Instead of the friendly ⌃, ⌥, and ⌘ keys, I was presented with Control, Windows, and Alt keys. All of the modifier keys on a Windows keyboard map 1:1 with the keys on a Mac from a. Keyboard layouts in Parallels Desktop for Mac are inherited from Mac side. For Windows 8, 8.1 and 10. Right-click on Windows Start button and choose Control Panel. Open Clock, Language and Region. Click on Change input methods under Language. Then click Options and Remove the layout that contains (Apple)-Parallels ending. For Windows 7.
I'm a Windows user with a Windows-oriented keyboard, and I switched the Command and Ctrl keys in OSX, because I want to use the same keyboard shortcuts whether in Windows or OSX. This came back to haunt me though when I installed a Windows VM in Parallels, and it broke the Ctrl+Alt+Del key combo to login to Windows in the VM (since the Ctrl key is mapped to Command). I would like to create a shortcut mapping Command+Option+Del to the Parallels menu item Devices -> Keyboard -> Ctrl+Alt+Delete, but the shortcuts section of System Preferences -> Keyboard does not allow me to use the Del key.
I tried following the instructions in this answer, adding this:
to each of
but the key combo is not activating the menu item to send Ctrl+Alt+Del when adding the XML to any of those.
What am I doing wrong here? Do I need something special to activate the options in the 'keyboard' submenu of 'Device'? Do I have the wrong code for the Del key? Am I putting the XML in the wrong plist file(s)?
[Edit]
The problem is worse than I thought, because the keys stay switched in Windows. Is there a way to set the modifier key behavior on a per-application basis? It would be great if I could swap the Command and Ctrl keys generally, and swap them back in Parallels.
3 Answers
I did not find an answer to the base question, but I did locate a sufficiently good workaround. Karabiner offers finer-grained control of keys than OSX's keyboard settings, including the ability to add exceptions to key switching. I used these settings:
Now all of the Ctrl keyboard shortcuts I am accustomed to work in both OSX and my VMs.
I have always been able to perform the Ctrl+Alt+Del key combo functionality in Parallels using Command+Ctrl+Option+Del. As far as I know this is default functionality (based on the fact that I did not play around with the key mappings in Parallels, and this key combo has always worked for me).
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However, I don't know if remapping the keys or playing around with Parallels' settings has broken that functionality for you...
Currently, I am using Mac OSX Mavericks with Parallels Desktop 8 (haven't bothered upgrading to 9 yet, though I doubt they would have changed this functionality).
[Edit]
To address your edit: The Command key seems to have a double functionality of both being the Ctrl and ⊞ Win keys in Parallels (or at least on my Mac it does... This may be an option I turned on in Parallels' options). However, it has a preference for being the ⊞ Win key.
Therefore, in Parallels using Command+C and Ctrl+C will both copy, and Command+V and Ctrl+V will both paste.
Alternatively, using Command+D will show the desktop in Parallels, the way that pressing ⊞ Win+D does on a regular Windows PC.
However, keep in mind that, as mentioned above, Command has a preference for being the ⊞ Win key.
Here is an example of where that may come into play:
On a regular Windows PC, Ctrl+F can be used to search in a program, while ⊞ Win+F is the shortcut key to find in files.Therefore, in Parallels, Ctrl+F can be used to search in a program, and Command+F is the shortcut key to find in files.
Actually with the new Karabiner Elements version (Sierra upwards) it would be easiest to temporarily 'Quit K E' via its menu bar icon or to create a second 'Profile' (K-E tab) which contains only rules/modifications you need in Parallels.Can be toggled in menu bar.
No tweaking, twitching or honky-tonky … ;-)
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