in the menu bar and choose Configure.
    • If the Parallels Desktop menu bar is visible at the top of the screen, choose Actions > Configure .
  2. Click Options and select Startup and Shutdown .

Set to Start and Shut Down the Virtual Machine Manually

If you want to always start and shut down the virtual machine manually, select Start up and shut down manually .

Configure the Virtual Machine to Start Automatically

If you want to make the virtual machine start automatically when the Mac starts, select Always ready in background .

Specify More Details How to Start and Shut Down the Virtual Machine Automatically

If you want to specify not only how the virtual machine starts or shuts down but also the view mode and what happens on closing the virtual machine window, select Custom and do the following:

Set Whether Windows Starts Automatically

Choose one of the following from the Start Automatically menu:

  • Never : Windows never starts automatically.
  • When window opens : Windows starts automatically when you open it from Control Center .
  • When Parallels Desktop starts : Windows starts automatically when you start Parallels Desktop.
  • When Mac starts: Windows starts automatically when you start the Mac. If you select this option, you can also configure the virtual machine to delay the startup.
  • When user logs in : Windows starts automatically when the macOS user logs in to macOS on the Mac startup.

Set the Startup View

This setting affects in which view mode Windows starts when you start the virtual machine or guest OS application.

  • From the Startup View menu, choose Coherence , Window , Full Screen , Picture in Picture , Headless or Same as last time .

Set What Happens When You Shut Down Windows

Choose one of the following from the On VM Shutdown menu:

  • Keep window open : If Windows is set to appear in a separate window , the window stays open when you stop or shut down Windows.
  • Close window : If Windows is set to appear in a separate window, the window closes when you stop or shut down Windows.
  • Quit Parallels Desktop : Parallels Desktop quits when you stop or shut down Windows.

Set What Happens When You Shut Down Your Mac

These settings affect what happens when you shut down the Mac.

From the On Mac Shutdown menu, choose Stop , Shut Down , or Suspend .

Set What Happens When You Close the Parallels Desktop Window

These settings affect what happens only when Windows is set to appear in a separate window .

From the On Window Close menu, choose Suspend , Shut Down , Force to stop , Keep running in background or Ask me what to do .

Pause Windows When No Applications are Open

Select Pause Windows after and specify a period of inactivity after which Windows will be automatically paused. Pausing Windows when there are no open applications allows you to save your Mac's CPU resources .

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