Parallels 9 shows guest icon in dock bar?

J

JamesBailey

Bit poster
Since installing v9, there's a Windows logo that relates to the guest OS being run, even in Coherence mode. How do I get rid of that icon? It used to only show the open application icons, not the guest icon.
 
I agree this is crazy annoying. I seem to remember this was an option in v8. Looks like 9 is getting a bit more 'my way or the highway' from parallels....
 
IMFletcher said:
I agree this is crazy annoying. I seem to remember this was an option in v8. Looks like 9 is getting a bit more 'my way or the highway' from parallels....
Click to expand...

I don't remember it being an option, just that it didn't show an icon representing the guest OS. Even worse is that it's on the Cmd-Tab list, so I'm constantly tabbing to it by mistake. This may sound harsh, but to me, that's a huge usability issue that will make me rethink going back to VMWare.
 
Not only to you. Seamless integration in coherence mode without any prominent signs of running VM backend was my favourite feature of Parallels. Menubar icon was "just enough". Now the experience is no more there. But hey, I can open Win Start menu from two places now! Yuppie! I can't imagine how can you not to make such features optional? What was so hard in hiding the dock icon? You want a separate dock icon for each virtual machine in coherence mode? Fine, but don't force others to want it too! Now Parallels looks more and more like VMware. And, I tell you Parallels guys, VMware has its traits (and I'm not even mentioning flexible licencing).
I really wanted to upgrade, but I will wait for PD9 trial to be over, and go back and stick with PD8 for as long as it works. If the icon will be there in PD10, I will certainly jump ship.

P.s.: I've found out that you can actually kill the helper app after entering coherence mode (search for it in Activity Monitor - it's named by your virtual machine - there will be duplicates (always 2 in my case) - force kill ONLY the one with lowest PID - it usually has a nice icon too) - the dock icon won't appear until you restart your virtual machine or parallels. My Win7 guest seems to be running rather* fine once the process is killed, but YMMV.

*) "rather" means that I have to display the start menu at least once before killing the helper app, otherwise it won't display without re-entering coherence at least a few times.
 
I have to agree, this is incredibly annoying and a total waste of dock space. Please allow this to be an optional setting for those who want to be able to disable it. Thanks TheKrzyk for the advice on killing the helper app. Seems to work for now, but not ideal and definitely not something I should have to do.
 
I just updated to Parallels 9 and I found that there was no way to get rid of the annoying dock icon while in coherence mode. I also loved the seamless integration of coherence mode in previous versions (I think I was on 7 before updating). It would be nice if there was a setting to show or hide that icon.

TheKrzyk said:
P.s.: I've found out that you can actually kill the helper app after entering coherence mode (search for it in Activity Monitor - it's named by your virtual machine - there will be duplicates (always 2 in my case) - force kill ONLY the one with lowest PID - it usually has a nice icon too) - the dock icon won't appear until you restart your virtual machine or parallels. My Win7 guest seems to be running rather* fine once the process is killed, but YMMV.

*) "rather" means that I have to display the start menu at least once before killing the helper app, otherwise it won't display without re-entering coherence at least a few times.
Click to expand...

This does the trick for me. It's sad that this has to be done though...
 
You are absolutely right that it's the Crystal Mode! I forgot about that. I can't imagine how can they can remove it and how it could be "not preferred by most of the users". Even if "most" users don't want it, then why remove? Can't they make an "Advanced options" section with features unwanted by some people but essential for others? For me Crystal Mode was the foundation of seamless integration. This is insane. I initially thought that they will "fix" the dock icon issue, but now it's clear that they wont! I am mad.
Maybe we should run a petition "Bring back Crystal Mode"? ;-)
 
TheKrzyk said:
You are absolutely right that it's the Crystal Mode! I forgot about that. I can't imagine how can they can remove it and how it could be "not preferred by most of the users". Even if "most" users don't want it, then why remove? Can't they make an "Advanced options" section with features unwanted by some people but essential for others? For me Crystal Mode was the foundation of seamless integration. This is insane. I initially thought that they will "fix" the dock icon issue, but now it's clear that they wont! I am mad.
Maybe we should run a petition "Bring back Crystal Mode"? ;-)
Click to expand...

I agree 100%. I would sign that petition...
 
This has just been getting worse for me. Not only is it taking up dock space, but it's now also moving itself randomly up the Cmd-Tab stack. Now when I'm in a Windows app and hit Cmd-Tab, I have to check to make sure this icon hasn't taken second place on the list. That means I can't Cmd-Tab between Safari and IE (for example) without pausing between each Cmd-Tab.

If that wasn't bad enough, the latest update introduced this:

asdf.png

It shows up when I open a VM and won't go away until I click on it! Are the people at Parallels purposely trying to find ways to hurt productivity?
 
I just updated and holy cow this is annoying! That message box is huge and it doesn't go away on its own. Do they think we are stupid or something? They should at least give us options to turn this off... Crystal Mode anyone?
 
I emailed support and sounds like you can get the annoying message to go away once you left click and right click on the parallels icon in the menu bar. I did that and i restarted my VM and it hasn't shown up again.
 
I opened a ticket and recently finished with them. For the new message bubble, the guy said that it's focused for new users and that there's no way to get rid of it. I tried Cramill's steps and it didn't work for me. Looks like I have to click to remove that message each and every time I run Parallels. I'm definitely going to build a VMWare machine and see how it performs. (I know I can migrate, but it doesn't come over cleanly.)
 
I installed an update to Parallels today and the message bubble came back! >:(
Still no option to turn off the dock icon...
 
This is annoying as hell!! Why is it that developers have this tendency to take apps that are working really well and start messing them up? Crystal Mode worked perfect in PD8, and now, gone…

I haven't found a way to make the bubble go away, but you can get rid of the annoying dock icon by forcing it to quit:

1. Open Force Quit Applications (cmd+alt+esc)

2. Select the Dock Helper app (the one with the Windows icon)

FQP.png

3. Click on 'Force Quit'

Voilá! No more icon (for the time being). It won't show again until the next time you start your VM in coherence, then you'll have to do it all over again, but at least it's a workaround.

Parallels: for the love of God, bring back Crystal Mode! And drop the irritating bubble while you're at it…
 
Here’s another reason why having this dock icon is so useless. Any menu items that are low on the start menu span off the screen.

Screen Shot 2013-10-30 at 9.26.29 AM.png
 
Bring back crystal mode!!! You can tell by this thread that many us used this feature! The bouncing icon in my dock is freaking annoying.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top