Parallels Desktop for Mac

17.0.1

17.0.1

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The one reason that keeps me using Boot Camp (I own the latest version of Parallels) is that you'll still have the booted MacOS taking up a lot of RAM. When I boot into Windows X via Boot Camp, only Windows X is using RAM.

as of July 12, 2021, the info on this page is seriously out of date and incomplete. Here's what you need to know. The latest release is 16.5. It runs on both Intel and M1 Macs. It is ONE product, shipped as an Universal app; you don't have to worry about ordering the Intel or M1 version of Parallels separately. On Intel Macs it runs basically unchanged as it has for the past few years. you can install Intel versions of Windows, macOS and Linux. On M1 Macs, you can ONLY install ARM-based operating systems. This includes Windows ARM (which you have to get from Microsoft by signing up with the Windows Insider program. ) There are various ARM based flavors of Linux. At this time, Parallels does NOT support installing a guest version of Big Sur on M1 Macs. So if you have an M1 Mac and wanted to run macOS guest virtual machines, not possible at this time; stick with an Intel Mac. As for Windows on M1, it is not the Windows Intel version everyone is familiar with, it is Windows ARM. It will run ARM based versions of Windows software fine; it can also run Intel Windows apps, but does so in emulation mode. In other words, if you are trying to run an old Windows Intel app, you would be running this in emulation, on Windows ARM, which is running virtualized under Big Sur, on a M1 Mac. The reviews I have read all say that amazingly, because the M1 is so fast and efficient, running Windows Intel apps under Windows ARM emulation, then virtualized, is not that bad, no worse than say running it on a ARM based Surface Pro. My personal opinion (I've been using Parallels, VMWare Fusion since the early 2000's.). If running a Windows app is mission critical for your business, go buy a used, refurbished Intel PC for under $500. And in many cases, if you're a business, you already have old Windows boxes lying around. I have Windows 10 running on 10 year old laptop with 4 GB of RAM just fine, just be sure to replace the old hard drive with an SSD. Then log into the PC remotely from your Mac using any of a dozen Mac based Remote Desktop apps. Microsoft can provide arm based versions of their Windows apps if they want, but IMO, running Microsoft apps is not the main reason Mac users want/need to run Windows ...it's that 10 year old accounting program, or custom built app that your company runs on that needs to be supported. Most current, popular business software (like Office, Adobe, Quickbooks) already comes in Mac and Windows versions which are basically feature identical. No, that's not the problem, it's the old software that's discontinued, no longer supported or upgraded, running on Windows 7 or XP that so many businesses still use. Until Microsoft makes clear what the road map for Windows ARM is, AND until Qualcomm can actually make an ARM chip that can compete with Apple Silicon, I would avoid investing any more $$ into Parallels. The licensing is an all together separate issue; for now you can get Windows ARM for free by signing up as an Insider. If Microsoft and Qualcomm get serious about ARM, you can bet eventually Windows ARM will no longer be free, so when you start adding up Total Cost of Ownership, using an old PC box and spare Windows license you have already lying around, looks very attractive. The fact that Parallels has even come this far supporting Windows ARM is impressive technical, no doubt, but the company had no choice; once Apple discontinues Intel versions of macOS (probably the os that comes after Monterey will be the last Intel release), Parallels would be out of business unless they came up with an answer to Apple Silicon. the question is whether the demand to run Windows and Linux ARM based, on Apple Silicon is strong enough to maintain the business once Intel Macs disappear? VMWare, the company, is in a different position, its business model isn't dependent on selling Fusion, in fact Fusion at best breaks even or makes a modest profit. Parallels is desperate and should be; if there is no sustainable business model for ARM based virtualization of Windows and Linux, the company is done once Apple macOS stops supporting Intel Macs.

purchased v 16. for my macbook Pro 15 inch 2017 with latest mojave OS. unable to install it and get it running. tried all recommended steps (several odd Terminal commands, reinsatallition with recovery mode etc etc- nothing helped. Most annoying the recommended last option: upgrade to Catalina.... this is poor support. btw, no response from support to my query.. They should honestly admit that v 16 does not work with Mojave! Overall comment : expensive and poor! I will cancel the order

v16.1.3 is now out! - - "This update for Parallels Desktop 16 for Mac 16.1.3 (49160) addresses overall stability and performance issues."

So, Parallels is showing off a Technical Preview of the Parallels that can run the ARM version of Windows on Apple Silicon apps. I've tried it, it works, for the most part, still a lot of work to do, but interesting. It's a proof of concept, the bigger issue is, will running the ARM version Windows satisfy people who want to run Windows on a Apple Silicon Mac, because Windows ARM still has it's own issues even on official Windows hardware like the Surface Pro. Lingering application issues, emulation of Intel, problems running older 32-bit Intel apps (under emulation). Even still the, it's actually quite amazing that it can be done, that a 32/64-bit Intel Windows app can run under emulation on a ARM version of Windows built for Qualcomm's ARM chip, running as a Virtual Machine on a Apple Mac with a Apple designed ARM processor

I don’t want to use Windows and its applications - for 27 years I have been loyal to Apple because the mindset of this operating system is the same as mine. What is not the case with Windows...

smart but expensive

Not a bad package but vmware is faster

Ignore negative reviews about Parallels Desktop. I use Parallels Desktop Pro for Mac, and after the recent 16.1.1 update things still run smoothly. Now, it takes much longer for the VM to start and restart, much like a normal hard disk. Nonetheless, stability matters more to me. Furthermore, this latest update improved on the handling of memory. In earlier releases of versions 15 and 16 I noticed heavy memory usage, but that is becoming less of an issue. I do wish Parallels didn't use memory unless it actually needed to use it, then allow macOS to reclaim it, just the way macOS does. Maybe, I do not know the limitations of a virtual machine, but in my mind just because a certain amount of memory is allocated to a virtual machine in the virtual machine settings doesn't mean the virtual machine should use all of it 100% of the time. I think this could use improvement. Yet, even with this issue, Parallels Desktop Pro is extremely stable. For those of us holding on to our older Macs we are grateful to have it. Thanks guys! Wishing you good health and greater success in the future!

To be honest it worked for awhile but the Mac mouse and keyboard drivers became corrupted and I could never download again. I found I could get away without a Windows machine and never followed up. It was a great idea but became superfulous.

