To add Windows or another operating system to your Mac, Parallels Desktop creates a "virtual machine," or a virtual computer, inside your Mac. You can then install Windows in the virtual machine, just as you would install an operating system on a regular computer.

Many use Parallels Desktop to create one virtual machine and install Windows in it. But you can install as many virtual machines as you like, and install a different operating system in each of them. That way you can use multiple operating systems together at the same time on your Mac. And just like with a regular computer, you can turn virtual machines on and off, configure them, and install and use applications.

By default, Parallels Desktop stores virtual machines in ~/Parallels.

To change the default location for new virtual machine installations:

1. Do one of the following:

   • Click the Parallels Desktop icon in the menu bar and choose Preferences. Then click General.

   • Right-click the Parallels Desktop icon in the Dock and choose Preferences. Then click General.

2. Choose a location from the Virtual Machines Folder menu.

All newly created virtual machines are stored in the new location. Any existing virtual machines remain in their original locations.

The list of officially supported operating systems that you can install in Parallels virtual machines is available at https://kb.parallels.com/en/124223. For Parallels Desktop for Mac App Store Edition, the list can be located at https://kb.parallels.com/en/123800.

However, other systems may work too. If you need a system that is not listed by the link above, try to install Parallels Desktop, activate a trial period and install it. If the system doesn't work, please let us know at the Parallels Forum (https://forum.parallels.com/forums/parallels-desktop-for-mac-feature-suggestions.769/).

If you have two or more virtual machines with the same guest operating system, their Dock icons look the same, and you may get confused. To change the virtual machine icon, do the following:

1. Copy a new icon you want to use to the clipboard (select the icon and press Command-C).

2. Right-click the virtual machine which icon you want to change (virtual machines are usually stored in the ~/Parallels folder) and click Get Info.

3. Click the virtual machine icon in the top left corner and paste the new icon from the clipboard by pressing Command-V. The icon will change in Finder and in the Dock.

To return the default icon, repeat step 2, click the virtual machine icon and press Backspace.

If you have many virtual machines, the Control Center window may get overloaded and inconvenient to work with.

You can configure Control Center to show the minimum information - only virtual machine names and icons. To do so, click the Parallels Desktop icon in the Dock and choose View > Compact View in the macOS menu bar.

Or if you're using Parallels Desktop for Mac Pro Edition, you can change how your virtual machines are arranged. Click the Parallels Desktop icon in the Dock, click View > Arrange By and choose how you want to list the virtual machines.

Read this section for basic information about working with virtual machines.

If you need an exact copy of a virtual machine, you can clone it. A clone is a separate virtual machine fully identical to the original one. To make a clone:

1. Start Parallels Desktop.

2. In Control Center, select the virtual machine you want to clone (it must be shut down) and choose File > Clone.

3. Choose where you want to store the clone.

   By default, Parallels Desktop stores clones in the ~/Parallels folder.

4. Click Save to start cloning the virtual machine.

Create a Linked Clone of a Virtual Machine

A linked clone is a virtual machine that shares virtual hard disks with the parent virtual machine. This technology allows multiple virtual machines to use the software installed on the parent virtual machine hard disk. This way, users can save space on the Mac's hard disk. To create a linked clone:

1. Start Parallels Desktop.

2. In Control Center, select the virtual machine you want to clone (it must be shut down) and choose File > New Linked Clone.

3. Choose where you want to store the clone.

   By default, Parallels Desktop stores linked clones in the folder where the original virtual machine is located.

4. Click Save to start cloning the virtual machine.

Unlink a Clone of a Virtual Machine

If you want to transfer a linked clone elsewhere, you first need to convert it to a standalone machine. To do that, go to the Parallels Desktop Control Center, right-click the linked clone, and select the Unlink Clone option.

This will convert the linked clone into a standalone, unlinked clone of the original machine.

