# Preparing Virtual Machines for Deployment and Securing Them To ensure a smooth deployment of the Parallels Desktop application, pre-configure your virtual machines. This allows the app to automatically download and install these machines as soon as it is deployed to users' devices. Thankfully, the [Management Portal](/landing/pd-ag/getting-started/configuring-golden-images-and-policies-in-the-management-portal.md) has all the necessary tools to quickly and easily prepare something that is called [Golden Images](/landing/pd-ag/preparing-virtual-machines-for-deployment-and-securing-them/golden-images.md) — virtual machine images, from which virtual machines will be deployed to your end users' Parallels Desktop installations. If you decide to deploy your Parallels Desktop setup fully manually, jump to [this chapter](/landing/pd-ag/provisioning-and-activation-of-parallels-desktop/alternative-deployment-methods/alternative-mass-deployment-via-deployment-package/preparing-the-autodeploy-package/optional-adding-a-virtual-machine/creating-and-uploading-virtual-machine-images.md) to begin by creating a virtual machine image from scratch. --- # Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question. Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter: ``` GET https://docs.parallels.com/landing/pd-ag/preparing-virtual-machines-for-deployment-and-securing-them.md?ask= ``` The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language. The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation. Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.