I HATE IT

so Parallels 16 (P16) and Fusion 12 (F12) are now released. Let's compare. F12 standard (now called Player) version cost; now free for personal use. P16 standard cost $79, even for students and home use. F12 Pro cost $149 one time, and that includes THREE licenses, cross-platform (licenses good on Fusion for Mac or Workstation for Windows or Linux). P16 Pro cost $99 PER YEAR, one license per computer. In other words, P16 has not changed its pricing structure with the new release. VmWare has significantly lowered TCO with latest release. Apple Silicon (AS) is coming; the expert consensus is that virtualizing (not to be confused with emulating) Windows, which is Intel based, will be basically impossible on AS based Macs. Emulation MAY be possible, but we don't know enough yet about performance, etc, to understand how it would work and how WELL, and if any 3rd party vendor care enough to put in the resources to even overcome the technical hurdles to build an Intel emulation product over AS. Is the market demand enough to warrant it? So, in other words, Vmware recognizes the run for Desktop virtualization is over in the next year or so, and is rewarding its user base by lowering cost to help ease them through a transition, at the same time keeping them up to date and running on the current Intel based Macs for as long as users want or keep their Intel Macs. Parallels has opted to continue to charge (milk) its users by NOT reducing cost of ownership, even knowing that this is an End of Life product scenario for Parallels Desktop as we know it. Understandable, because unlike Vmware, outside of Parallels Desktop Mac, they don't have other products or solutions advanced or established enough to offset the lost of revenue as need for P Desktop declines in the next few years. They have to milk the cow when it is the only cow you have, while they can. VMware has firmly established alternative technologies once Fusion for Desktop is gone (cloud based and application virtualization), they have a firmly established product line(s) and business in Enterprise. They can and will continue to support Workstation for Windows and Linux. Parallels has a steep hill to climb if tries to compete with VMware in the cloud and server based solutions for Enterprise, because it has to first establish a consistent MATURE technology solution on Intel hardware geared towards Enterprise and cloud and server based solutions. If you are personal, home user, F12 makes more sense right now than buying or upgrading to P16, considering that virtualizing Windows on Intel Macs will decline as Intel Macs grow old and are eventually replaced by AS based Macs; in fact if you are already using Fusion 11 and don't mind sticking with Mojave on your Intel Mac for another year or two, there's no reason to upgrade to F12 unless you need one of the new features (Direct X 11?). The money you would put down the drain for a new or continued SUBSCRIPTION to Parallels, OR to upgrade F11 to F12, you could apply towards a decent refurb Windows PC box and run Windows natively. It is ridiculously easy and affordable to buy quality refurb Windows boxes; I don't mean low end either, i7 cpus only 2 or 3 generations back. For most SMBs that are Mac shops but still need Windows application access, that is probably the solution for the future, get an inexpensive used Windows box, stick it in the corner and access on a network with Remote Desktop, Citrix or any of a dozen remote methods. That's my two cents, and I'm not a Parallels hater or Vmware shill; in the last 20 years I've used and recommended both; personally, to co-workers and to clients, to the tune of thousands of dollars in licenses.

so Parallels 16 (P16) and Fusion 12 (F12) are now released. Let's compare. F12 standard (now called Player) version cost; now free for personal use. P16 standard cost $79, even for students and home use. F12 Pro cost $149 one time, and that includes THREE licenses, cross-platform (licenses good on Fusion for Mac or Workstation for Windows or Linux). P16 Pro cost $99 PER YEAR, one license per computer. In other words, P16 has not changed its pricing structure with the new release. VmWare has significantly lowered TCO with latest release. Apple Silicon (AS) is coming; the expert consensus is that virtualizing (not to be confused with emulating) Windows, which is Intel based, will be basically impossible on AS based Macs. Emulation MAY be possible, but we don't know enough yet about performance, etc, to understand how it would work and how WELL, and if any 3rd party vendor care enough to put in the resources to even overcome the technical hurdles to build an Intel emulation product over AS. Is the market demand enough to warrant it? So, in other words, Vmware recognizes the run for Desktop virtualization is over in the next year or so, and is rewarding its user base by lowering cost to help ease them through a transition, at the same time keeping them up to date and running on the current Intel based Macs for as long as users want or keep their Intel Macs. Parallels has opted to continue to charge (milk) its users by reducing cost of ownership, even knowing that this is an End of Life product scenario for Parallels Desktop as we know it. Understandable, because unlike Vmware, outside of Parallels Desktop Mac, they don't have other products or solutions advanced or established enough to offset the lost of revenue as need for P Desktop declines in the next the next few years. They have to milk the cow when it is the only cow you have, while they can. VMware has firmly established alternative technologies once Fusion for Desktop is gone (cloud based and application virtualization), they have a firmly established product line(s) and business in Enterprise. They can and will continue to support Workstation for Windows and Linux. Parallels has a steep hill to climb if tries to compete with VMware in the cloud and server based solutions for Enterprise, because it has to first establish a consistent MATURE technology solution on Intel hardware geared towards Enterprise and cloud and server based solutions. If you are personal, home user, F12 makes more sense right now than buying or upgrading to P16, considering that virtualizing Windows on Intel Macs will decline as Intel Macs grow old and are eventually replaced by AS based Macs; in fact if you are already using Fusion 11 and don't mind sticking with Mojave on your Intel Mac for another year or two, there's no reason to upgrade to F12 unless you need one of the new features (Direct X 11?). The money you would put down the drain for a new or continued SUBSCRIPTION to Parallels, OR to upgrade F11 to F12, you could apply towards a decent refurb Windows PC box and run Windows natively. It is ridiculously easy and affordable to buy quality refurb Windows boxes; I don't mean low end either, i7 cpus only 2 or 3 generations back. For most SMBs that are Mac shops but still need Windows application access, that is probably the solution for the future, get an inexpensive used Windows box, stick it in the corner and access on a network with Remote Desktop, Citrix or any of a dozen remote methods. That's my two cents, and I'm not a Parallels hater or Vmware shill; in the last 20 years I've used and recommended both, personal and to clients, to the tune of thousands of dollars in licenses.

