Coherence does not work with 2 displays

Discussion in 'Parallels Desktop for Mac' started by nicoleAntfarm, Feb 5, 2007.

  1. nicoleAntfarm

    nicoleAntfarm Bit poster

    Messages:
    7
    I have been banging my head against the wall trying to get Coherence to work with 2 displays. I have a macbook with a 13" display, and it is currently set to 1280x800. My external display is 1280x1024. I have setup XPs actual display preferences to 1024x768, 800x600, 1280x800 and none are working. I keep getting the error

    "Unable to switch to Coherence Mode. Primary operating system does not support screen resolution requested by guest operating system."

    I have searched the forums and google, and I have found that others have issues getting Coherence to work with an external display. Am I missing something? How do I get this to work?
     
  2. nicoleAntfarm

    nicoleAntfarm Bit poster

    Messages:
    7
    Ok for those of you in the same boat as me, within the VM configuration (edit-->Virtual Machine), go to Coherence, and uncheck "use multiple displays". That worked for me. My desktop is still extended to both displays as normal (not mirroring), but coherence FINALLY worked. If any of you parallels folks are reading this, I love your product, but the documentation is lacking. Please include instructions for Coherence.
     
  3. nicoleAntfarm

    nicoleAntfarm Bit poster

    Messages:
    7
    ...and what I've found is that Parallels is on my primary display (which I've set within OS X to be my external display), but I can't drag it onto my 2nd display. Frustrating! Does anyone know how to get Parallels to use both displays under Coherence?
     
  4. gejii

    gejii Bit poster

    Messages:
    1
    I haven't been able to use Coherence mode with either of my displays - I click on the coherence button and it does nothing. Any ideas why this might me?

    I'm running a MacBook Pro with 1GB RAM and a 23" Cinema display attached to it.
     
  5. drval

    drval Pro

    Messages:
    490
    When Parallels is running use View/Coherence and then check Use multiple Displays.
     
  6. vassego

    vassego Bit poster

    Messages:
    5
    Alternatively you can leave "Multiple Displays" unchecked and drag the VM between displays when its in OS Window Mode, then once you return to coherence, all of your guest OS apps will run on that display.
     
  7. cran

    cran Bit poster

    Messages:
    5
    I haven't been able to get my coherence windows to drag to my second display either. I have tried checking and unchecking the "use multiple displays"..but no luck...has anyone found a working workaround?

    thanks
     
  8. sjs

    sjs Junior Member

    Messages:
    16
    The issue isn't moving all the windows, it's mixing windows apps on both desktops. If you're used to 2 screens then you will invariably try and move a window from the Windows desktop to the other screen and it's really annoying when it doesn't work. It really makes it more of a hindrance than a boon.

    Other than that, I am very happy with the new build though! They've been quick to put all these features out so give it some time before they're perfected. The VM runs smoothly and I can work in it, so good job Parallels team.
     

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