How To Get 64 Bit Windows For Mac Parallels

24 min readJun 3, 2021

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If you uncheck the 64-bit Windows version box at the bottom, Parallels will download the 32-bit version instead. The only reason to do so might be if you have a Mac with less than 4GB of RAM. Virtualize Windows On Your Mac Using Parallels ($80) Easy but expensive tool for running Windows on your Mac the same time as OS X. Performance won’t match a dual-boot setup, but you don’t need to restart your computer to run Windows software. If you want to run Windows 8 on your Mac, you need a copy of Windows 8. There’s no working around this (at least, not legally). You can buy Windows 8 from Microsoft; prices vary.

Many Project Managers that switch to Mac get a nasty surprise when they realize that Microsoft has never released MS Project for Mac.

There are already some very good alternatives to Microsoft Project on Mac that can open, edit and even sync with MS Project such as the excellent Teamwork Projects.

There are also apps that allow you to view MS Project files on Mac for free.

However, sometimes only the real thing will do which is why here we show you the easiest way to install Microsoft Project on a Mac.

This tutorial uses the virtual machine Parallels to install Windows which doesn’t require you to partition your hard drive or reboot your Mac when you want to use MS Project.

Parallels Toolbox for Mac and Windows. 30+ tools in a lightweight, powerful, all-in-one application for Mac ® and PC. Easy to use and economical — a whole suite of tools for a fraction of the cost of individual apps, packaged in one simple interface. Parallels desktop 14 for mac. With Parallels Desktop, you can switch between Mac and Windows without ever needing to reboot your computer. If you have already installed Windows 10, Windows 8.1, Windows 8, or Windows 7 on your Mac using Boot Camp, you can set Parallels Desktop to run Windows from the Boot Camp Partition or import Windows and your data from Boot Camp into.

Parallels enables you to switch between Project and macOS at any time just as if it were installed natively on your Mac. For more on exactly how it works, check out our full review of Parallels for Mac.

Just follow these instructions to install Microsoft Project on Mac.

Make sure you have plenty of hard drive space. We’d recommend at least 30GB to give Parallels, Windows, Office and Project plenty of space to install on your Mac. Basically, the more space you have on your hard drive, the more Windows applications you can install and the smoother they will run. If you’re running out of space, consider purchasing an external hard drive for your Mac to move non-essential files. You can even install Parallels, Windows and Project on an external drive and run it from there although it’s better to install everything on your Mac hard drive.
Decide which version of Microsoft Project to install. The standalone on-premise version of Project or the Office 365 integrated Project Online version. The various versions of MS Project available can be quite confusing nowadays due to Microsoft’s increasingly complex pricing plans and it’s important to get the right one for you. For more on this, see step 15 below about purchasing Microsoft Project after you’ve installed Windows.
Download and install Parallels on your Mac. Parallels is an extremely useful app that allows you to run Windows at the same time as macOS. Once installed, you can install any Windows application or game on your Mac and enjoy the same functionality as a PC user including MS Project. You can also try a free trial of Parallels if you want to try it before buying. The great thing is you can now install Windows 10 on Mac for free as Microsoft no longer require you to activate the Windows 10 ISO image with a Product Key unless you want to customize it.
Double click on the installer and enter your Mac admin password when prompted to complete the installation. You’re then ready to start installing Windows on your Mac. The newest version of Parallels 13 now conveniently gives you the option to download and install Windows 10 directly from Microsoft without leaving the Parallels setup wizard. Parallels should start the Windows 10 installation wizard automatically after installation.

