So I have been using parallels for a while now, and it is turning out to be a very good experience. I would like to write a longer post on the ups and downs of the application itself, but this post is a solution to a long-standing gripe I've had with the product line -- the dock icon.

"Paused? No, that's our logo. You can't remove it, either."

I'm sure you can agree that not only are the Parallels bars ugly, but they also communicate a state which is actually incorrect. The resemblance of a pause symbol is undeniable. Having this icon in my dock is an eyesore and a distraction due to the fire-truck red colour.

Fixing it is unfortunately not so straight-forward, and while many people have attempted to cry for help, those behind parallels have refused to listen. For three years.

I offer a slightly hacky solution that should work for all versions 4.0+ and into the forseeable future. If you use this solution and your PC blows up, I am totally not responsible.

Open Terminal (Applications > Utilities > Terminal.app).

Type the following command (as a single line):

LANG=C sudo sed -i.bak s/Parallels_Desktop_Overlay_128/Parallels_Desktop_Overlay_000/g /Applications/Parallels\ Desktop.app/Contents/MacOS/prl_client_app

Enter your root/administrator password and wait for the command to complete running.

Congratulations; your Parallels icon should be a touch less ugly now. The above command creates a backup of the file that was changed, so if you would ever like to undo the changes, simply run (as a single line):

sudo mv /Applications/Parallels\ Desktop.app/Contents/MacOS/prl_client_app.bak /Applications/Parallels\ Desktop.app/Contents/MacOS/prl_client_app

I am still looking into whether a completely custom icon can be used (so parallels doesn't switch to the windows-desktop-monitor icon), but haven't been able to find the source of that one yet.