| As you use Windows, you'll likely want to move data between that environment and your Mac OS X environment or even to other computers. There are several ways to do this, which is where this section comes in. Note Before you share data between your Windows environment and the Mac, you should make sure the Windows environment is as protected from viruses and other threats as much as it can be. See Chapter 4 for the details about protecting Windows.
Copying and Pasting Data from Windows to Mac (or Mac to Windows) Installing Parallels Tools and enabling the Clipboard Synchronization tool (it's enabled by default) allows the Windows and Mac environments to share data on their Clipboards. To see how this works, do the following: Note To be able to copy and paste data between the Mac and Windows, you must enable the Clipboard Synchronization tool. Refer to "Configuring Parallels Tools" in Chapter 7 to learn how to configure this setting.
| | 1. | In a Windows application, copy the data you want to paste into a Mac document.
Tip To see the current contents of the Clipboard, open the Parallels Tools Center by double-clicking its icon in the System Tray. Select the Clipboard Synchronization tool and you'll see the Clipboard's content in the right pane of the window. | 2. | Click on the Mac desktop to move into the Mac OS X.
| 3. | Open the document into which you want to paste the data.
| 4. | Paste the data (see Figure 8.13).
Figure 8.13. Here you can see a TextEdit doc containing text copied from the Windows Notepad application in the Windows VM. 
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Using File Sharing to Share Data Mac OS X has long been able to share files with Windows computers. A Mac running a Windows VM is still running Windows so you can use the same steps to share files from a Windows VM that you can with a PC running Windows. Note Part of the Parallels Tools default installation is the creation of a Parallels shared folder that you can use to share files. However, you can use standard file sharing to share files from the Windows environment with the Mac OS X on the same Mac or other computers on the network. The Parallels Tools tool configures the same properties, but it's better to learn how to share any folder you choose.
First, enable and configure file sharing in the Windows environment. Then, connect to the shared folder from the Mac OS. To enable file sharing from the Windows VM, do the following (you have to do these steps only once): 1. | Open the Control Panel and then open the Network Setup Wizard control panel.
| 2. | Click Next.
| 3. | Click Next again.
| | | 4. | Select the middle radio button (This Computer Is Connected Through a Router…) and click Next.
| 5. | Enter a description and name for the Windows VM and click Next.
| 6. | Leave the default workgroup name in the next window and click Next.
| 7. | Check the Turn on File and Printer Sharing radio button and click Next.
| 8. | Click Next on the Ready to Apply Network Settings window.
| 9. | In the next window, choose the Just Finish the Wizard radio button and click Next.
| 10. | Click Finish.
| 11. | If prompted to restart Windows, do so. File sharing will be started in the Windows VM and you'll be ready to share files.
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To configure a folder to share from the Windows environment, perform the following steps: 1. | Select the folder you want to share.
| 2. | Right-click on it and choose Properties from the contextual menu. The Properties dialog box will appear.
| 3. | Click the Sharing tab.
| 4. | Check the Share This Folder on the Network check box.
| 5. | Enter the name of the folder as you want it to be when you access it from other environments (you can leave the default name).
| 6. | If you want people who access the files in the shared folder to be able to change them, check the Allow Network Users to Change My Files radio button (see Figure 8.14).
Figure 8.14. Use the Windows_Files Properties dialog box to configure sharing for a folder that you want to access from Mac OS X. 
| | | 7. | Click OK. The folder will be shared and you'll see the "hand" under its icon to indicate that it's a shared folder (see Figure 8.15).
Figure 8.15. Use the Windows Properties dialog box to configure sharing for a folder that you want to access from Mac OS X. 
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To access a shared folder from Mac OS X, do the following: 1. | Open a Finder window and select the Network icon.
| 2. | Open the folder with the name of the workgroup you created (the default is mshome).
| 3. | Select the icon with the name of the Windows VM that you entered when you enabled file sharing. You'll see the Connect button (see Figure 8.16).
Figure 8.16. When you've selected a Windows environment that is sharing files, you can connect to it. 
| | | 4. | Click Connect. You'll see the File System Authentication dialog box (see Figure 8.17).
Figure 8.17. Use this dialog box to log in to the shared Windows environment. 
| 5. | Enter the workgroup name and the username and password for your Windows account (if you don't use a password to log in to Windows, leave the Password field empty).
| 6. | Click OK. You'll see the selection volume dialog box (see Figure 8.18).
Figure 8.18. Use this dialog box to select the folder you want to access. 
| | | 7. | Choose the folder you want to access and click OK. The shared folder will be mounted on the Mac OS X desktop and you can use it just like a folder under Mac OS X (see Figure 8.19).
Figure 8.19. The Windows_Files folder is a Windows folder being shared with Mac OS X. 
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You can store files you want to use in both environments in a shared Windows folder just as you store them under Mac OS X. For example, to make a file you've created using a Mac application, place it in the shared Windows folder and it will appear in the folder under Windows. Or, place a Windows file in that folder and you'll be able to access it from Mac OS X. You can use the same steps to access shared Windows files from any Mac on your network. | 