I deleted my previous review because I found a work-around to the vexing only-one-resolution-in-Catalina problem in Parallels 15. The work-around is to copy the Parallels Tools ISO (Applications>Parallels Desktop>Show Package Contents>Resources>Tools>prl-tools-mac.iso). Copy the ISO to the desktop of your Catalina VM. You might not be able to see ANY shared folders or be able to drag and drop (because there are no tools installed, duh). I logged on to my host via the network and copied the ISO to the root of the hard drive in my host, then I could see it inside the Catalina VM. Open the ISO, install Parallels Tools, reboot, and you should now have multiple resolutions available (in addition to all the other functionality that Tools provides). Nowhere that I could find is this mention ANYWHERE on the Parallels support site (though it will be shortly). For this glaring oversight on behalf of Parallels, I rate this version low.

Good when you need to run Win only apps.

It gets extremely slow by the time. On every new release, my version (v11) got slower and slower. Almost not usable anymore. I felt I've been forced to upgrade. I am not sure if they do it on purpose tho.

This is decent

A huge improvement over earlier versions. It's not an app I use a lot - I install other Mac OS's rather than any ghastly Windows nonsense, which I did in the past - but Parallels is much improved and Parallels Toolbox offers genuinely useful tools.

--> ON SALE AS PREMIUM MAC APP BUNDLE through February 29th --> (Follow the link below for details). Parallels Desktop 15. New customer: $79.99. Upgrade: $49.99 - - PLUS you get $1025 worth of additional software. [1] MindManager 12 ($200) [2] Twist (1 yr, $300) [3] 1Password Families ($60) [4] Parallels Access ($20) [5] Datal Rescue 5 ($100) [6] Hype 4 Professional ($100) [7] Intego Mac Internet Security X9 ($50, I recommend!) [8] Roxio Toast 18 Titanium ($100) [9] Parallels Toolbox (Mac & Windows, $20) [10] PDFpen 11 ($75) - - I'm posting this because most bundles these days suck. This one is instead EXCELLENT! (I'm not affiliated with any of these companies, BTW. I just like this bundle and own it). - - > https://www.parallels.com/promo-mac-app-bundle/

v15 at last supports DirectX 11. That means it supports nearly all 3D games and more on Windows. *Hurrah* [Took long enough!] Part of the problem was waiting for Apple Metal API support. - - Q: Do Virtual Box or VMWare support DirectX 11 yet? A: NO! But seeing as Parallels has figured it out, I suspect they'll catch up soon. We've been waiting for this for many, many years.

Really useful and powerful app. I just bought the upgrade license with the blackfriday discount. I tested ( once again ) VMware Fusion and parallels: For me, parallels is really better. More customization options of sharing between OS'es, and it performs better. Although, it's quite expensive for a home usage. I try to upgrade only every 2-3y when it's possible.

An indispensible app to everyone who needs to run several operating system!

bought when the version 8 was released and now i can't use the code to activate the sw.

Parallels 14.1.3 is available.

A comment of annoyance: If you check out the release notes for WINE v4.0 you'll find:
"What's new in Wine 4.0. . . . Initial support for Direct3D 12 is implemented. Direct3D 12 support requires the vkd3d library, and a Vulkan-capable graphics card."

Meanwhile, we've been making requests to Parallels, VMWare and Oracle for YEARS to implement DirectX 11 and 12 capability, with no likelihood of it ever happening. And yet, the WINE project figured out how to do it. Explain that to me. ?

Strange to list 14.1.0 as a new update, because it is an update from months ago!

Guys, The following article sheds light on why Virtualization systems have not been able to solve the Direct X 11 and higher problem. https://www.parallels.com/blogs/directx-and-parallels-desktop-13/ Now Apple has made no secret that it is deprecating support for OpenGL, that Metal is the future. But Metal would seem NOT to have the necessary APIs or mapping to solve the problem either, as Metal 1.0 has been around since 2014 and Metal 2.0 since mid-2017, plenty of time for Fusion, Parallels, etc, to figure out Direct X 11+ support, ASSUMING Metal 2.0 was capable of solving the issues. So, it would seem Metal 2.0 is still lacking something. I'm not a graphics expert, but my understanding is that Vulkan is possibly the answer to a lot of these cross platform graphics support issues. Metal and DX sitting on top of Vulkan would provide a bridge, across multiple OS platforms; the graphics version of the 'write once, run anywhere' idea.

If you're wondering, Parallels Desktop 13.3.2 works fine in Mojave. You don't need to pay for an upgrade at this time if you don't want to. Both Parallels and VMWare Fusion are constantly bugging us for an upgrade even when the current version works OK.

Parallels Desktop v14.0.1 is now available. It is compatible with macOS 10.14 Mojave and adds several new features.

[this review is for version 14]: switching back to Parallels 14 after moving to Fusion 8, 10 post Parallels 12.
This version is a big winner (vs. Fusion, including the current 2018 Tech preview). Coherence integration is so much superior to the shaky Fusion Unity view, it's not even funny. The entire experience is a lot smoother (on 2018 i9 MBP with 32GB RAM), more responsive, and has more integration options.
Network performance to local/Mac host folders is 100x faster, no delays (unlike Fusion).
Massive thumbs up for Parallels.
Only downside: More expensive for the Pro version on the annual subscription, and doesn't cover two machines like Fusion (but worth it).

13.3.2 is a rather important update. It implements 64bit parallels tools for OSX guest, improving the performance of osx guests.

Nice upgrade. I’ve been using their stuff since Parallels Desktop for mac 6

When I bought my iMac back at the end of 2015, I bought the Parallels version of it. It slowed down my computer to the degree that everything crashed despite adjusting settings to make it fast. I quit using Parallels and decided to use my mac functionality of Bootcamp. I wish also that I could get a refund for my money. I'm tired of believing companies that software sometimes it works and sometimes it does not.

This is probably one of the easiest VM applications to use. Sadly, their pricing is absolutely terrible and greedy. If they don't take care of their pricing, they will probably lose in the long run. For now, I paid for this.

After a frustrating experience with VMWare after paying for and spending the best part of a weekend trying to get their their latest version upgrade installed on my MacPro Desktop, only to find out after installation it is incompatible with my processor, I emailed Parallels presages questions. That was 3 weeks ago and never got a reply. I switched from Parallels years ago due to poor support and customer service. Based on this experience that has not changed! So I will continue using Fusion until I get my new MacPro Desktop next year and then try Virtual Box. If I am not going to get decent support from either company, why should I pay for their software when open source is available?