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Alternatively, you may get the New Virtual Machine wizard instead. If you don’t see either, make sure you’ve dragged Parallels to your Applications folder, double-click on it and go to File > New in your Mac Menu bar at the top of the screen to start it.
Click on Get Windows 10 From Microsoft to start downloading a ISO image of Windows 10.
If Parallels doesn’t download it for any reason, you can download a Windows 10 ISO for free from Microsoft. Remember that you don’t need a Product Key to activate it unless you want to customize Windows. However if you do want to customize it and remove a small Windows 10 watermark, you can of course also buy Windows 10 (but make sure you get the 64 bit version and not the older 32 bit one).
If you’ve already got a copy of Windows 10, skip to step 4.If you already own an earlier version of Windows such as Windows 7 or Windows 8, you can download an ISO image of it first and then put it on a storage device such as an external hard drive, pen drive or burn it onto a CD or DVD if you have a CD or DVD drive which Parallels will use instead.
When you’ve clicked on “Get Windows 10 From Microsoft”, you’ll be given 3 options: Buy Windows 10 Home, Buy Windows 10 Pro and Download Windows 10. Ignore the “If you have a license key” condition and click on Download Windows 10.
The 4GB Windows 10 file will now download on your Mac.
Before Windows 10 installs, you’ll be promoted to sign-up for a Parallels account. Just enter an email address and create a password or you can sign-up with a Google or Facebook account.
Parallels may then ask you some questions about your Windows setup. Click the check box for Express Installation and uncheck the “This version requires a product key” checkbox.
Choose what you’ll mainly be using Parallels for. For the purposes of Microsoft Project, the best option is Productivity.
Select a location on your Mac hard drive to install Parallels and give it a name e.g. “Windows 10”. Note that you’ll need at least 20GB of hard drive space free which is enough space for Parallels, Windows and MS Project to operate smoothly on your Mac.
The Windows setup wizard will then start just as if you were installing Windows on a PC for the first time. Simply select the language settings that are appropriate for you.
When prompted whether to perform an Upgrade or Custom install select Custom. Windows will then take some time to set up and install on your Mac.
You may be promoted to configure a few final settings in a “Get Going Fast” screen. Just select Use Express Settings or you can manually deactivate most of the settings as they’re not essential.
After several minutes, Windows will be installed on your Mac.

Now that you’ve installed Windows on your Mac, you’re ready to install MS Project. This is actually the most tricky part due to Microsoft confusing distribution platform and versions of Project nowadays. Microsoft now offers two different versions of Project — the traditional standalone Microsoft Project 2016 desktop version and an online Office 365 integrated subscription version called Project Online.

For Microsoft Project 2016, you’ll need to download and install the desktop version of Microsoft Office 2016 for Business and then install the desktop version of Microsoft Project 2016. For Project Online, you’ll need to have an Office 365 for Business subscription — it does not work with an Office 365 or Office 365 Student subscription.

You can also try a free trial of Office 365 for Business although you’ll need a credit card We’d recommend going for Project Online because Microsoft is gradually moving everything towards its cloud based Office 365 suite nowadays and in the long run, it’s likely that an Office 365 subscription will be essential to use MS Office products anyway. Project Online is available in 3 different versions — Project Online Professional ($30 per month) and Project Online Premium ($55 per month). To allow multiple team members to collaborate with you on Projects, you’ll also need to extend one of these Project subscriptions with Project Online Essentials ($7 per month).

If you choose to buy a Project Online subscription or start a free trial, you’ll be automatically taken through the steps to setup Project and Office 365 for Business in Windows and you’re done. If you’ve already got an Office 365 Enterprise, Government or Academic account, you already get Project Online included and it is simply a case of adding it to your account to make it visible. If you’ve got an Office 365 for Business account, you can skip the step below to install Office 365 for Business and then continue to the next step.

If you don’t want to have to subscribe to an Office 365 subscription, you will have to install Office 2016 for Business and then purchase the on-premise standalone version of Microsoft Project 2016 which is available in 3 versions — Standard ($589.99), Professional ($1,159.99) and Server (for Enterprise solutions).

Note that these standalone versions of MS Project 2016 do not work with either Office 2013 or Office 365. If you choose the desktop version, then after following the on-screen instructions to install Office 2016 and Project 2016, you’re finished and can start using Microsoft Project immediately. If you choose the Office 365 method, skip to step 10 below.

Once you’ve purchased one, or if you already have an Office 365 Business account, open Internet Explorer in Windows and go to the Office 365 login. Once you’ve setup or logged into your Office 365 account, simply select Install Office from the Office 365 home page. If prompted, make sure you install the 64 bit version of MS Office and not the 32 bit version for older versions of Windows.
If you’re prompted with the warning “Do you want to allow this app to make changes to your device?” click Yes. The Microsoft Office installation will then begin.
When the installation is done, you’ll receive a confirmation message with an animation showing you that you can see where your Office applications are installed by going to Start > All Apps in Windows.
To add Go to the Purchases Services Page in the Office 365 admin center. Select Add next to the Project Online plan that you want, and follow the instructions.

