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Release Notes: Key Features
Release Notes: Key Features
Key Features
Parallels® Desktop 3.0 for Mac is the leading virtualization solution for Macintosh® computers
that enables their users to run Windows® operating system simultaneously with Mac OS® X on
any Intel-powered iMac®, Mac® Mini, MacBook®, MacBook Pro, and Mac Pro Towers.
• Run your favorite Mac OS and Windows applications at the same time without rebooting
• Work in Shared Networking mode that ensures seamless connection to any network from
Windows via any connection your Mac uses
• Achieve a high level of performance for Windows on your Mac by leveraging Intel® VT
- an industry-leading solution supported by Parallels Software
• Use Coherence mode, drag-and-drop, copy-and-paste, transparent file associations to
achieve seamless integration and maintain a single, integrated environment for all of your
applications
• Save the running virtual machine state and revert to it at any time
• Quickly create a virtual machine and install the guest operating system with OS
Installation Assistant
• Run your Boot Camp partition via virtual machine
• Burn CDs or DVDs from the virtual machine using your Mac optical drive
• Use USB 2.0 devices in the virtual machine
• Achieve optimal virtual machine performance and reduce virtual hard disk file size by
50% or more with Parallels Compressor
• Migrate your Windows PC into a virtual machine using Parallels Transporter
• Browse the images of your virtual machines directly from Mac using Parallels Explorer
• Download and use pre-built virtual machines from Parallels Virtual Appliances Library
NOTE: Parallels Desktop doesn’t automatically synchronize your Windows profile folders to
Mac folders when you enable Shared Profile. You can access your Windows desktop at
“C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Desktop\” or “C:\Documents and Settings\<User
Name>\Desktop\”. To access other Windows profile folders, go to “C:\Documents and
Settings\<User Name>\<User Name>’s Documents\”.
• Map Shared Folders to Windows drives letters - Automatically map and access your
Shared Folders using Windows drive letters
• Multi-user support - Share your virtual machines with other Mac OS X users
• Recycle Bin integration - Ability to drag and drop files from Windows to Mac OS X
trash bin
• Empty Windows Recycle Bin - Empty Windows recylcle bin directly from the
Application menu
• Show Windows Desktop - Show Windows desktop in Coherence mode directly from the
Application menu
• Configurable Sound - Allows you to use headset within virtual machine with highest
sound quality
• Change Sound Device on the fly - Change input and output sound devices connected to
virtual machine on the fly via menu or status bar icon
• Boot Camp compatible key mapping - Boot Camp key combinations substitute specific
Windows keys like Insert, Print Screen and so on
• Virtual keyboard – send key combinations to virtual machine in one click
• Keyboard passthrough support when assistive devices are on - Keyboard passthrough
mode when assistive devices support is enabled in Universal Access preferences
• Apple iPhone support - synchronize contacts, scheduler, mail and media between your
Windows virtual machine and your iPhone
• Parallels Transporter - Migrate your Linux PC to a Parallels virtual machine
• Parallels Mounter - Double-click Parallels virtual disks and mount them to Mac
Desktop to access Windows files and folders using Finder (even if the virtual machine is
not running)
• Parallels Explorer
o Suspended virtual machines support
o Improved drag-and-drop, copying/deleting operations
• Parallels Image Tool - Manages properties of your virtual disk image
o Changes your virtual disk format and properties
• Video and 3D
o No textures in some games (like Max Payne™) - fixed
o Some games crash on nVidia® video cards - fixed
o VM cannot suspend after iTunes® upgrade to 7.3 due to incorrect DirectX®
detection - fixed
o Pixel size calculation - improved: graphics are displayed correctly in Microsoft
Access™
o Performance of some CAD/CAM applications (including SolidWorks®) -
improved
o Multi-threaded CAD/CAM applications now show workspace correctly. The list
of applications includes, but not limited to, AutoCAD®, 3D Studio MAX®,
CATIA V5, PowerSHAPE, Zemax®, Pro/ENGINEER® and many others
o Vertical Sync enabled (this will result in benchmarks performance cut-off at 60
FPS, but will provide less resources usage and less artifacts when resizing screen)
• Boot Camp
o Detection of the operating system installed in Boot Camp - improved
o Vista reinstalls ACPI PC on each restart - fixed
• Snapshots
o Delete with children (recursive delete) option added
o Possible corruption of the .xml file included in the bundle .hdd during reversion to
snapshot - fixed
• Parallels Explorer
o Many segmentation fault cases were fixed
o Correct handling of non-NTFS file systems added
o Many look and feel improvements
• Other fixes
o Having USB device in configuration significantly (by 30%) increases Parallels
Desktop CPU usage for Vista guest OS - fixed
o Mouse gets automatically ungrabbed if Vista had been put into sleep mode from
inside the virtual machine
o Correct tools for eComStation™ 1.2 included
o Windows® 98 restart hangs - fixed
o Parallels Tools installation changes default printer in Windows - fixed
o Compatibility with Microsoft® LiveMeeting - fixed
o Mouse issues with Flex/Flash drag-n-drop - fixed
o Shared folders: Changing file extension affects the dates in the file info - fixed
o Shared folders: Cannot use mkdir a\b\c in the mapped Parallels Shared Folder
disk - fixed
o Shared folders: Cannot open file with brackets in the filename from a shared
folder - fixed
o Compatibility with MacFUSE 0.4 - fixed
o Animation transitions between view modes (Full Screen, Guest OS Window,
Coherence) improved for better look and feel
o Parallels Tools for Linux: time synchronization tool added
o Virtual machine sometimes crashes when working with hard disks connected to
IDE 1:0 and IDE 1:1 channels - fixed
o Bugreports are now sent via default Mac mail client
o In rare cases Mac OS hangs for some time after sleep if Parallels Desktop is
running - fixed
o Image Tool added - now it is possible to increase virtual HDD capacity
What's New in Parallels Desktop 3.0 for Mac (Build 4128)
• Coherence 2.0 - Run your Windows and Mac OS X applications in single integrated
environment
o Inversed Shared Folders - Mount your Windows file system and access its files
and folders directly from Mac OS X
o Security levels - Select security level using security slider in virtual machie
configuration. Choose desired balance between virtual machine isolation and
guest Windows and Mac OS X integration according your needs.