MU has a wrong, DEAD link for downloading Parallels 13.1.1:
http://www.jdoqocy.com/click-[blahblahblah]

Use this real instead:
https://download.parallels.com/desktop/v13/13.1.1-43120/ParallelsDesktop-13.1.1-43120.dmg

NOTES: I did research on the now DEAD http://www.jdoqocy.com website and discovered that it was a nuisance marketing website that forwarded victims to another nuisance marketing site formerly called Commission Junction (Junk-tion IMHO) now called Conversant. RipoffReport.com users have repeatedly reported this company as "an elaborate scam ripoff con!" Why MU has a link to them, I cannot imagine.

IOW: FIX THIS PLEASE MU!

With the 13.1 update all my Windows 10 VMs stall (hang) on boot and the Parallels application in the Application folder is invisible. Unusable. I had to revert to Parallels 13.0.1.

? no more mouse and keyboard input in Mac OS 10.8 VM after update to 13.1 Very funny, Parallels. That costs little, happy stars ;-)

An absolutely superb product on every level, with years of polish behind it. Best in class, and significantly better than its competitors in my experience.

Parallels does no longer support Apple Bootcamp (since Parallels 13) sorry without that function this Software is nearly worthless to me!!!!

Not a hugh fan. Very slow on a 2015 32 gb ram i7 iMac. Was expecting better performance.

Parallels Desktop 13 Greedy Edition out! Go get your uss rammed!

I have purchased Parallels Desktop 12.x on June 22, 2017. I contacted Parallels Customer support yesterday after having received an email announcing the availability of version 13. Since I had just purchased, I thought they would help me out to get version 13 with paying the full price again. I was WRONG to trust them. They said that only people who've purchased on August 1st and later will get upgraded free of charge. The rest of their customers must pay again no matter what. Word of advice, buy VMware. They have been there forever. Parallels are just a greedy bunch who don't care about loyal customers even if you've been purchasing their software since their early years. Once again, stay far from Parallels!

Parallels 13 was released today. Information @ http://www.parallels.com/upgradepd13

Parallels V13 should be out any day soon.....

Love Parallels a must for any Mac power user or professional who uses different apps in their day some of which are only available for Windows. Let's face it there are some apps on Windows with no Mac equivalent. Parallels let's me run those special Windows apps I need without having to go to another computer or reboot my Mac into Windows. It's so convenient and powerful and saves me a ton of time and allows me to use all the tools I need.

FYI for version 11 users. Parallels just updated to v11.2.3. It is a compatibility fix for running the latest Windows 10 update on macOS 10.12.x.

Breaks my heart, but 12.x is less problematic than VMware 8.5.x has been. Having said that, I've had to completely uninstall and reinstall Parallels after the 10.12.4 update for some reason due to an odd startup delay issue, but overall it has been a lot more functional overall with some of the bugs that seem to be creeping into VMware after the enormous layoff...

If you feel enought paying 80$US every year to paralles (to 1 mac, i have 2 macs) you can try other option: cost looks like same 80$US but it's not yearly fee, and it's not per mac, you can use on multiple mac. Or can try free one virtualbox or Veertu desktop (free too) but no Mac OS guest yet

Running the "Reclaim Disk Space" action on all my Windows VMs (Windows 10, 8.1, 7, Vista, XP) corrupted their disks. When trying to launch the VMs some of them start with "Preparing Automatic Repair" and other just present a black screen. Trying to repair the disks was not successful. I had to restore the VMs from backups. Using the "Reclaim Disk Space" action on macOS or linux VMs seems to work fine. I'm using Parallels Desktop 12 Version for Mac Pro Edition (Version 12.1.2 (41525)) on a MacBook Pro (late 2016) running macOS Sierra 10.12.2 (16C67). This looks like a fatal bug to me as it results in data loss. I've posted this on the Parallels forum but got not response.

12.1.3 (41532) is out: http://kb.parallels.com/en/123948 This update for Parallels Desktop 12 for Mac 12.1.3 (41532) for Parallels Desktop Standard and Pro Edition addresses overall stability and performance issues, and includes the following fixes and improvements: • Resolves an issue with request to enter Mac administrator password on every Parallels Desktop start. • Resolves an issue with Problem ID 15380 on Parallels Desktop start. • Resolves and issue with mouse not working on external display after it has been reconnected • Resolves an issue with Parallels Desktop crashes when trying to print to PDF

Any reason we're not seeing current updates here anymore?

!!!! PARALLELS USERS : CAUTION !!!! DO NOT UPGRADE TO VERSION 12.1 IF YOU HAVE A "NON RECURRING" VERSION (that is not Pro version and not Business Edition). IF YOU UPGRADE YOU WILL ONLY BE ABLE TO ASSIGN 8GB OF RAM TO YOUR VM's !!!! IF YOU UPGRADE YOU WILL ONLY BE ABLE TO ALLOCATE 4CORES TO YOUR VM !!!! This is simply the most outrageous update EVER ! They already showed their greed when MacOsX 10.11 came out, claiming that Parallels 10 would not be compatible... when it was perfectly. So they scared people urging them to upgrade when there was ABSOLUTELY no need to do so ! But this is simply going much to far... and this is a simple way to tell : "Give me 80€ each year". I will NOT do that... I would urge people to try the competitors... One is even FREE !

Version 12.1.0 is out... Info about it is here http://kb.parallels.com/en/123948

I have Parallels Desktop Pro 12, which was won in a prize draw. I thought that I'd be getting a standard non-Pro version, and I was disappointed that I got a professional version instead. Why would I be frustrated in getting a more advanced edition, you might ask, it is because the app will stop to function within a year, as I discovered when I registered serial number on Parallels website. I want to upgrade apps at a pace of my own choosing and as such, I will not even install the app, as to not to get locked out when the time is up. Technically it is a great peace of software, it's a pity that stance on customers blows it all away, for me at least.

I've used Parallels since Version 6 and it has always worked pretty well for me BUT the yearly upgrade price of $49 is becoming pretty onerous. I now wait until it is bundled with a few other apps or offered as a special on MU before buying it. Not sure if I'll be upgrading to v12, however, as v11 in conjunction with Windows 10 is working well on my mid-2011 iMac :-)

When I see Parallels appear in the daily MacUpdate listings it shows as 3.5 stars. When I click on it in the listings I go to the Parallels page, where it shows at the top as half a star. If I scroll down past the ads to where the comments/reviews start I now see that the overall rating is 4 stars. Can we have a little more consistency here. What do the 3 different star ratings mean? I went back through all the comments/reviews for about 4 years and even 3.5 stars looks very generous indeed. I know that for many years now Parallels have been hosing their customers and I think the reviews that imply a rating over lifetime need to culled down to something like maybe 3 years. Just because every man and his dog thought Parallels was awesome back when it first came out and there wasn't really anything like it at the time bears no reflection at all on what seasoned users think of it today (after how they've been treated by Parallels).

