Configuring Parallels Desktop Update Branch

By default, Parallels Desktop Business and Enterprise Edition downloads updates from a special location on the Parallels website dedicated to hosting Parallels Desktop Business and Enterprise Edition updates. Parallels Desktop Standard and Pro editions download their updates from a different location. As an administrator, you have an option to choose the location from which Parallels Desktop Business or Enterprise Edition downloads updates. The reason why you would want to do this is explained below.

When Parallels Desktop updates are released by Parallels, they become immediately available for Parallels Desktop Standard and Pro Editions. Updates for Parallels Desktop Business and Enterprise Edition are released at a slightly later date (from a few days to 1-2 weeks from the initial release). The delay is necessary for additional testing of business features of Parallels Desktop to ensure they meet the highest quality standards. During this period, we even give an updated version of Parallels Desktop to some of our corporate customers,who test and evaluate it in their real-world environments.

We recommend that you use the default configuration and download Parallels Desktop Business/Enterprise Edition updates when they are finalized and available for download. However, if for any reason you don't want to wait, you can configure Parallels Desktop Business or Enterprise Edition to download updates from the Parallels Desktop Pro location. The updates are the same regardless of where you download them from. The only difference is, the updates downloaded from the Parallels Desktop Pro location will have not been fully tested in a business environment.

When you mass-deploy Parallels Desktop, you can set the desired Software Update options in the deployment configuration file. Mass Deployment of Parallels Desktop is described later in this guide. For more information, please read the entire Mass Deployment chapter and specifically the Configuring Deployment Options section. Look for the Software Updates section in the parameter table.

If you need to modify Parallels Desktop software update options on a specific Mac without using the Mass Deployment procedure, you can do this as described below.

To configure Parallels Desktop to download updates from the Parallels Desktop Pro location, execute the following command on a Mac:

defaults write com.parallels.Parallels\ Desktop.plist Application\ preferences.VolumeLicenseUpdatePolicy  https://update.parallels.com/desktop/v20/parallels/parallels_sbscr_updates.xml

The command above writes the specified URL (the parameter in the second part of the command) into the Parallels Desktop plist file. Please note that the "v20" part of the URL indicates the current Parallels Desktop version number. If you are using a later version, substitute this part with the correct number.

To switch back to the default Parallels Desktop Business/Enterprise download location, execute the following command:

defaults write com.parallels.Parallels\ Desktop.plist Application\ preferences.VolumeLicenseUpdatePolicy Parallels

Note: Options described above only work in Parallels Desktop Business or Enterprise Edition. Other editions can only download software updates from their default locations.

When you configure Parallels Desktop to download updates from a custom URL (i.e. the Parallels Desktop Pro download location), the Check for Updates option in the Parallels Desktop GUI becomes disabled. This means that a Parallels Desktop Business/Enterprise Edition user will not be able to check for and install updates manually.