Problem with Parallels Desktop on M2 MacBook2 Air

By coach, 29 July, 2023

Forum
macOS and Mac Apps

Hello,
I purchased and installed Parallels Desktop on my M2 Macbook Air, with a Windows11 virtual machine set up. I've been trying to connect my braille Display to the VM but have had no luck, nvda can't seem to detect the devices. I've tried everything I know, tweaking the options in the Parallels settings, reinstalling my braille display drivers, as well as connecting the device to my Macbook via both bluetooth and USb, but non of them works.
Freedom Scientific Focus 4 and Humanware Brailliant BI40 are the braille displays I'm currently using. Am I doing anything wrong. Any helpful responses would be appreciated.

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By Travis Roth on Wednesday, August 2, 2023 - 03:05

Is Parallel accessible now?
I've never used Parallel given it at least used to not be accessible. Generally speaking, most VM software has an option in the Devices management menus to allow you to select which device to share to the VM versus the host. If Parallel isn't fully accessible it'd also not surprise me if it is popping up a dialog when you connect a display asking what to do and you're not detecting it.

By coach on Wednesday, August 2, 2023 - 03:05

yeah, a dialogue pops up when I connect my braille display to Macbook, and I used some sighted assistance to click share to the VM.
I checked it, the braille display does show up in the device manager, but nvda can't detect that it's in fact a braille display.

By Travis Roth on Wednesday, August 2, 2023 - 03:05

Are you using Windows Arm? That seems to be what Parallel defaults to according to Google.
I kind of wonder what, if any devices are supported under Arm? I know the last I read, JAWS only support Freedom Scientific displays on Windows Arm. And it'd not surprise me if NVDA doesn't support anything yet. I can't say definitively if this is the issue but since you mention NVDA doesn't detect it this is probably the angle I'd research.

By Travis Roth on Wednesday, August 2, 2023 - 03:05

Thanks, that is good to know. I'm kind of interested in Parallel it seems to be favored over VMware Fusion by regular Mac users. Perhaps when I switch to an Apple silicon Mac eventually I'll check it out. I'm not a regular Mac user, so being able to run Windows might give me more use for one.
Back on topic, then I am not sure what the issue with NVDA not recognizing the display would be.