If you have two or more virtual machines running simultaneously, the icons of all applications running in the virtual machines are usually present in the Dock. You can easily get confused to which virtual machine the app icon belongs. To distinguish one virtual machine from others, you can mark it with some color. Do one of the following:

• Right-click a virtual machine in Control Center and choose the color you want at the bottom of the context menu.

• Right-click your virtual machine in macOS (virtual machines are usually stored in the ~/Parallels folder) and choose the color you want from the context menu.

If you choose, for example, red, the Dock icons of this virtual machine applications will be marked with a red spot.

Most people don't seriously consider regular backups as a necessity until they have experienced a significant data loss. You should create your own backup strategy to protect yourself from data loss. Virtual machines are as vulnerable to crashes as physical computers.

You can back up your virtual machine using one or several of the following methods:

• Configure the regular backup settings on the Backup tab of the Virtual Machine Configuration dialog.

• Use third-party backup utilities.

• Clone the virtual machine with the help of . Give a descriptive name to the clone and save it in a location specially designated for backups.

• Copy the virtual machine files manually.

• .

Scheduling Regular Backups

On the Backup tab of the Virtual Machine Configuration dialog, you can choose how to back up your virtual machine regularly. You can configure how the virtual machine will be created or choose to back up the virtual machine with Time Machine.

If you choose to back up your virtual machine with Time Machine, your virtual machine's PVM file will be automatically backed up together with other files stored in macOS. As a consequence, files stored on your virtual machine's hard disk will be also backed up, since the virtual hard disk file (HDD) is stored inside the virtual machine bundle file (PVM).

Using Third-Party Backup Utilities

You can use any third-party backup utilities you like.

Cloning a Virtual Machine

You can create a complete clone of a virtual machine using Clone Virtual Machine Assistant. For details, see .

Copying the Virtual Machine Files

You can locate your virtual machine in Finder and create a backup copy of the virtual machine file (PVM).

1. In Control Center (or in the virtual machine window if it is shut down), right-click the virtual machine name and select Show in Finder from the context menu. In Finder, go to the folder where your virtual machine is stored.

3. Copy the virtual machine's PVM file to a safe location.

The name of a virtual machine is displayed in Control Center and, at the top of the guest OS window when you are running in Window mode.

To change the virtual machine name:

1. Do one of the following:

   • Click the Parallels Desktop icon in the menu bar and choose Configure.

   • If the Parallels Desktop menu bar is visible at the top of the screen, choose Actions > Configure.

2. Click General and type a new name in the Name field.

The length of the name is limited to 50 characters.

If you don't need a virtual machine any more, you can permanently remove it from your Mac:

1. Shut down the virtual machine if it is running, right-click in the virtual machine window and choose Remove. You can also click File > Remove or right-click this virtual machine in the Control Center and choose Remove.

2. Click Move to Trash.

Remove a Virtual Machine from the Control Center

To temporarily remove a virtual machine from Control Center:

1. Shut down the virtual machine if it is running, right-click in the virtual machine window and choose Remove. You can also click File > Remove or right-click this virtual machine in the Control Center and choose Remove.

2. Click Keep Files.

When you need this virtual machine again, you can easily import it in Parallels Desktop.

Parallels Desktop allows you to connect or disconnect certain devices at runtime or switch some of them to use other media. Generally, the following virtual devices can be connected or disconnected at runtime:

• Removable media drives

• Network adapters

• Sound devices

• USB devices

• Shared folders

If parallel and serial ports are present in the virtual machine configuration, you can also manage them on the go. To configure any of these devices, use the necessary command from the Devices menu in the menu bar. This menu is available only when the virtual machine is running.

Connecting a Removable Media Drive

If you have several CD/DVD drives connected to your virtual machine, in the Devices menu they are listed in the same order as they were connected. The first CD/DVD drive will be CD/DVD 1, the second will be CD/DVD 2, and so on.

Connecting a Network Adapter

You can set up any of the three network modes: Shared Networking, Bridged Networking, or Host-Only Networking.