You’ve now installed Project on your Mac and can enjoy it just as if you were using a Windows PC. You can create project schedules, Gantt charts and access Project Server just like a Windows user can. If you’re using Project Online, then your files will always be backed-up to the Cloud so you won’t lose them if anything goes wrong with Parallels or Windows. However, if you’ve installed the desktop version of Microsoft Project 2016, we recommend backing-up your files to a Cloud storage solution such as Google Drive or to an external hard drive in case of crashes.

The great thing about Parallels is that you can switch back to macOS at any time without rebooting or shutting down. You thus get the best of both worlds — MS Project running on your Mac while being able to access all if your Mac applications and documents whenever you want.

There are other ways of running Windows on a Mac most notably by using Boot Camp but Parallels is by far the easiest to setup and use and the most frequently updated when new versions of Windows are released.

Parallels will even allow you to choose whether you want to stay exclusively in a Windows environment or mix and match a bit. For example, if you receive an Excel or Word file, it will allow you to open it in Excel for Mac or Word for Mac rather than in Windows.

The general experience is very seamless working between Windows and macOS including exchanging of files and dragging and dropping documents.

If you have any problems installing Microsoft Project on your Mac, let us know in the comments below.

Parallels Desktop for MacDeveloper(s)ParallelsStable releaseOperating systemMac OS XPlatformApple–Intel architectureAvailable inEnglish, Chinese Simplified, Chinese Traditional, German, Russian, French, Spanish, Italian, Japanese, Brazilian Portuguese, Korean, Polish, CzechTypeHypervisorLicenseProprietaryWebsitewww.parallels.com/desktop/

Parallels Desktop for Mac, by Parallels, is software providing hardware virtualization for Macintosh computers with Intel processors.

1Overview
2Version 2.5
3Version 3.0
4Version 4.0
5Version 5
5.1Feature update
15Supported operating systems

Overview[edit]

Parallels, Inc. is a developer of desktop and server virtualization software.

Historical[edit]

Released on June 15, 2006, it was the first software product to bring mainstream virtualization to Macintosh computers utilizing the Apple–Intel architecture (earlier software products ran PC software in an emulated environment).

Its name initially was ‘Parallels Workstation for Mac OS X’, which was consistent with the company’s corresponding Linux and Windows products. This name was not well received within the Mac community, where some felt that the name, particularly the term “workstation,” evoked the aesthetics of a Windows product. Parallels agreed: “Since we’ve got a great Mac product, we should make it look and sound like a Mac product..”, it was therefore renamed ‘Parallels Desktop for Mac’.[1]

On January 10, 2007, Parallels Desktop 3.0 for Mac was awarded “Best in Show” at MacWorld 2007.[2]

Technical[edit]

Parallels Desktop for Mac is a hardware emulation virtualization software, using hypervisor technology that works by mapping the host computer’s hardware resources directly to the virtual machine’s resources. Each virtual machine thus operates identically to a standalone computer, with virtually all the resources of a physical computer.[3] Because all guest virtual machines use the same hardware drivers irrespective of the actual hardware on the host computer, virtual machine instances are highly portable between computers. For example, a running virtual machine can be stopped, copied to another physical computer, and restarted.

Parallels Desktop for Mac is able to virtualize a full set of standard PC hardware, including[4]

A virtualized CPU of the same type as the host’s physical processor,
ACPI compliance system,
A generic motherboard compatible with the Intel i965 chipset,
Up to 64 GB of RAM for guest virtual machines,
Up to 2 GB of video RAM (VRAM),
VGA and SVGAvideo adapter with VESA 3.0 support and OpenGL and DirectX 10.1 acceleration,
A 1.44 MB floppy drive, which can be mapped to a physical drive or to an image file,
Up to four IDE devices. This includes virtual hard drives ranging in size from 20 MB to 2 TB each and CD/DVD-ROM drives. Virtual CD/DVD-ROM drives can be mapped to either physical drives or ISO image files.
DVD/CD-ROM “pass-through” access,
Up to four serial ports that can be mapped to a pipe or to an output file,
Up to three bi-directional parallel ports, each of which can be mapped to a real port, to a real printer, or to an output file,
An Ethernet virtual network card compatible with Realtek RTL8029(AS), capable of up to 16 network interface connections,
Up to eight USB 2.0 devices and two USB 1.1 devices,
An AC’97-compatible sound card.
A 104-key Windows enhanced keyboard and a PS/2 wheel mouse.