No DirectX 10 support in sight. Same old 'wait and see' response from Parallels when asked about this now ancient holdup. Can't play modern 3D games. *Discontented* :-( :-P

Caution!!! I'm a long time user and tried going to 12 but had to quickly revert to 11. I'm sure it will get resolved in a while but at the moment v12 is unusably buggy in many ways. Go read the Parallels forums and you'll get an idea. Fiver starts when it's good but right now... not usable for V12

BUYER BEWARE. As at 7/30/16, there is a big problem with Windows 10 activation recognizing the Virtual Machine if you're switching from using BootCamp to Parallels, and Parallels 11 blows away your Windows license in both Parallels AND on BootCamp if you try to point Parallels at Win 10 on BootCamp. If you're running Win 8.1 on BootCamp, installing Parallels 11 will kill the Win 8.1 license in Parallels, but it leaves it OK on BootCamp, so if you're dead with Win 10 in Parallels you can downgrade back to 8.1 in BootCamp and your license will still be there. I've been told by Parallels support today that they're working on a workaround, but be sure they've fixed it before you kill your Win 10 license. They said "We apologize for the inconvenience, but this issue is caused by Windows 10 activation policies: the activation key is bounded to the hardware and as the virtual machine emulates hardware it differs from the real one reasonably enough. You're not the only one facing this issue and our Development team already works upon a workaround for this issue, but you should understand that it is a Windows licensing issue, not the Parallels one." Er, not really. It's a Parallels issue because they claim you can run Windows in their Virtual Machine, and now you can't! Personally, I'm leaving them completely after it took me 48 hours of support calls before they 'fessed up that that they knew they had a problem. I'll try something else.

I was a parallels suporter, but the new licencing is no go, it's not an upgrade but a big downgrade, there are better less ripping user software, I have moved do VMWare, after this.

By the price of this software you can buy an infocus kangaroo and have a Windows machine allways with you.

Version 11 is a rip off because it's basically version 10 minus version 11's pro features. Why on earth would I buy a downgraded version or pay an annual subscription to get same old features!? I will be using my old version 10 which is great!

I am still using v8 with OSX10.11.5 and working fine. As long it does, I will not update for sure. The license scheme is just plain -How to ripping off people every year-.

Version 11.2.0 is out

It's expensive crap. No apology for language - that's 100% truth. I've nothing to apologize for. Parallels is expensive crap. Every OSX they're releasing SW, which differs only in one parameter: "allowed-version-osx". No way Parallels there is replacement and I am happily using it!
If you'd provide your piece of SW for reasonable price - I'd maybe consider. But you f* with me once I nought in past & you're simply pricey - for NO additional value - maybe some poor other users need to use your solution, but if they'd try to search a bit - you're gonna die by hunger!
That half star as rating is more than generous. And yes, you're too greedy.

So when I criticized MacUpdate for this update to Parallels being f ive weeks late in being posted here they deleted my post within a coupe of hours. Says a lot about them... Wonder how soon this will be removed...

I got an email from MacUpdate that goes like this:

......We've partnered with MacUpdate Community favorite Parallels to offer you 2 exclusive discounts:
Parallels Desktop 11 for only $59.99 - 25% off the normal price of $79.99......

Parallels Desktop 11 is ideal for home and student use, and of course, this PERPETUAL license of Parallels allows you to run Windows and Mac applications side by side......

What is the meaning of the word 'Perpetual'. Does this means there is no need to fork out for future upgrades ever? Or is this a misprint?

11.1.3 (32521) has been out a while now, might want to bookmark: http://kb.parallels.com/en/123410

The current version is 11.1.2 (not 11.1.1 as listed today).

I've had minimal problems with Parallels 11 for my purposes. It is an improvement over v10 IMHO.

DirectX Problem:
I continue to be dismayed that NO virtualization system, including Parallels, VMWare and VirtualBox, supports anything beyond DirectX v10. Note that WINE is no better. That knocks them all out as able to play the most recent 3D games. And no, the problem is NOT (necessarily) the GPU hardware of the Mac. The problem is bothering to code the translators to allow use of the GPU hardware on the Mac. I consider this a dead end issue. Sad.

I finally had enough with Parallels version 11. I´m one of those who didn´t read the licensing terms good enough. I thought Great, I can activate and deactivate some Parallels with my Parallels account (As Microsoft beautifully do it with Office 365). But you are forced to BOTH log in to the account AND enter a serial number (Oh why?) AND you are only allowed to have ONE installation?? If something fails you have to call them to reset you install counter one ONE!! In addition Parallels 11 fails to update Windows 10 when there is a new release. It freezes my computer and I have to force KILL my mac and reboot. Then it rolls back the failed Win 10 installation. So today I used the cross grade offer from a competitor, even if it has slightly lower 3D performance it is allowed to have it installed on my iMac, Mac Pro and Mac Book in addition to it being more stable. Version 10 of Parallels was beautiful, so I´m a little sad to say goodbye. But I cannot support these practices. So goodbye Parallels, hope to see you again when you clean up your business practices and fix your instability.

I decided to abandon Parallels now after being told I should be able use the PD11 trial side by side with my older PD8 installation. At no point during installation am I Informed that the PD11 Trial will delete my older installation, but that is of course the end result. The sales support were nice and helpful, but I got enough of such schemes. I don't fully understand the crticism of the yearly fees as that is optional. Cross-grading to Fusion is my next step.

A comparison review of Fusion 8, Parallels 11 (and VirtualBox 5) http://www.tekrevue.com/2015-vm-benchmarks-parallels-11-vs-fusion-8/ Very interesting...for many years most reviews gave PD the speed edge (especially with Windows guests), and Fusion a slight stability edge. Fusion v 7 closed the speed gap, and now Fusion 8 and PD 11 are for the most part neck and neck. With the new licensing policy of PD, it just makes it easier to switch to Fusion knowing that you are also no longer sacrificing functionality or performance in doing so. I used PD and Fusion both from their inception. Mainly PD for Windows guests, and Fusion for OSX guests and cross compatiblity with VMWare Workstation. After PD 11 was released and the new licensing, I migrated all my PD images to Fusion and now using Fusion exclusively.