Connecting a Sound Device

To connect or disconnect a sound device, choose the type of output (or input) device or Mute option respectively.

Connecting a USB Device

Parallels Desktop automatically detects all USB devices plugged into your Mac computer. The devices that are currently connected to the virtual machine appear in the list from the Device menu. You cannot use a USB device in macOS while it is being used by the virtual machine.

Connecting a Shared Folder

The Shared Folders options available at runtime are similar to the settings in the Virtual Machine Configuration dialog.

You can:

• share all Mac disks or Home Folder only with the virtual machine;

• share Windows guest operating system disks with macOS;

• add a new shared folder.

Connecting a Serial Port

To connect or disconnect a serial port, click the Devices menu, select the corresponding serial port, and choose the appropriate command in the displayed menu.

Connecting a Printer

To connect to a printer or an output file, click the Devices > Printer menu, select your preferred printer, or choose to print to a file.

You can create templates based on your virtual machines. Later you can use them to create multiple identical virtual machines. To create a virtual machine template, you can:

• convert a virtual machine to a template, or

• clone a virtual machine to a template.

The difference between these two ways is that when you convert a virtual machine to a template, you can't run it until you convert the template back to the virtual machine. And when you clone a virtual machine to a template, the template appears separately from the virtual machine and you can work with both.

A template, in its turn, can be converted or deployed back to the virtual machine. When you convert a template, it turns back to the virtual machine. And when you deploy it, the resulting virtual machine appears separately from the template and you can work with both.

Converting a Virtual Machine to a Template

To convert a virtual machine to a template:

1. Start Parallels Desktop.

2. In Control Center, select the virtual machine you want to convert (it must be shut down) and choose File > Convert to Template.

Converting a Template to a Virtual Machine

To convert a template back to the virtual machine:

1. Start Parallels Desktop.

2. In Control Center, right-click the template you want to convert and choose Convert to Virtual Machine.

Cloning a Virtual Machine to a Template

To clone a virtual machine to a template:

1. Start Parallels Desktop.

2. In Control Center, select the virtual machine you want to clone (it must be shut down) and choose File > Clone to Template.

3. Choose where you want to store the resulting template.

   By default, Parallels Desktop stores templates in the ~/Parallels folder.

4. Click Save to start cloning the virtual machine to the template.

Deploying a Template to a Virtual Machine

To deploy a template back to the virtual machine:

1. Start Parallels Desktop.

2. In Control Center, right-click the template you want to deploy and choose Deploy to Virtual Machine.

3. Choose where you want to store the resulting virtual machine.

   By default, Parallels Desktop stores virtual machines in the ~/Parallels folder.

4. Click Save to start deploying the template to the virtual machine.

If you don't have enough time to create a new virtual machine with the required configuration, you can download a ready-to-use virtual machine with a predefined configuration.

Parallels Free Systems

Parallels Free Systems are pre-built virtual machines with a variety of operating systems (Linux, Windows, Android).

To download such a system and use it with Parallels Desktop:

1. Choose File > New.

2. Select the system you need in the Free Systems section, click Continue and follow the onscreen instructions.

Once the download is complete, you can start working with this system in Parallels Desktop.

A snapshot is a saved state of the guest OS. It's useful to create snapshots, for example, before:

• you're going to run some applications that may damage the guest OS; or

• if you're going to configure some guest OS software that requires a lot of settings; or

• if you want to mark milestones in the development process.

If something goes wrong, you can revert the changes back to any of your snapshots and continue working with the guest OS.

Creating a Snapshot

To create a snapshot:

1. Start Parallels Desktop.

2. In Control Center, right-click the virtual machine for which you want to create a snapshot and choose Manage Snapshots.

3. Click New, specify the snapshot name, and click OK.

Automating the Creation of Snapshots

The SmartGuard functionality allows you to automate snapshot creation.

