Stage 1: Account, SSO & Licensing Configuration
What this stage accomplishes
Registers your license to a Parallels Business Account, sets your activation method(s), and divides your users into groups with sublicenses so later stages have something to target.
License activation does two things: it unlocks Parallels Desktop's functionality, and it connects that installation to your organization's Parallels Management service — which is what lets the Portal push a Golden Image and Policy to it later (Stage 3, Stage 4).
Prerequisites
None — this is the first stage. If you're setting up SSO, you'll additionally need admin access to your email domain's DNS host (to add a verification TXT record) and admin access to configure enterprise applications in your identity provider (or someone who has it).
Steps
Create a Parallels Business Account and register your license. Go to my.parallels.com, select I am a new user (or log in if you already have one), and register your Enterprise Edition license.
Decide your activation method(s). License-key activation and SSO both work on the same license, and Enterprise Edition lets you mix per-device (license key) and per-user (SSO) activation across the same setup.
If using SSO, complete the domain verification (DNS TXT record) and configure the enterprise application in your identity provider (Azure/Entra ID, Okta, etc.).
Divide users into groups with sublicenses. In My Account, open Dashboard → your Enterprise Edition card → Subscription Details → License Keys → Create License Key. Name it for the group, assign a seat count, and choose Dynamic or Reserved as the key type.
Don't hand out your primary license key. Use the Invite Users button (for license-key activation) or sublicense-to-SSO-group mapping instead — this keeps a compromised key isolated to one group instead of your whole license.
Attention: Each group gets exactly one policy later on (Stage 3), so plan your groups around how you actually want to differentiate Golden Images and Security Controls, not just around org chart lines.
Verification
In My Account, confirm your license card shows the correct product type (Enterprise Edition) and seat count, and that each sublicense you created appears under License Keys with the right name and seat allocation.
Common issues
DNS TXT record propagation can take a while before SSO domain verification succeeds. Sending your primary license key to end users directly is a common mistake — if it leaks, you can't just revoke one sublicense.
Handoff to next stage
With your groups and sublicenses in place, move to Stage 2 to prepare the Golden Image (or Declarative source) and, if you need Intune enrollment, the provisioning package.
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