This app has been updated

So, in addition to my work laptop, I go to install Parallels on my home machine (something previously allowable given that nobody has figured out how to be in two places at the same time yet). The installation process first deletes the old version, and after you enter your license number it reports back to say it's already in use on a different computer and you're prompted to cough up another $50 or bail out and spend the time finding your old version and reinstalling that all over again. I was in a hurry preparing for something and I just had to bite the bullet and buy another (my very last) copy. I despise this company. The software they have may be good, but I'm certain their CEO is both an analyst and a therapist!

Just as I was getting used to Parallells, this crazy they come up with this new licensing s**t. I can't afford it. So I am forced to look for a better option. Not wise, Parallells. Good bye!

Just as I was getting used to Parallells, this crazy they come up with this new licensing s**t. I can't afford it. So I am forced to look for a better option. Not wise, Parallells. Good bye!

Just as I was getting used to Parallells, this crazy they come up with this new licensing s**t. I can't afford it. So I am forced to look for a better option. Not wise, Parallells. Good bye!

Well after using Parallels from version ONE, I now find I am unable to use/support this product. Parallels has forced a change in licensing, our University can not buy a perpetual licence, we must now pay a 12 month "rent" for it. We are NOT going to do this, we will be shifting all of our business to VMWare instead. None of the "Pro" features are worth the extra costs, and obviously having a customer with tens/hundreds of units is of no interest to Parallels. Its incredibly easy to loose a customer, and once they have shifted, its incredibly difficult to ever get them back.

So I've been playing with PD 11 and Fusion 8 for the last month now (i've been a long time user of both products for many years, and use both professionally and personally). I have a number of Macs running multiple boot partitions from Mavericks, to Yosemite and El Capitan. My observations (your mileage may vary, this is just me) is that on older hardware, PD 11 is slower than PD 10 on the same setup, where as Fusion 8 is faster than Fusion 7 on the same older hardware (old in this case is Core2 Duo macs, not Macs with i series CPUs). On newer hardware (i5's and i7's), I don't notice a difference between Fusion 8 and PD 11 (I don't use for gaming, so not commenting on graphics, just business apps performance). From a licensing perspective, it's getting harder to justify to myself, personally and professionally, to stick with PD, which is one license, one CPU, whereas Fusion is one license/three CPUs. That plus VM compatibility with VMWare Workstation for Windows, I have to give the nod to Fusion. Note this is coming from someone who has used PD primarily for his personally work the last several years, mainly just out of laziness and not wanting to spend time migrating all my VMs fusion. But now I'm switching over (for personal stuff, professionally, still using both, as clients and co-workers have a vested interest in sticking with what they have).

For those concerned (IE gamers): Parallels 11 does NOT (again) support DirectX 11.

*sigh* This has been an issue for years, since DirectX 11 was released. At least Parallels now says they are 'going' to support DirectX11 in Parallels Desktop 11. They suggest signing up and watching their email list for notification of when they finally catch up. I'm waiting on updating to version 11 until they, at last, get this together.

BTW: VMware lags even further behind with DirectX support. They JUST started supporting DirectX 10, which Parallels started supporting back in Parallels 10. There is no sign of VMware supporting DirectX 11. Sheesh!

Take a look on our desktop service, available foc Macs and other OS: https://www.apponfly.com/en?KAI

For those considering switching over to Fusion, and have Windows 7 images, note that Fusion does not support USB 3.0 with Windows 7 VMs.. this is true of the VMWare Workstation for Windows product as well (no support for USB 3 in virtualized Windows 7 images). Windows 8 and higher, no issues. There was no built in USB 3 drivers in Windows 7. Parallels found a way around that; and wrote virtualized drivers. VMWare has taken the high road and taken the position if USB 3 isn't supported in Windows 7 (ie NATIVE OS DRIVERS, not talking about 3rd party add on drivers from device makers, OEM's, motherboard makers, etc), then it's not supported in VWWare.

Bottom line, do your research. Grass is not necessarily greener on the other side. For the record, I use Fusion and Parallels, so I feel I'm rather unbiased. From a feature/ functionality perspective, I find Fusion MUCH better at OS X virtualization, and Parallels better at Windows virtualization, mainly speeed, but just marginally. YMMV.

From a licensing perspective, i had no issues with PD through version 10, but the new PD 11 user license does have me thinking if the slightly faster speed of running Windows over Fusion is worth all the new limitations in the PD 11 user license.

Bad faith: Moving Basic features to the Pro edition because "Parallel found out that basic features were well enough for users". What a f*** joke! Previous versions of Parallels allowed virtual machines with up to 16 virtual CPUs and 64GB of RAM. Now only the Pro edition can make virtual machines that big; the non-Pro edition goes up to 4 CPUs and 8GB of RAM. Virtualization for Linux guests, both available in the basic Parallels last year, are now restricted to Pro version only. Support s**ks: It's either, "well you should upgrade to the last version $$$" or simply poor recommendations. Tired of being milked away...

Awful license scheme is holding me back buying. Although VMware Fusion has the same yearly update, it is much faster when you need OS X VM.

Although I've been a loyal Parallels customer since version 5 and find the software actually quite good, I can no longer recommend it. Why? Starting with version 11, Parallels is enforcing the single-seat license in their EULA. Whereas I was always able to activate my office computer + my laptop on a single license, I will now have to pay 100% more for my upgrade to Parallels 11 Pro. There is no option for reduced-price extra seats for the Pro version. These abhorrent and customer-hostile license terms are so restrictive, and the lack of any understanding or flexibility on the part of their support team, mean that I have begun the process of moving everything over to VMWare, with excellent performance, unlimited multi-seat licenses for individuals and a crossgrade offer for Parallels customers. I'll vote with my wallet, and with this well-deserve half-star for a product-destroying licensing policy. Goodbye Parallels.

Just bought version 10 and received it about two months ago, and now there's a $50 upgrade. Not at all impressed. A while ago, VMware offered a sidegrade for users of Parallels Desktop to get the latest version of Fusion for about ten bucks; hopefully they'll offer something similar in the future. After having versions 4, 6, and 7 (and having them all stop working on me after a few OS X updates), I'm done with Parallels.

