ADDED: Usable multi-monitor support with "Displays have separate Spaces" turned off

GregWaterloo: I'm not entirely sure, but I think your preference was previously possible... however, your workflow method adds a LOT of touches for me, and therefore a lot of frustration. I think this is true for all of the other posters on this thread. (I'm pretty sure all of us have tried "Displays Use Separate Spaces" and went "Ugh.")

 

I'm with @GregWaterloo on this one. Well said.

Took some experimenting with settings, but I have Parallels Desktop Pro 13.3.1 on MacBook Pro (13-inch, 2016, Four Thunderbolt 3 Ports) macOS 10.13.5 working perfectly with windows 10-1803 build.

My setup:
2 x External Asus MBP169 1920x1080
1 x MBP Retina Display

I have Windows running on both Asus monitors and macOS work Spaces on the Retina Display.
* [Technically since Parallels doesn't have the option to hide displays from Windows, I also have a Windows fullscreen 'workspace' on my Retina display but is unused and hidden from view. The only downside I can think of at the moment is a performance hit, which has not been noticeable so far]

-= My parallels settings: =-
Full Screen:
[x] Use all displays in full screen,
[ ] Activating virtual machine shows all it spaces,
[x] Optimize full screen for games (Ctrl+Option to break free and use macOS shortcuts if I have a Windows 10 monitor in focus).
Hardware:
[x] Best for external displays

-= macOS settings =-
Mission Control:
[ ] Automatically rearrange Spaces based on most recent use (I use Ctl + 1-7 to switch between specific work spaces]
[x] When switching to an application, switch to a Space with open windows for the application
[x] Group windows by application
[x] Displays have separate Spaces <--- Turning this off doesn't make sense in seeking the function the OP was looking for.

I am able to code with Visual Studio, and Excel + intensive graphing programs on the 2 Windows 10 external monitors. I also have multiple Windows 10 desktops I switch between.... I have macOS: Xcode, Sublime Text,... etc. only on my retina display.
** Most importantly I can bounce or click between monitors without my retina MBP display switching to the unused Windows 10 fullscreen space. And the external monitors stay on Windows 10 full screen spaces.

Hope that helps Parallels support in keeping the existing functionality, and or provide some settings for people to experiment with.

 

Though I have not yet tried it, I believe this issue may be fixed in the latest Parallels Desktop 14 release. From the Release Notes:

"Improved the way a virtual machine is displayed on multiple monitors when the macOS "Displays have separate Spaces" option is turned off. Instead of the black screen on one of the monitors, now the virtual machine is displayed on all screens."​

 

Hi guys, I am happy to let you know that we were able to improve multi-monitor support in the new Parallels Desktop 14 version (see updates summary).

With Parallels Desktop 14 for Mac installed simply disable 'Displays have separate spaces' > make sure that 'Use All Displays in Full Screen' is enabled (VM's menu bar > View) > enter Full Screen mode and you will be able to swipe between all displays at once.

We also did a bunch of improvements to multi-monitor support and overall product performance. Will be happy to hear your feedback.

 

Hallelujah! I'm very glad Parallels has come to their senses and decided to invest the time required to fix this. I know for a lot of us this has been make or break. I was preparing to move my workflow to Windows, especially with it seeming like Apple wasn't giving Mac's the love they need; glad to hear a Mac Mini Pro is likely to be released soon. Faith at least temporarily restored. About to trial PD 14 now before upgrading...

Thanks again, and thanks everyone else for getting on-board and making it known that something needed to be done with regards to multi-monitor support. A win for all.

 

Hands up vote on this. I have dual large screen monitors and 4 spaces. One dual screen is for Windows mode. The others are for mail, browsing, ...
I do not want to mix windows and Mac, I want them separate and I want to interact with both screens and easily ctrl arrow out when needed.

I will not upgrade to PD12 or PD13 until this is working again. I purchased PD12 but I downgraded as this is a deal breaker.

 

Have you tried PD 14? It's actually mostly working again there. Still not as good as it was in PD 11 (it doesn't let you put Mac windows in front of the VM screen), but acceptable. 14.0 still had the bug where the VM screens would sometimes appear on the wrong space (on the plus side, you could put Mac windows in front of them there, yay), but in 14.1 they have stayed put so far.

 

Hi @LarryJ3, but do you need Windows to have dual screens in your scenario?

 

Hi Tom,

your post is really interested to read. Although I'm new to all this but thought I'd share. i have Just installed PD13 Pro with Windows 10VM on MacMini host with two displays
(2560x1024) and (1920x1080) & It seems as though I have a different experience as I can have the VM (e.g. in full screen) on one screen whilst still seeing my open mac applications on the other for further information

 

Ok, I have been using Parallels since v7 after switching from VMWare. Everything was fine until v.12 upgrade when multiple window no longer remained "linked" when switching between Spaces. Long promised v13 didn't fix it. However, v11 works just fine with High Sierra so it is total BS that Parallels is blaming MacOS for the bug. IT IS PARALLELS THAT CAN NOT FIGURE IT OUT! This is the number 1 voted feature suggestion. If they can't figure it out they should not insist on paying for upgrades with annual renewal. Also, maybe it is time to OUTSOURCE and get a programmer who can help you. PLEASE LISTEN TO THE YOUR ARDENT SUPPORTERS OR ELSE THEY WILL NO LONGER BE THERE!

 

Same here I also don't want to mix windows and mac and did the same and I am happy to see that you also done the same.
earlier I am not able to figure out what to do so one my friend at Mobile App Development Company suggested me and I done the same.

 

Any fix available or not?

 

Have you tried PD 14?

 

I'm also on PD-11 and I was thinking to upgrade it. But now I'm not sure that this is a good idea. Could the monitors settings be the cause?

 

What part hasn't been discussed yet?

(Short version from my part: If you can stay on PD 11, do. It works best. 12 and 13 are unusable. 14 is okay.)

 

Hello everyone, everything you say here, the information is really very useful, and very interesting I think  thank you for this very detailed information. However I have a question to ask you in private message if it is possible. Thank you for your return  Regards

 

Grazie per averlo condiviso

 

It really difficult to deal with such kind of problems in macbook. specially for the people who know nothing about the technology. This forum actually helped to ease my work. thank you

 

I am voting this up. I am frustrated with this issue too.

 

Mac Pro M3, Ubuntu 24.04, MacOS 15.0.1
Spent an hour trying to get full screen going for multiple monitors. Cannot get a combination that works.
34" Dell external and internal Mac Book Pro 14" monitors
Issue is that when, for example, I click and drag the mouse on the screen, the highted rect is offset. And depending on where I click almost looks ike it is wrapping around. Cannot activate any menus because of this.


Very frustrating. Need multiple monitors to maker it usable
Sounds like this has been an issue for a decade. Has any one EVER had it reliably working?