What's New in Parallels Desktop 26

Note: This chapter describes major changes introduced with the initial release of Parallels Desktop 26 for Mac compared to previous major versions of the product (i.e., 20.x and earlier). You can learn about all subsequent changes and improvements introduced in the minor versions (26.x) from their respective release notes.

The new major Parallels Desktop version 26.0.0 (build 57238) includes many under-the-hood upgrades aimed at better supporting the latest version of macOS. Parallels Desktop 26 follows Parallels Desktop 20 to bring the version number in line with Apple’s new macOS versioning.

The release delivers the following improvements:

All editions of Parallels Desktop 26 for Mac

• Ready for macOS Tahoe 26.

Parallels Desktop 26 supports the upcoming macOS Tahoe 26 as a primary OS on Mac and as a virtual machine, so you can upgrade your Mac computers once the new operating system becomes available.

Look and Feel

• Brings updated icons across the board on Macs running macOS Tahoe 26.

Windows on Mac

• Enables Windows to accurately assess the available disk space on your Mac, helping you avoid harming your Mac’s responsiveness by installing overly large Windows software.

• Improves the behavior of full-screen Windows apps in Coherence mode, enabling your Mac to go to sleep mode normally.

• Fixes the issue that caused Persona 5 Royal to crash on launch in Windows 11 virtual machines.

Linux on Mac

• Apple silicon Macs: Adds out-of-the-box support for new Linux distributions, such as Ubuntu 24.04.2, Fedora 42, Debian 12.6, and Kali 2024.2.

• Intel Macs: Adds out-of-the-box support for new Linux distributions, such as Ubuntu 24.04, Fedora 40, Debian 12.6, and Mint 21.3.

• Fixes the issue that prevented Parallels Tools for Linux from installing correctly on CentOS 10 running on Intel Macs.

Parallels Desktop 26 for Mac Business & Enterprise Edition

• Adds the ability for system administrators to manage and monitor virtual machine software updates using Jamf scripts.

• Regenerates unique identifiers for virtual machines deployed from Golden Images to ensure smooth Intune enrolment.

What was deprecated or removed from Parallels Desktop 26

According to the statistics from the users who participate in the Parallels Customer Experience program, some product features are used very seldom or not at all. We have decided to either stop supporting them or completely remove them from Parallels Desktop and focus on frequently used features and further enhancements.

Below is the list of features that are no longer supported and have been removed in Parallels Desktop for Mac 26:

• Installing Parallels Desktop on Macs running macOS Monterey 12.

• Shared Bluetooth functionality. Bluetooth devices (e.g., keyboards, mice, or game controllers) connected to your Mac will continue to work normally in virtual machines. Note: To connect a Bluetooth device directly to a virtual machine, consider using a USB Bluetooth dongle.

• USB and network kexts (kernel extensions). This deprecation affects virtual machines that run on Intel Macs using Parallels hypervisor; such machines will continue supporting USB and network adapters in kextless mode.

• Deferred activation.

• Designating a custom update server in the deployment package settings.

• Synchronization of virtual machine color tags between the Parallels Desktop Control Center and macOS Finder.

• The option to install Parallels Toolbox for Windows in a Windows virtual machine using the Parallels Desktop menu.