Besides my feelings about Parallels' business practices, the fact is that the cost of Parallels plus a license of Windows 10 now costs as much as just buying an HP Stream (or a similar competing product). I know these low-end netbooks aren't as powerful as your Mac, but they also allow you to run Windows without affecting your Mac in any way or using any of its resources, plus they are quite portable. If you find a good enough sale, you can buy Windows-running hardware for less than the cost of Windows-running software.

Seems like only yesterday I finished pulling out my wallet for a YAPU (Yet Another Parallels Upgrade) and now I see Parallels 11 is out and it's another fifty bucks to upgrade. This reminds me of the origin of the expression "daylight robbery" where property taxes were assessed by the number of windows a house had. Parallels (to me) has really just become a Windows tax :-/.

There are many posts on the Net about how to install El Capitan beta into Parallels (v 10). I've tried most of them, the only one I've been successful with is here:
http://www.lostentropy.com/2015/06/10/installing-os-x-10-11-el-capitan-inside-parallels-desktop/

It's involved, but if you follow carefully, don't try to outsmart the instructions and take shortcuts because you think "you know better", then the instructions work. And bear in mind the following, you've been told:
1) the method only works with the Developer Preview of 10.11, not the Public Beta (as of the date of the article, later PUblic Beta after that may work, i don't know).
2) to successfully install Parallels Tools afterwards, you MUST disable SIP/rootless first. You can leave it off or turn it back after PT is installed, but it must be off to install PT.

It is very clear after all my experimenting with the various methods to install 10.11 in Parallels, that the bootloader, install mechanism and creation of a bootable image is different in 10.11 from 10.10, which was also slightly different from 10.9. Heck , even between the Developer Preview and Public Beta of 10.11, there is apparently a difference in the booting and install mechanism, as evidenced by the fact the method referenced above only seems to work with the DP.

Parallels is going to need to make some major adjustments to support painless install of 10.11, which likely means a new Parallels v.11 after El Cap ships.

In anticipation of all the bemoaning about another Parallels 'forced' upgrade to support El Capitan, just keep that in mind that the devs are simply having to keep up with Apple, which continues its history of making MAJOR system level and core changes in OS X with every release since Lion, Not just the boot and installing functions, but the graphics engines, audio, video, hardware abstraction and so on. Parallels is not TextEdit, it's very sophisticated software engineering, that takes development resources to maintain and test, every time Apple makes sweeping changes across the board, all of which comes with a cost. It is not as simple as just changing the 'supported version of OS X' from 10.10 to 10.11 in a some little plist file, and shipping an update to Parallels.

Even the video subsystem in El Cap seems to have been reworked again by Apple. Screen drawing with Yosemite virtual machine in PD, is slower than in Mavericks, but had improved in the latest PD 10.2.2. With El Cap, using the same video driver in Parallels Tools for Yosemite, the screen drawing is very glitchy, and slow, like it was with early Yosemite betas.

Regardless, testing El Cap in a VM is nice. I have El Cap installed natively as well on a partition, but this saves from rebooting between El Cap and my every day configuration.

Serial key does not work, webhelp is "down". I am so tired of this.

Parallels drives me crazy. On the one hand, it is stable, feature rich, and fast. On the other hand, its licensing as absolutely abhorrent. Basically a forced $40 upgrade every year. While previous versions do tend to continue to work on newer OS (v.9 does work on Yosemite, etc.), when a problem arises Parallels basically tells you you need to pay to upgrade for the latest OS support. Add to the fact that it's nearly impossible to deactivate a computer once activate (installed Parallels on a MacBook Air, activated, a few months later sold the Air and bought a Pro, couldn't get Parallels to activate since it claimed the code was already in use - took days with Parallels support to get the issue resolved), the licensing system is just terrible. With that being said, Parallels is the only VM software for Macs that supports USB 3.0 on Windows 7 (or Server 2008) - and this is an invaluable feature. For some asinine reason, VMWare refuses to create USB 3.0 drivers for Windows 7, essentially forcing me to keep using Parallels for my VM needs. Now that Windows 10 is out, and it seems to not completely suck, I am hopeful that I can now ditch Parallels and it's absurd licensing practices for a more sane company in VMWare (well, licensing sane, lack of USB 3 support is pretty insane...)

Ai! Will NOT allow the update to Windows 10! The Parallels video driver is not signed so Windows 10 refuses to install/update today. See also: http://kb.parallels.com/en/123053 This is known for 2 months still not solved at final release date for Windows 10...

v10.2.2 update is out. Again, it's a messy update. If you run into a failed Parallels Tools installation, the secret is to let the virtual system reboot, then FORCE install Parallels Tools AGAIN. (o_0) You have to reboot your virtual drive a second time. This is not good. Icons on your desktop will be a mess. You may get a screwy screen resolution, although mine reset itself back to normal. IOW: Updates like this are geek worthy. We're used to stuff going wrong all the time. But granny will have a FIT. They have to do better.

I have been a paid user since version 3 through version 6, Now I can't even use the software, MAC isolated the software as a "Problem Child" now I just have to wonder, what value is this product when every time you turn around you have to pay an "upgrade" fee ? I see this as a seriously flawed and destructive business model that will certainly come back around, (Karma is a female dog) I am sick and tired of the nickel and dime (failed business model) I am moving to another platform that performs better and actually works when my operating system updates. Were mainly talking about 32 bit versus 64 bit here, so really this is a failure on the part of this product and while you may have my money you will never have me as a customer again.