o SmartSelect - Open your documents in Mac OS X or Windows using any
available Mac OS X or Windows application
Auto registration - On first start of any Windows application this
application is made default for opening document types which have no
default Mac OS X application
Windows binary integration - Run Windows binaries directly from Mac
OS X
Editable documents associations - Right click on running Windows
application in Dock and edit list of associated documents types. Associate
each document type with running Windows application or with original
Mac OS X application
Open With Integration - Right-click your document in Mac OS X or
Windows and choose any available Mac OS X or Windows application
from the Open With list
Double-click Integration - Double-click your document in Mac OS X or
Windows to open it in the default Mac OS X or Windows application. For
example:
Double-click a document in Mac Finder to open it in Windows
Word or Excel
Double-click a picture or PDF in Windows Explorer to open it
with Mac Preview
Double click any EXE program in Mac Finder to start it in
Windows
Double-click a DMG file in Windows Explorer to mount it in Mac
OS X
Shared Default Browser/FTP/Mail - Click a web/ftp link in Windows to
open it with Mac OS Safari; click a mailto link in Mac OS X to open it
with Windows Outlook
Reset Windows Applications - Browse to Applications menu and click
"Reset Windows applications" button to remove all applications stubs and
clean all file associations with Windows
o Flexible Dock Integration - Choose integration level for Windows applications
in the Dock from Never, Always and Only in Coherence
o Windows Start menu Integration - Click the Parallels icon in the Dock to show
the Windows Start menu
• Accelerated 3D graphics - Enjoy 3D applications and 3D games running at almost
native speed
o OpenGL support - Run OpenGL applications and OpenGL games at native
speed in the Windows 2000/XP/2003/Vista guest operating systems
o Limited DirectX 8.1 support - Run DirectX applications and DirectX games at
native speed in the Windows XP/2003/Vista guest operating systems.
• Snapshots - Save the running virtual machine state and revert back to it at any time
o Multiple Snapshots - Create multiple snapshots
o Visual Snapshots Manager - Manage and navigate your snapshots tree using
comprehensive visual tool
• Undo disks - Make you virtual machine read-only and clear all changes at the end of
session
• Splitted disks - Split virtual disks into 2G chunks (it allows to store virtual disk on
FAT32 filesystem)
• Shared printers - Print directly from Windows to any Mac OS X installed printer
• Vista Boot Camp support - Run Windows Vista installed on Boot Camp partition
within virtual machine
• Windows 2008 (beta) experimental support - Run Windows 2008 Server beta within
virtual machine
• Improved Hypervisor - Enjoy better security, stability and isolation between virtual
machines and Mac OS X
• Improved Memory Manager - Allocate only required virtual memory on hard disk and
save up to 1,5G disk space per virtual machine
• Parallels Tools for guest Linux - Enjoy better integration between guest Linux and Mac
OS X
o Mouse Synchronization - Seemlessly move mouse pointer between Linux and
Mac OS X
o Change Screen Resolution - Resize guest Linux resolution according to virtual
machine window size
• New Toolbar Icons - Switch between three pre-defined toolbar icon sets or add your
own icon set to Parallels Desktop.app/Contents/Resources/Iconsets/
• Improved Parallels Transporter - Use firewire cable for easy migration
o Vista Support - Migrate your Vista PC or third-party Vista VM into Parallels
virtual machine
o Entire VM Migration - Migrate entire VMware or Microsoft virtual machine
into Parallels virtual machine
o Firewire Support - Migrate PC into Parallels virtual machine via firewire cable
• Parallels Explorer - Browse your virtual machines images directly from Mac OS X
when Parallels Desktop is not running, copy, move and delete files and folders on virtual
disks
• Parallels Virtual Appliances - Download pre-built virtual machines from Parallels
Virtual Appliances Library
• Other changes
o Paused virtual machine could be continued by mouse click on its window
o Resource allocation policy between virtual machine and Mac OS X can be chosen
in new virtual machine assitant
o Legacy Image Tool removed from installation package