Remove VMware Fusion and Parallels "Open With" Context Menus

I love VMware, I hate Parallels, and I really hate programs that screw with my context menus.

By default both VMware Fusion and Parallels Desktop associate specific files on the Mac side with Windows applications.  Because there's nothing better than accidentally double-clicking a text file with a .log extension and launching an entire VM to view it.

VMware Fusion

  1. Inside Fusion, open the Virtual Machine Library window – Window menu > Virtual Machine Library, or press CMD+SHIFT+L.
  2. Select the VM and click the Settings button.
  3. Click the Applications icon, and then select the Default Applications tab.
  4. Uncheck Open your Mac files and web links using Windows applications and close the window.

Repeat the process for every VM.

Parallels Desktop

It's not easy, but does that surprise you? The icon may look different if Parallels is still installed. It's probably considered a feature that all the file associations remain, even after Parallels is removed – who doesn't like error messages!?

  1. Find your VM – by default they are located in ~/Documents/Parallels/
  2. Right click on the .pvm file and choose Show Package Contents
  3. Delete the Windows Applications folder, and empty the trash.

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Posted in VMware on May 13th, 2010 at 03:05pm

Comments (6)  | 

On Parallels Desktop for Mac…

Their uninstall icon sums up my feelings quite well. Their support is horrible, the forums are filled with people complaining and even their phone system is a joke; the IVR has a computer reading the name – Para-lel-ells – instead of a person.

The real deal breaker is the sticky keys bug.  Which ever the CMD key is mapped in a Windows VM doesn't work right. If you map CMD to ALT, Alt+Tab will 'stick'.  If you map CMD to WIN, modifier keys like WIN+D don't work right.

This bug with sticky keys was introduced a couple years ago when Parallels Desktop 4 was released, and still exists with v5.

Maybe VMware Fusion is slower1, but VMware does virtualization right. I trust close to 90% of my servers to ESX/vSphere, and I'll continue to trust my desktop virtualization to Fusion. On a Windows desktop it's not even a question, VMware Workstation has no competition.

  1. Fusion 3.1 RC is in public beta, so the MacTech benchmarks are already outdated [back]

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Posted in Software, Technology, VMware on May 10th, 2010 at 09:05am

Comments (1)  | 


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