So decided to try out parallels desktop. So far, I am not impressed; frustrated, more like. I got the vertual machine set up via using ocr fine. It starts up, I turn on narrator and get... no object in view. Pressing command m, windows m to take me to the desktop doesn't work. I did go to the machine's settings and disabled the shared desktop but so far with no luck; windows m still doesn't work. I then tried changing keyboard shortcuts. Control to windows and command into control but... There are many unlabeled buttons that... I have no idea what the heck i'm pressing. Also, I don't have insert, and cant find a way to set it up... again via keyboard shortcuts. Needless to say i'm just... Frustrated. To those who have gotten this to work... Any tips? Anything i'm missing? I usually use fusion but wanted to give parallels a shot as to be frank, the acquisition of vmware fusion by broadcom... given broadcom's history of company acquisitions... Isn't good if the company has... neesh products that do not generate enough revenue compared to say, their enterprise solutions, and vmware fusion does fall into this category. Furthermore the unfixed bugs... I.e, no narrator when installing windows, the, has this virtual machine been moved or copied? Bug, which happens fairly frequently, the login items added bug, which, again has been around for a while and vmware seeming to not give a damn... I'm strongly considering switching, but when parallels is beeing this much of a pain in the neck just to get things working... Still considering if this is even worth my time, despite what might very likely be the future of fusion beeing uncertain, given broadcom's MO when they buy companies. They neglect if not terminate outright the more neesh products and focus only on profit, meaning usually only the enterprise products which... fusion and workstation... Don't fit the enterprise products for sure. But again, so far... Unimpressed with parallels. I'll just put it like that.
As far as parallels ... Would it be possible to, as a community, contact them so that they can improve native accessibility? Or has this already been atempted with no luck? I mean there are blind people who use their product, after all, and having to deal with unlabeled buttons, ocr to get things working... Is not a smooth experience, meaning things are harder than they should be.
By Igna Triay, 12 January, 2025
Forum
macOS and Mac Apps
Comments
Short Answer: It's Bad
No, it really doesn't sound like things are much improved judging from what you're saying, and unfortunately Parallels is indifferent to changing this. Most people who make it work, as far as I can tell, are just about limping along, having customised a few settings of the VM, but it's essentially a question of making do with OCR to set up and then relying on the Windows audio in future to start up and use the VM. For better or worse Fusion still represents the best option we've got, and honestly given that both VOCR and USB audio together solve the biggest issue of getting Windows installed, I'd say you simply have more autonomy and accessibility with Fusion. Hope other users of Parallels have something more positive to say.
I use Fusion too, UTM has…
I use Fusion too, UTM has the cleanest interface of all but its own set of problem, and, for me, sound card issues? with the vm where I had to randomly restart it to hear anything from windows again.
I tried usb audio in vmware but
: did try usb audio to get narrator to start but no luck. I connected my apple to headphone adaptor set it to receive audio from the vm in the first install phaze but, no dice.
Edit did figure out the vm settings and how to show desktop and how to map the keyboard shortcuts but, using ocr isn't the best solution, tbh, but then again, you just have to rely on it for the first installation of the vm and the configuring of shortcuts and that's it. And as far as vmware... Yeah its the best option so far but, if broadcom decides to axe it as they have with other miner products from other companies they've acquired in the passed... It’s not looking good. Look at their history and other acquisitions and you'll see what I mean. Without looking too deeply... Noticed how the login items and the, has this machine been moved or coppied? Bugs still persist? That's just one example. The narrator is another example. It has been over a year if not more ad its still not fixed. If this is an indication of how things will be... Things look bleak for fusion.
Narrator has nothing to do…
Narrator has nothing to do with fusion or utm it's an arm specific bug related to windows or specifics about windows in a vm on arm? Personally I still have this bug on native intel... Please pm me if you wanna additional help I'm curious to see how it doesn't work for you as it does for me on both utm and fusion.
@the blind guy07
Just sent you a pm, via the contact link in your profile
Not Apple Adaptors
Use USB audio class devices. You may need to go via the Apple C to A adaptor. But it most assuredly works.
No I use a simple c to jack…
No I use a simple c to jack from ugreen and expose it to the guest os, in fusion and utm.
Long as it's UAC, it should work
If I can find my Apple adaptor I'll try it again. A bit of Googling says their adaptor is UAC but I've never seen it working, perhaps you have to have something plugged into the jack for it to work. Anyroad, glad that's squared away. But do make sure it's proper USB Audio class, it simply won't work if it's a mere vendor-specific pin converter, like a lot of these cheap smartphone adaptors are.
Native Windows on UTM
I'm kind of going to hijack the thread a little bit, but also mention something that might be news to some people.
Recently I noticed that UTM now has native Windows support, probably provided by Apple's Virtualization framework, which is likely faster and more stable than using qemu's emulation. Has anyone tried it yet? I do have a Windows 11 license on my Microsoft account that I bought in 2023 and never actually used, so I might give it a try at some point, but would like to hear about other people's experiences with a sufficiently recent version of UTM.
I run lots of macOS virtual machines on UTM and absolutely love it, so it would be nice to use it for Windows as well.
UTM Uses qemu for Windows
Yup, it works. But it must use qemu: Apple virtualization framework is providing virtio devices, which Windows doesn't support (natively). I would love it if that changed because VF is an excellent way to run Linux VMs: this is how I run my Linux VM on my server Mini.
I've tried various things but
The adaptor I have is usbc to headphone jack, but no luck. I've tried setting it as the soundcard output device, connecting it directly to the vm via the usb settings with the soundcard removed but no luck. Am I missing something? I've tried on another vm that I've already set up and it works there, but then again that's because that vm is already working and windows is already installed. I'm running out of ideas though. I also tried connecting both of my interfaces via the soundcard setting, and directly to the guest, but once again, no luck. I also tried connecting a usbc to usb a adaptor and connecting that to my 2 interfaces and my headphones but, again, no luck.
Speaking of utm... How well does windows run? I ask because last time I checked it didn't support 3d graphic accelaration so games like hearthstone where... Really slow to play when a friend was duing it on his arm mac about last year I believe it was. Is this still the case?
It's Clearly Not You
If your audio comes through on the host from that adaptor then it's not the adaptor, in all likelihood. In which case we're looking at something else, possibly something recent.
If you use OCR are you seeing the Windows setup screen at all?
And I've heard various rumblings about the WinPE setup stage having broken accessibility for WinTel people too, it's very possible you're not alone here and I need to try setting up fresh again myself. In which case you have yet another compelling reason to be a Mac user ...
And concerning UTM, yes the story is still basically that there's no GPU accelleration there, and this again means that Fusion is still the preferred option especially if you're going to mainstream game. I sincerely hope this changes some day but realistically it's not going to be a top priority for them given there are other approaches to Mac gaming and they'd need to implement guest support for Windows. Maybe one day, but for now UTM is strongest hosting Linux and macOS guests.
I'm seeing the setup screen yes
When using ocr I do see the setup screen yes.
Darn
Unless you're prepared to get through the initial stages of setup just using OCR, you're back to other approaches like unattended installation. This is feasible but somewhat harder to do unaided.