Parallels desktop USB Passthrough

What is Parallels Desktop for Mac?

In a nutshell, Parallels Desktop is a fast and handy virtualization application that lets you work with Windows programs on a Maс computer. The solution makes it possible to simultaneously run both Windows and macOS operating systems and access Windows apps side by side with macOS apps.

With Parallels Desktop, you can switch to Windows OS at any time with no need to reboot your Mac. What’s more, the software gives you a way to start Windows apps right from the Finder utility and move files between Windows File Explorer and Finder by using the drag-and-drop method.

USB device sharing on Parallels Desktop

Having chosen to run Windows as a full-fledged guest OS, Parallels Desktop users might be looking for a way to access locally-attached USB devices directly from their virtual machine.

To achieve this, you should accomplish the following steps:

1. If the guest OS is already running:
   
   
   • ✓ Plug the target device into your Mac.
     
     
   • ✓ In the window that will open, select the virtual machine to which you would like to connect your device:
2. If the device needs to be reconnected from your Mac to the guest machine:
   
   
   • ✓ Launch the virtual desktop.
     
     
   • ✓ Go to the Mac menu and select Devices > USB & Bluetooth > "your device name".

After you’ve done it, a tick should appear next to the selected device. You can check it by reopening the same menu. The tick indicates that the device has been connected to the guest OS.

That’s it! Now your device is available for the virtual machine and is not accessible on your Mac.

This is how to use Parallels Desktop for a direct connection to the host’s USB peripheral. But what if you wanted to connect to USB devices inserted into a remote computer or needed to share a device that was not recognized by Parallels?

How to establish a USB to Parallels remote desktop connection

Let’s say you have an Android smartphone physically attached to one Mac and your aim is to access this phone from a virtual machine on Parallels Desktop launched on another remote Mac. On the surface, it seems pretty challenging, as Parallels doesn’t offer a native method to achieve this.

But that’s where a dedicated third-party tool, USB over Network, comes into play. USB over Network (aka USB Network Gate) is an increasingly popular cross-platform app designed for remote access to USB ports and devices.

It works with all major platforms, including macOS, Windows, Linux and Android. It allows redirecting USB to a virtual environment, an RDP session and any remote computer across the Internet and LAN.