Deactivating Parallels Desktop on a Computer

You may need to deactivate a Parallels Desktop license if you have a limited number of license seats and need to transfer/reactivate a Parallels Desktop setup to a new machine, e.g., when upgrading.

To deactivate Parallels Desktop on a computer and to release the license that it's using, navigate to Dashboard > Registered computers (the link can be found on the product card for your Parallels Desktop Business or Enterprise Edition), then tick the checkbox of the computer where you wish to deactivate the license, and use the Actions menu in the top-right corner to click Deactivate.

To view the list of deactivated computers, in the main computer list, expand the Computers drop-down menu and choose Deactivated. After that, such computers will be listed as Deactivated and can be reactivated by using the Reactivate option.

Note: Parallels Desktop Business/Enterprise Edition will continue to run on the affected computer until the computer checks in with the Parallels Licensing Server. This could be anywhere from a few minutes to seven days. If you have access to the computer, you can deactivate the license on it immediately by logging in to it and executing prlsrvctl update-license in Terminal. Alternatively, you can execute the prlsrvctl deactivate-license command on a Mac computer. This will deactivate the license and will update the license status in Parallels My Account automatically.