Chrome OS receiving a status page for virtual machines like Parallels Desktop

Parallels Desktop is a fantastic new-ish partnership that brings specific Windows applications to Chromebooks and Chromeboxes via a virtual machine environment. It’s currently only meant for Enterprise devices, and not really for the average consumer. With over 75% of companies exploring the expansion of their Chrome Enterprise footprint over the next two years, it’s not surprising that just about that percentage of IT decision-makers agree that Chrome OS devices appeal to their end-users. According to a new Chromium Repository commit, Google is looking to give users a visual dashboard where they can see the status of their installed Parallels Desktop VM.

Add a enabled by default flag VmStatusPage for chrome://vm

Bug: b/173653141

Chromium Repository

Upon visiting the URL chrome://vm on my Pixelbook Go, which is running Chrome OS 91 Canary, I was met with this very dashboard, and it’s informative, as expected. On the page, you’ll be able to see whether your device and your profile are supported. if the policies are configured correctly, and if the VM “PvmDefault” exists. Along with these items, each one will have an explanation to assist you in getting to the finish line and up and running with Parallels Desktop on your device.

As you can see from the image below, my device and profile are eligible, but I’m not running on an enterprise-enrolled device, so I receive this notice at the top of the dashboard and also in the explanation for the policies section. I also noticed that at the top, I was redirected to chrome://vm/parallels. I’m not sure if Google intends for this dashboard to have other VMs display, should they register as installed. If the company intends to make a ‘gaming mode’ and place Steam or some other software in a VM for gaming, this dashboard could also serve as a status display for those as well.

While Workspace Admins will most likely just use the tools built into their dashboard in order to get users up and running with Parallels, this Chrome URL could serve as a troubleshooting tool for the end-user as they communicate with their admin. I’m all for little things like this if it means distanced troubleshooting can be simplified. Let me know in the comments if you’re an IT admin that would make use of this. If not, let me know what information it’s missing before it’s useful to you!