To access settings for automating snapshots:

1. Start Parallels Desktop.

2. In Control Center, right-click the virtual machine for which you want to create a snapshot and choose Configure.

3. Click Backup.

To automate snapshots, enable SmartGuard, click Details, and do one of the following:

• Select Optimize for Time Machine. If you select this option, a snapshot will be taken every 48 hours, and only three snapshots will be kept (when it's time to take the 4th, Parallels Desktop deletes the 1st snapshot and creates a new one). This way, the size of your virtual machine doesn't increase because of too many snapshots.

  When backing up your Mac, Time Machine will back up your virtual machine and these three snapshots. This allows you to reduce the amount of data that Time Machine backs up, to reduce the time Time Machine spends backing up the virtual hard drive(s), and to minimize the risk of data loss or corruption when restoring the virtual machine hard drive(s) from the Time Machine backup.

• Manually set the snapshot frequency and maximum number of snapshots to keep. If you want to know when it is time to make the next snapshot and to be able to reject the snapshot creation, select Notify me before snapshot creation.

To set how often snapshots are made:

• Use the Take a Snapshot Every field. You can set it from one to 48 hours.

If the time interval is less than 24 hours, SmartGuard will allow you to restore the latest hourly, daily, and weekly snapshots. If the time interval is more than 24 hours, you will be able to restore the latest daily, weekly, and monthly snapshots.

To limit how many snapshots are stored:

• Use the Snapshots to Keep field to set the maximum number of snapshots that can be stored on your Mac.

The maximum available value is 100 snapshots. As soon as Snapshots Manager reaches the limit for snapshots and needs to make a new one over the limit, it deletes the oldest snapshot.

Reverting to a Snapshot

To revert to a snapshot:

1. Start Parallels Desktop.

2. In the Control Center, select the virtual machine that you want to revert to and click the snapshots icon.

3. Select the snapshot to which you want to revert and click Go To.

   When you choose to revert to a snapshot, you're asked whether you want to save the current state as a new snapshot. Click Save to save the current state or Don't Save to continue without saving.

Deleting a Snapshot

To delete a snapshot:

1. Start Parallels Desktop.

2. In the Control Center, select the virtual machine which snapshot you want to delete and click the snapshots icon.

3. Select the snapshot you want to delete and click Delete.

When you delete an intermediate snapshot, the information it contains is merged into the next snapshot.

Parallels Desktop for Mac automatically calculates the maximum allowable number of virtual CPUs based on the number of physical cores in your Mac's CPU. Here is how the allocation works for N logical cores in the system (where N typically equals the number of physical cores in Apple Silicon systems and is double the number of physical cores in Intel-based systems, thanks to Hyper-Threading):

*to learn more about profiles, please refer to this page of the guide.

However, if you often run multiple virtual machines concurrently, automatic core allocation may lead to resource conflict. We recommend configuring the number of CPUs assigned to every virtual machine manually. For the manual core allocation limits, please see this page.

To set how many processors are allocated to a virtual machine:

1. Shut down the virtual machine.

2. Open the Actions menu and choose Configure.
3. Click Hardware > CPU & Memory, switch to Manual, and select a number from the Processors menu.

You can use AppleScript to open various files and websites in the guest OS applications. You may need this when creating automated workflows.

To make the explanation more vivid, let's assume that you need to open some .txt file in Windows Notepad using AppleScript (in AppleScript Editor). The syntax of this command would be:

As an example of opening a website in the guest OS application, let's assume that you need to open "www.parallels.com" in Microsoft Edge. The syntax of this command would be:

You can change which guest OS a virtual machine is configured to work with. You need to change it in the following cases:

• If you upgrade the guest operating system (for example, from Windows 10 to Windows 11), you need to change the guest OS type and version correspondingly, or may start working incorrectly.

• If you create a virtual machine without installing an operating system, and then decide to use it with a different operating system than the one you initially specified.

To set the guest OS type and version:

1. .

