How To Setup Parallels For Mac Sccm

A blog reader asked me how I set everything to run multiple browsers simultaneously. Here’s how I configured my Mac® to use five different versions of Internet Explorer at the same time.

A SCCM infrastructure with the Parallels SCCM Mac Management Proxy and Netboot server installed. This is optional but I recommend it anyway: A copy of Xcode or another code editor to create your shell scripts in. Parallels Configuration Manager Client. The client is not the Mac OS X client available from Microsoft. As mentioned, Parallels Mac Management for ConfigMgr comes with its own client which communicates via a self-signed certificate with the Configuration Manager Proxy with the Management Point. Like all other things – this role can be enabled and setup pretty easily. However, it does require an OSX-instance that is running as a server in your environment. Apple Software Update Server. Once the Apple Software Update Server is setup the PMM for SCCM SUP needs to be configured to direct all requests to this server. Regardless, Parallels Desktop for Mac does not include Windows software. None the less, before using the Parallels Software, you will need to purchase Windows. However, once you have purchased the right windows program you can proceed with the setup process. Step One: Create a Virtual Machine Start Parallels Desktop Lite and click on File in the application menu, and then select New. Click Install Windows or another OS from DVD or image file, then click Continue. The next step is to add the image to Configuration Manager. This can be done via the console when selecting Add Mac OS X Operating System Image in the Operating System Images node in the Software Library workspace.

Step 1: Your Mac

To store all the VMs, you will need about 60–90 GB of free space on your Mac. A Mac with an internal SSD is best, but a hard drive will also work. (If you download all the VMs listed in Step 2, you will need about 90 GB.) Alternatively, if you have a fast external SSD (like the SSD2GO drives), you can use it instead of your Mac main storage.

To run multiple VMs simultaneously, you will need a lot of RAM—probably a minimum of 10 GB. The Mac I used in my earlier blog post has 16 GB of RAM.

Step 2: Get the VMs

The best place to get VMs with different versions of IE is the Modern.IE site at Microsoft; you can download these VMs from directly within Parallels Desktop® for Mac. Just open the Installation Assistant with the “New…” menu item in the File menu, or click on the “+” sign at the top of the Control Center window. (See Figure 1.)

Figure 1_The Parallels Desktop Installation Assistant

The six VMs that you can download are listed in Figure 2. These VMs are free and last for 90 days. After 90 days, you can download them again.

Parallels Desktop will automatically decompress the VMs and install them in the Parallels Desktop Control Center. You will need to install the current version of the Parallels Tools in the VMs, and you will probably need to install a security update or two. Make sure you don’t inadvertently install a later version of IE in the VMs.

Step 3: Configure the VMs

You will need to configure several settings in each VM:

Memory: You should set the memory for the VM near the bottom of the recommended range ( see Figure 3). In addition, you may want to set the number of processors to one.

Figure 3_RAM and Processor setting

Retina: If you are on a Mac with a Retina® display, you should set the Retina setting of the VM to “Best for external displays,” as shown in Figure 4. (The reason for this is explained later in this post.)

Don’t Pause: Uncheck the setting “Pause Windows when possible” (see Figure 5).

Figure 5_Uncheck Pause Windows when possible

IE Home Page: You might want to set IE to automatically point to your staging server (see Figure 6).

Step 4: Using the VMs

If you’ll be using four or more IE versions simultaneously, you’ll probably want a lot of screen space. On my MacBook Pro®, the largest screen resolution you can set with the Apple Displays System Preference is 1920 x 1200. For me, this was not enough. Luckily, you can get much larger resolutions with the Switch Resolution tool in Parallels® Toolbox. The one I chose is 3840 x 2400. (Remember, Parallels Toolbox is bundled with Parallels Desktop 13.)

However, if you switch to a non-Retina resolution and boot a VM that was last used on a Retina screen, the VM will look rather weird. This is why I suggest you set the resolution to “Best for external displays.” The menu item shown in Figure 4 only appears when the screen is set to a Retina resolution.

If you regularly use multiple IE versions, you can use the Launch tool in Parallels Toolbox to launch them all while you go get a cup of coffee. Your Launch settings would look something like Figure 7, where you can see the many IE icons used over the years.

Figure 7_Configuring the Launch tool to launch many versions of IE

I hope this is useful for those who want to use many versions of IE simultaneously.

So I know similar topics have been brought up on JAMF Nation before, but I'd like to start one specifically about this one topic... Parallels Mac Management for SCCM.

We've recently merged with another company and like most mergers it's typical to consolidate environments where overlap exists. On our side of the merger we've been a JAMF customer since 2007 and use the Casper Suite for iOS and Mac management. Going forward we’ll most likely use a different MDM/EMM solution for iOS, so that would only leave OS X. On the other side of the merger they have been using SCCM for both Windows and Mac management. The impression I get based on conversations is that they're not necessarily happy with the native features and functionality of SCCM for Mac and know that it could be better. They are thinking that Parallels Mac Management for SCCM might be the solution to that problem.

How To Setup Parallels On A Mac

The JAMF Nation community has always been a great source for exchanging ideas on any given topic, problem or solution for all things Mac and iOS so I’d like your input. If you currently use or have used Parallels Mac Management for SCCM or SCCM to manage Macs or work in an environment where you use both Casper and SCCM it would be great to hear your take. Specifically on the things which could make OS X management a challenge using Microsoft tools and methodologies, transition or integration experiences, vendor support and end user adoption and perception. In fact even if you don’t have experience with these tools and perhaps had a similar situation, I’d still very much appreciate your input.