I'm using Parallels for running windows 8. My question is: In windows 8, the network icon always shows ethernet although I have selected Wi-Fi network in the settings. If my mac is connected to internet, my windows will connect normally.
My question is: How can I make windows 8 see list of Wi-Fi? And my windows 8 can select a Wi-Fi to connect.
Best Answer
Parallels like other virtualization software for Macs uses a virtualized hardware layer. This layer doesn't have direct access to the real hardware (Type-2 Hypervisor). This includes the Wi-Fi-interface.
Instead software ethernet bridges are used to access the hardware indirectly. That's the reason for the network interfaces of the Mac (e.g. en0: ethernet, en1: wifi) showing up as ethernet interfaces in the virtual machines.
Consequently Windows 8 or any other OS running in a VM on a Mac can't show and access any Mac internal Wi-Fi in their network settings.
There might be one exception:
USB-Wi-Fi sticks directly attached to the virtual machine. I can't verify that since i don't have such a stick. Hint