The corporate VM image policy is checked every time a new VM creation process is started by the user in Parallels Desktop on a Mac computer. If the corporate VM image policy is set (a configuration profile with the VM for Intel Mac or VM for M-series Mac payload exists and has been applied to the license key used by this Parallels Desktop installation), the Parallels Desktop Control Center displays a message inviting the user to download the corporate VM image. If the user accepts the invitation, the VM image download begins and the progress indicator is displayed (note that because of the large size of a VM, the download may take some time). If the user declines, he/she is taken to the Installation Assistant where they can create a virtual machine from scratch.
After the VM image download completes, the image is unpacked, and the virtual machine is registered in Parallels Desktop.
Beginning with Parallels Desktop 16 for Mac Business Edition, IT administrators have an option to provision a corporate Parallels Desktop virtual machine image from a link that they specify in Parallels My Account.
Note: Due to differences in supported operating systems between Intel Macs and Apple Silicon Macs, different VM images must be used depending on the processor type. For the information about supported guest operating systems, please visit https://www.parallels.com/requirements/.
Here's a quick overview of how this functionality works:
An administrator first creates a Parallels virtual machine image with the operating system installed. The virtual machine will serve as a corporate VM image to be deployed on users' computers to run Windows applications used in the organization.
The virtual machine is then saved as an archive (ZIP or PVMP, we'll talk about archive formats later) and is placed on a server from which Parallels Desktop users can download it to their computers via HTTP or HTTPS.
The administrator creates a configuration profile in Parallels My Account and specifies the download URL of the virtual machine image (together with other required parameters).
When a Parallels Desktop user initiates the process of creating a new virtual machine, Parallels Desktop checks if a configuration profile with the VM image link exists and is applicable to the Parallels Desktop license key used by this Mac computer. If the profile exists, a dialog is shown to the user, inviting them to download and install the corporate virtual machine image. If the user accepts, the virtual machine is downloaded to the user's computer and is registered in Parallels Desktop.
The subsequent sections describe how to perform the steps above.
To create a configuration profile for VM image provisioning:
Begin creating a new configuration profile as described in the Creating a Configuration Profile section.
When you have the new configuration profile dialog open, select VM for Intel Mac or VM for M-series Mac payload, depending on the image type that you want to provision.
In the right pane, select the Enable VM image provisioning option and specify the following properties:
Name: Type a name for the VM image as you want it to be named in this profile. This is the name your users will see in Parallels Desktop when they receive an invitation to download it. This field is mandatory.
Description: An optional description. The end user will see this description in Parallels Desktop. For example, if a VPN connection is required to download the image, you may include this information here.
Download URL: The VM Image download URL. Mac users must be able to download the image via HTTP or HTTPS using this URL. This field is mandatory. For additional info, please see Creating and Uploading Virtual Machine Images.
Checksum (SHA-256): The VM image checksum. This field is mandatory. If you used the PVMP format to archive the virtual machine, the checksum was calculated automatically and saved as a VmName.sha256.txt file. If you archived the virtual machine using the ZIP or other supported format, you'll need to calculate the checksum. For the info about the PVMP format and how to calculate the checksum, please see Creating and Uploading Virtual Machine Images.
Click Save to save the configuration profile.
The configuration profile now needs to be applied to a license or sublicense key. If you haven't done so already, use the instructions in the Applying a configuration profile to a license key section and apply the profile.