2. Open the Actions menu and choose Configure.

3. Click General and select an OS from the menu just above the Name field.

If you need to transfer a virtual machine to another Mac or share it with somebody, you can prepare it for transfer. The virtual machine size will be reduced as much as possible, and you will need less disk space and time for transfer.

Preparing a Virtual Machine for Transfer

Do the following:

1. Make sure the virtual machine is shut down. If it is running, . If it is paused or suspended, .

2. If your virtual machine has , it is recommended that you remove them. This will significantly reduce the virtual machine size. Moreover, these snapshots may become useless on another Mac because of different hardware.

3. Transferring Windows 11 virtual machines (and other machines with ) between Macs signed into the same Apple Account normally works without issues. In all other cases, follow the steps described in .

4. Open the Parallels Desktop Control Center by clicking the Parallels Desktop icon in the macOS menu bar and choosing Control Center.

5. Right-click the virtual machine that you want to transfer and select Prepare for Transfer. Parallels Desktop starts packing the virtual machine. This process may take some time, depending on the virtual machine size.

6. Once the package is created, you can right-click it and choose to show where it is stored in the Finder. The package has the .pvmp extension.

   If there were no error messages during the process, it means that all the virtual machine data has been packed successfully. If you wish, you can double-check that. You need to compare the checksum for the virtual machine with that for the package. They must coincide.

   To see the checksum for the virtual machine, open the .txt file that was created and saved next to the package. The string in this file is an encoded checksum.

   To get the checksum for the package, open Terminal and execute the following command:

   shasum -a 256 <path to the package>/"<package_name>"

   This command may look as follows:

   shasum -a 256 /Users/<your_user>/Parallels/"Windows 11.pvm"

   The output may look as follows:

   63a90c3c38cc8c358221da339068fc1292b10bf7c00ed8449787b0e6019d706b /Users/parallels/Parallels/Windows 11.pvm

   The string in the beginning must match the string from the .txt file mentioned above. However, there's no need to compare the whole string: merely four symbols in the beginning and four at the end will be enough.

Transferring the Virtual Machine

Once the package is created, you need to transfer it to another Mac. You can do this using cloud storage, network drives, USB storage, etc.

Launching the Virtual Machine on Another Mac

To open the package on another Mac, do the following:

1. Launch Parallels Desktop and click File > Open.

2. Navigate to the folder where the package is stored, select it, and click Open. The package appears in the Parallels Desktop Control Center.

3. Right-click the package and choose Open Package. Parallels Desktop starts unpacking the virtual machine. This process may also take some time, depending on the package size. Once the virtual machine is unpacked, you can start using it.

You can use the mouse wheel horizontal scrolling when working with windows of virtual machine applications. This feature is available only if are installed in the virtual machine

If your host machine is short on storage and you have virtual machines that you seldom use but still want to keep, you may consider archiving them to save space.

Archiving a Virtual Machine

To archive a virtual machine, do the following:

1. Right-click the Parallels Desktop icon in the Dock and choose Control Center.

2. Right-click a virtual machine and select Archive.

Unarchiving a Virtual Machine

Archived virtual machines cannot be launched. To start an archived virtual machine, you need to unarchive it first. Do the following:

1. Right-click the Parallels Desktop icon in the Dock and choose Control Center.

2. Right-click an archived virtual machine and select Start.

3. In the dialog prompting to unarchive the virtual machine, click Unarchive.

Using Free Disk Space Wizard, you can compress the virtual machine's hard drive(s) and remove various unnecessary files to free up disk space.

To quickly compress the disk(s), remove unnecessary files, and free up disk space:

1. Shut down the virtual machine.

2. Choose File > Free Up Disk Space.

The Free Disk Space Wizard shows whether you can reclaim any disk space by removing virtual machine snapshots, cache files, and various unnecessary files such as statistics, memory dumps, and crash dump files generated during the virtual machine life cycle.

You can also conserve disk space by compressing virtual disks manually or clicking Reclaim on the General tab of virtual machine configuration.