Configuring Parallels

Last modified: August 20, 2024

Introduction

Using Parallels, you can run Mendix Studio Pro on your Mac device using a Windows virtual machine.

To run Studio Pro on Apple Silicon Macs, such as the M1(X), an MTS version starting from Mendix Studio Pro 9.6.5 or Mendix Studio Pro 9.9.1 is required. For more information, see System Requirements.

When using Parallels, some users might experience slow network speed. For instance, it might take much longer than usual when uploading a Blank Web App to create a new app. For information on how to solve this issue, see the Increasing Network Speed section below.

To start making Mendix apps on your Mac, follow this how-to.

This how-to teaches you how to do the following:

Configure your Windows virtual machine for Mendix Studio Pro
Run a Mendix app on a test device using your Windows virtual machine
Make changes to your app, then view those changes on your test device

For a deep-dive look into installing Studio Pro on a Mac, check out this video:

Prerequisites

Make sure you have completed the following prerequisites:

Install Parallels Desktop Pro Edition, install Windows when prompted by Parallels, and create a Windows virtual machine (Parallels Desktop Pro Edition is necessary for Mendix’s network features to work)
Install Mendix Studio Pro on your Windows virtual machine

When using Studio Pro 9.18 or above, please use the default browser installed in the Windows VM (not the macOS browser) as the default browser for the Parallels VM. Using the Windows VM browser ensures your ability to sign in.

Configuring Your Windows Virtual Machine for Mendix Studio Pro

To configure your Windows virtual machine to work with Mendix Studio Pro, follow these steps:

Open your Parallels Control Center:
Click Configuration () to open the Configuration Panel.
Navigate to the Hardware tab, and select Network from the left panel:
Make sure Source is set to Shared Network.
Make sure that both the Inbound bandwidth and Outbound bandwidth show unlimited.

If this is not the case, either enable Network Conditioner and set it to a profile that does not limit bandwidth, or click the Options tab then the Optimization pane and set Resource usage to No limit.
In the Parallels drop-down menu, select Preferences:
Navigate to the Network tab, and select Shared from the left panel:
Click the + button and add two ports: one for 8080 and one for 8083, both forwarded to your Windows virtual machine (the 8083 port is only necessary for developing native mobile apps):

After adding those two ports, your Port forwarding rules should look like this:

Congratulations! You have successfully configured port forwarding to enable testing Mendix apps with your Mac.

Checking Network Drive

Whenever you create or open a Mendix app in Mendix Studio Pro, be sure to do so from a mapped drive instead of a network drive.

Read the tips below to check the network drive before viewing your app on your testing device:

Correct mapped drives will always have a letter at the start of their file location:
Incorrect network drives will always have \ at the start of their file location:

Viewing Your App on Your Testing Device

When running your app on your test device, you cannot use the QR code within Mendix Studio Pro’s View Mobile App dialog box:

Instead, you must enter your Mac’s IP address into your Make It Native app. To run your app on your test device, follow the steps below:

Make sure your test device and Mac are on the same Wi-Fi network.
Place your cursor over your Wi-Fi symbol in your system tray, then and click while holding Option to see your Mac’s advanced network information. You will see your IP Address in this drop-down menu.
In your Make It Native app’s Host field, type {your IP address}:8080 like this:
Tap Launch to view your app.

Congratulations! You have successfully viewed your app on a test device.

If you experience issues connecting with the Make It Native app, make sure your firewall is not preventing a connection. For information resolving Windows Defender and other firewall-related issues, see the Error: Unable to Load Script section of Prerequisites

Viewing Changes to Your App on Your Testing Device

For information on how to change to your app and then see that change on your device, see the Viewing Changes to Your App on Your Testing Device section in Getting Started with Mobile.

Improving Performance

To improve the performance, you can do the following:

Run Parallels in a window, instead of Coherence mode
Store apps on disk C:\

Increasing Network Speed

When using Parallels, some users might experience slow network speed. For instance, it might take much longer than usual when uploading a Blank Web App to create a new app. You try the following approach, which can increase the upload speed significantly:

In Windows 10 or 11, navigate to Start > Control Panel> Device Manager > Network adapters > Parallels VirtIO Ethernet Adapter.
Right-click Parallels VirtIO Ethernet Adapter and select Properties in the drop-down list.
On the Advance tab, find the Large Send Offload (IPv4) property and change its value to Disabled.
Click OK.

Now the upload speed becomes faster! For more information, see Parallels Forum.

Getting Started with Mobile