Well, to be fair the numeric keypad does work in Parallels, but it takes a little knowledge. What I found out is that when I run Windows XP in Parallels it looks to see if the num-lock is turned on or off. Just like a regular PC running Windows, the numeric keypad moves the cursor instead of typing numbers if the num-lock is off.
I guess the Mac OSX doesn't really have a concept of num-locks (at least when using the Apple keyboard). So, Parallels changed the clear key (near top left of numeric keypad) to be the num-lock toggle key. All you have to do is hit the clear key while in Windows XP (under Parallels) and you can toggle your num-lock.
Not very intuitive, but hey, what do you expect when you mix Mac and Windows together. ;)
26 comments:
Thank you very much for this tip! Very helpful... Was frustrated a long time... I am using Quicken 2008 on Windows XP via Parallels 3.
Steve B.
Anonymous,
Thank you for your feedback! Weird little gem isn't it. :)
Brent
Thanks for this. Was driving me insane! :)
Croakofonix,
I feel your pain. I was driving me crazy also. :)
Brent
Thanks for the great tip - I was about to have a meltdown when I discovered that the keyboard I bought *specifically* for use in MYOB under Parallels didn't work!
Anonymous,
So glad to help. Unreal. :)
Thanks for the feedback! It is always appreciated.
Brent
Thank you very much for the tip. I just bought my very first Mac and am running Parallels 4.0 on it. I am a very happy camper.
Anonymous,
Welcome to the club.
Brent
Almost a year since the original post and the solution is still helping people coming across it for the first time. THANK YOU!!
Wouldn't you think that Apple would have a mention of this in their support literature by now?
My Matias OS X keyboard has a TAB key in the same place as some Mac keyboards have the CLEAR key (which is in the same place as the Windows NUMLOCK key). How do I get my Matias keyboard to act like a Windows keyboard? I once found (and lost) an online keyboard that would map the Numlock key. I'd rather do this in the registry, but this (for each login) would be better than nothing. Right now, I cannot even find the Windows desktop. Please help.
I left one comment already. Waddya want?
a,
I don't know exactly how to solve your problem. However, my best attempt would be to do the following in Windows.
Go to the Start Menu | All Programs | Accessories | Accessibility | On-Screen Keyboard.
This will bring an on screen keyboard that you can type. Hopefully it will look like a "normal" keyboard.
Good luck.
Brent
Anonymous,
Agreed. It is one of those hard to find keystrokes. I suppose it could be in some doc somewhere, but it was not obvious to me.
Thx for the feedback.
Brent
Thank you. I always forget and have to Google your answer.
Awesome. I'm glad I came across this post! Super helpful. Thanks for sharing the knowledge!
Thanks!! was just about to bring the keyboard back. Now do you know how to get the USB ports on the keyboard to work in parallels??
Thanks,
Was just about to bring the keyboard back. Now can you tell me how to make the USB ports on the keypad work in parallels??
my problem is not solved by the numlock/clear key
worked fine till I installed Parallels and Win7
Hello Brent,
you are right that the clear key does the trick, but parallels did not change the clear key to act like a num lock key... It is the default for num lock in an apple keyboard.. you can find the Windows keys shortcuts for Mac OS X keyboards here http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1168
Alternatively, you to turn on num lock in Parallels you can click on Devices on the top mac menu bar ==> Keyboard ==> Num Loct
I had this same problem with my mac/windows setup. Thank you for this suggestion -- such an easy fix for a problem that's been driving me nuts! And I expected to need a "complicated" fix like installing drivers or something.
Thanks so much. There is no solution else where to be found but here.
Thanks so much! that was seriously driving me NUTS!
Thank god for people like you (and google) otherwise it could have taken forever to fall upon the answer.
John LEEDS UK
Helpful, thanks... had to get a little experimental because clear didn't work on its own (I'm using Windows Parallels 7 1), but I just solved it using "Command" + "clear". Huge relief.
Still helpful in 2017! Thank you!
I have a Kensington Pocket Keypad and an HP CalcPad that both work inside Mac OSX (including the Num Lock keys), and up until last night worked just the same inside Windows 7 using Parallels Desktop 11. I put my MacBook to sleep so I could sleep, woke up, and the numbers on the keypad suddenly only work as directional arrows, home, end, etc. Num lock wont give me access to numbers unless I’m in Mac OSX. What would change overnight that they would suddenly not work in Windows Parallels?
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