Create a Virtual Machine
Syntax 1
prlctl create <vm_name> --ostemplate <name>
Creates a virtual machine from the specified virtual machine template. The --ostemplate <name> parameter specifies the source template name. To obtain the list of available templates, use the prlctl list -t command.
Optional parameters
--dst
A path to the directory where the virtual machine files will be stored. If omitted, the default location will be used.
--changesid
Change the Windows security identifier (SID) of a Windows-based virtual machine template. It requires Parallels Tools to be installed in the template. If omitted, the original SID will be used.
Syntax 2
prlctl create <vm_name> [-o,--ostype <name | list>]
Creates a virtual machine and optimizes it for the OS type specified in the --ostype option. If the --ostype parameter is omitted, the virtual machine is optimized for Windows 10 by default. If you want to optimize the virtual machine for a different OS type, use the list option to get the list of available OS types: prlctl create vm_name -o list, then select a desired OS type name and use it as a value of the -o parameter.
Syntax 3
prlctl create <vm_name> -d,--distribution <name | list>
Creates a virtual machine and optimizes it for the OS distribution specified in the --distribution option. Use the list option to get the list of available distributions: prlctl create vm_name -d list, then select a desired distribution name and use it as a value of the -o parameter.
Common optional parameters
--no-hdd
Create a virtual machine without hard disk drives.
--lion-recovery
Create a virtual machine from the Lion OS host recovery partition.
Creating a macOS Virtual Machine
prlctl create <macOS_VM_name> -o macos --restore-image <path to the .ipsw file>
E.g., prlctl create "macOS_beta" -o macos --restore-image /Users/{user_account}/Downloads/UniversalMac_14.5_23F79_Restore.ipsw
Creating a macOS Virtual Machine with a Customized Virtual Hard Drive Size
By default, the virtual machine is created with 64GB of disk space. If you want to create a machine with a different disk size, the process is slightly different:
Having downloaded a .ipsw installation file, run the following command: prlctl create <macOS_VM_name> -o macos --no-hdd --restore-image <path to the .ipsw file> This command will create a virtual machine shell with no hard drive.
Start the installation process by executing the following command: prlctl start <macOS_VM_name>
Wait for the installation to complete and follow on-screen instructions to choose language, create a user account, etc.
Creating a macOS Virtual Machine in Parallels Desktop Version 18 and Earlier
Fetch the .ipsw file download URL by executing the following command in the Terminal: /Applications/Parallels\ Desktop.app/Contents/MacOS/prl_macvm_create --getipswurl
Copy the resulting URL and open it in your browser to download the .ipsw file.
Once the file has been downloaded, execute the following command in the Terminal: /Applications/Parallels\ Desktop.app/Contents/MacOS/prl_macvm_create <path_to_ipsw> <path_to_macVM> --disksize <size_in_bytes> E.g., /Applications/Parallels\ Desktop.app/Contents/MacOS/prl_macvm_create ~/Downloads/UniversalMac_13.3_22E252_Restore.ipsw ~/Parallels/macOS.macvm --disksize 80000000000
Wait for the installation process to complete.
Once finished, locate the file in ~/Parallels/ (your home folder > "Parallels"), drag and drop it to Control Center, or open it with Parallels Desktop via Finder.
Note: In this process, once your macOS VM is created, you won't be able to change the size of its virtual hard drive.
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