Keyboard Shortcut and layout mapping in AZERTY/QWERTZ keyboard in Parallels Desktop

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Shortcuts in Parallels Desktop are not working on AZERTY or QWERTZ keyboards the way you might expect because Parallels Desktop uses the QWERTY keyboard layout by default. You might notice this if you use French/German keyboard layouts.

Below is a QWERTY Keyboard:

Below is an AZERTY Keyboard:

Below is a QWERTZ Keyboard:

Resolution

To fix this, you need to change the shortcut mappings in Parallels Desktop. Here are the steps:

  1. Click on the Parallels Desktop icon in the Mac Menu bar.
  2. Select Preferences > click on Shortcuts.
  3. Click on the virtual machine in the list on the left.
  4. Click the + sign.
  5. Add the corresponding key combinations for the shortcut you want to change.

As Parallels shortcut makes use of the QWERTY keyboard layout, for shortcuts to be mapped on other keyboards, the mapping needs to be amended; see below examples:

Shortcut Mac QWERTY AZERTY QWERTZ
Select All Command+A Ctrl+A Ctrl+Q Ctrl+A
Undo Command+Z Ctrl+Z Ctrl+W Ctrl+Y
Redo Command+Shift+Z Ctrl+Shift+Z Ctrl+Shift+W Ctrl+Shift+Y
Cut Command+X Ctrl+X Ctrl+X Ctrl+X
Copy Command+C Ctrl+C Ctrl+C Ctrl+C
Paste Command+V Ctrl+V Ctrl+V Ctrl+V

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