I have to give Parallels high marks this time around. I had been putting off upgrading because, frankly, I don't need it yet. But I got an e-mail offer for $10 off the usual upgrade price of $49.99; so I paid only $39.99. What's more, they had a companion offer for Toast 12 Titanium for $29.99, which is half the standard upgrade price for Toast. I couldn't pass that up either. I hadn't upgraded Toast since version 8. While 8 still works in Mavericks, I thought this was the best price I'd ever be likely to find on a Toast upgrade. As it turns out, the one I got, version 12, isn't the latest – version 14 was just released – but it's still four versions newer than the one I was using. What really got me posting here was the ease with which I was able to create a Windows 7 virtual machine in Parallels 10 by converting my VMWare Fusion Windows 7 virtual machine; the process left the Fusion virtual machine undisturbed. It went as smooth as you-know-what through a goose. I didn't even know it would be possible. I had been worried about installing Windows 7 in Parallels given that I am already using my Windows 7 license in Fusion – Microsoft licensing policies set the standard for being difficult to deal with (I have been running Windows XP in Parallels. That, too, was not disturbed). But there were no issues when I started up Windows 7 in Parallels 10 - though it took me awhile to get the settings where I want them. And Parallels started up in Coherence mode by default, which was a nuisance till I figured out what was going on and turned Coherence off. The only other issue I had was getting the USB 3 drivers for Windows, but Parallels had a link for that in the USB settings. Very thoughtful. I'm running OS X Mavericks on a 27" iMac with a 1TB Fusion drive, so there's plenty of room for the extra VM. Eventually I plan to upgrade to Windows 10 in VMWare Fusion since Microsoft will be offering it for free for a year. And yes, I have the requisite Windows 7 license to qualify for the free Windows 10 offer. In the meantime, I've skipped Windows 8 altogether because, in my opinion, it's more trouble than it's worth. Windows 10 should be a lot easier to deal with. You may be asking, why am I using both Parallels and Fusion? Well, I bought Parallels at an introductory discount when it first came out. But a version or two on it became unreliable so I decided to give VMWare Fusion a try, also at an introductory discount. I had XP in Parallels and originally put Vista in Fusion – though I had to install XP there because my copy of Vista was an upgrade, not a standalone. I moved that to Windows 7 because Win 7 couldn't easily be installed over XP. Now, of course, I could put Win 10 in either program. Maybe I'll toss a coin. ;-) But I'll continue my policy of running two versions of Windows. Nowadays I could run all my VMs in either app, but they keep leapfrogging one another in feature development so I've never been able to decide to stick with one or the other. And my early experience with Parallels made me wary of putting all my eggs in one basket. They've both gone haywire at one time or another. So, for now, I'll give Parallels 10 five stars. YMMV

MacUpdate, this is up to version 10.2.1 (10.2.1.29006) now

YMMV, but I've seen a noticeable improvement in speed and 'snappiness' with the 10.2.0 upgrade from the previous 10.1, across all VMs (Windows 10, 8, 7, XP; OS X Yosemite, Mavericks). With the Windows 7 VM, which is also installed on Bootcamp on the same machine, it feels virtually native in terms of response. The VM is allocated 2GB RAM on and 1 CPU, on a quad core iMac with 8 GB of RAM, so saying it runs basically as good as the native Windows in Bootcamp which has access to all 8GB and all cores, is saying something. Again, YMMV, I don't run games, so can't speak for raw graphics or 3D acceleration speed, but things like Word and Excel 2013 load and respond quicker in the VM now.

BEWARE updating to 10.2.0 -> DON'T DO IT!!! Stick with the previous version until Parallels get their act together. Using the update feature in Parallels 10, I updated to 10.2.0 and all hell broke loose. I ended up with a barely working, messed up Windows XP Pro. Among the problems inflicted by this poorly planned update: 1) Windows freaked out that Parallels Tools had installed a bad disk driver. 2) This caused the Parallels Tools installation to FAIL. 3) Upon forced reboot, the Windows XP display settings were ruined. Windows warned me of the problem and tried to help me get a better picture. I tried and found the desktop image resolution was still awful. 4) Then Window freaked again, telling me: "A problem occurred during hardware installation. Your new hardware might not work properly." And it didn't. So I wrote Parallels support in detail about the mess they had inflicted. They never wrote back to me. Gee thanks! I wrote to them further about my solution, which was to: 1) Manually download the full installer for 10.2.0. 2) Run the installer. 3) Watch the Parallels Tools installer mess up AGAIN. 4) Reboot Windows XP and run Parallels Tools installer a SECOND time. 5) Manually adjust the ruined display settings. This time the resolution problem cleared up and all looks fine. For putting me through this abysmal update and wasting my time, Parallels earns 2 stars in this review. Well earned. VMWare is calling...

Parallels Desktop 10 Upgrade: Dream Exchange (or Fraud/Ripp off ???) In US$ = 49.99 In Euro = 68.50 In CHF = 66.99 Actual Exchange is 1 CHF = US$ 0.9730 / Euro 1.0732

Just learned some interesting trivia and computing history. Those old enough, you remember IBM OS/2 operating system from the late 80's to mid 90's? OS/2 was meant to replace DOS, and jointly developed by IBM and Microsoft. It was supposed to be Windows before Windows existed. Microsoft got tired of waiting on IBM, in the meantime they came out with Windows 3 which was supposed to be a stop gap until OS/2 with a GUI was ready. But Windows 3 sold like crazy MS continued developing Windows. Windows 3.1 and 95 were hugely successful and the rest is history. Meanwhile OS/2 was deployed heavily in the banking and financial sector, because they ran big IBM mainframes. Many ATM machines ran OS/2 because it was (for its time) very stable, capable of 24/7 operation, compared to DOS and Windows 3.x. When IBM stopped development of OS/2, companies heavily invested in it either migrated to Windows NT / XP or tried to limp along. A bank in Moscow which used OS/2 heavily, hired a group of developers (Russian) to solve their OS/2 problem and find ways to keep OS/2 running on the newer and newer hardware coming out. The developers determined the best solution was not to try to continue development of OS/2 but find a way to run OS/2 virtualized. That product became Parallels Workstation and that company became Parallels. With their knowledge and experience gained of how to virtualize Intel x86 hardware, the company saw a market opportunity with the Mac, to run Windows and PC software. And viola, Parallels Desktop for Mac was born. The irony is so wonderful and sweet!!! Microsoft told IBM to bug off and jumped ship on OS/2. But OS/2 wouldn't die, and people trying to continue using OS/2 spawned the birth of Parallels, which now allows Mac users (hardware made by Apple, Microsoft's main competitor) to run their competitors flagship product Microsoft Windows, without having to buy additional x86 PC hardware. And where did the x86 PC hardware start? With the IBM PC!! OMG! The absolute twisted-ness of this story is precious. Add to that the fact that it took the Russians to develop it, just to keep running IBM OS/2 on a PC, which--extra irony-- IBM no longer makes PCs anyways, because they sold their PC division to guess who? A Chinese company, Lenovo. So the story starts back at a time when the Russians and Chinese were our adversaries, and ends up today where we owe one country for developing Parallels to let us run Windows on Macs, and the other we buy PCs from by the hundred of thousands that bought the PC division from the company that started it all in the first place. Gotta love it!! And yes, you can run OS/2 in Parallels, I've done it (supposedly you can also run OS/2 in VFusion and VirtualBox, but I've never tried it).