Version 2.5[edit]

The first official release of version 2.5 was on February 27, 2007, as build 3186.

Version 2.5 brought support for USB 2.0 devices, which expanded the number of USB devices supported at native speed, including support for built-in iSight USB webcams. The amount of video RAM allocated to the guest OS was made adjustable, up to 32MB. Full featured CD/DVD drives arrived in this version, which allowed the user to burn disks directly in the virtual environment, and play any copy-protected CD or DVD as one would in Mac OS X. In addition, a shared clipboard and drag-drop support between Mac OS X and the guest OS was implemented. This version brought the ability for users with a Windows XP installation to upgrade to Windows Vista from within the VM environment.[5] A new feature known as Coherence was added, which removed the Windows chrome, desktop, and the virtualization frames to create a more seamless desktop environment between Windows and Mac OS X applications. This version also allowed users to boot their existing Boot Camp Windows XP partitions, which eliminated the need to have multiple Windows installations on their Mac. A tool called Parallels Transporter was included to allow users to migrate their Windows PC, or existing VMware or Virtual PC VMs to Parallels Desktop for Mac.

Netsys lawsuit[edit]

In 2007, the German company Netsys GmbH sued Parallels’ German distributor Avanquest for copyright violation, claiming that Parallels Desktop and Parallels Workstation are directly based on a line of products called “twoOStwo” that Parallels developed on paid commission for Netsys, of which it says, Netsys has been assigned all copyrights. Additionally, the lawsuit claimed that Parallels Desktop 2.5’s compatibility with “twoOStwo” showed that the two software products are run by essentially the same functional core.[6] When Netsys lost its initial urgency proceeding, it filed a new suit, in which it requested a temporary injunction from the Landgericht district court of Berlin.[7]

Version 3.0[edit]

On June 7, 2007 build 4124 was released as the first publicly available version of Desktop 3.0.

Version 3.0 retained all of the functionality from previous versions and added new features and tools. Support for DirectX 8.1 and OpenGL[8] was added, allowing Mac users to play some Windows games without the need to boot into Windows with Boot Camp.[9] A new feature called SmartSelect offers cross OS file and application integration by allowing the user to open Windows files with Mac OS X programs and vice versa. Parallels Explorer was introduced, which allows the user to browse their Windows system files in Mac OS X without actually launching Windows. A new snapshot feature was included, allowing one to restore their virtual machine environment to a previous state in case of issues. Further, Parallels added a security manager to limit the amount of interaction between the Windows and Mac OS X installations. This version included a long-awaited complete “Parallels tools’” driver suite for Linux guest operating systems. Therefore, integration between Mac OS X and Linux guest-OS’s was greatly improved.[10]

Despite the addition of numerous new features, tools and added functionality, the first iteration of Parallels Desktop for Mac 3.0 was missing some of the features that Parallels had planned for it. A Parallels, Inc. representative stated at MacWorld in January 2007 that version 3.0 would bring accelerated graphics, “multi-core virtual machines/virtual SMP, some SCSI support, a more Mac-like feel, as well as a more sophisticated coherence mode, dubbed Coherence 2.0”.[11] While accelerated graphics have materialised, Coherence, as well as the overall look and feel of Parallels Desktop for Mac has only changed slightly. Also, SCSI support has not been implemented.[12]

It is currently unknown if these features have been abandoned altogether, or if they will show up in a later build of version 3.0.

Build 4560, released on July 17, 2007,[13] added an imaging tool which allowed users to add capacity to their virtual disks.

Feature update[edit]

Parallels Coherence in Exposé

Build 5160, released on September 11, 2007,[14] added some new features and updated some current features.

The release focused on updates to Coherence, with support for Exposé, window shadows, transparent windows, and the ability to overlap several Windows and Mac windows. Further, Parallels’ Image Tool was updated to allow one to change their virtual hard disk format between plain and expanding.Parallels Explorer was updated to allow for one to automatically mount an offline VM hard drive to the Mac desktop. Some new features added are iPhone support in Windows, allowing iTunes in Windows to sync with it.[15] Users can now mirror desktops or other folders. Further, Mac drives can now be mapped by Windows and sound devices can now be changed ‘on the fly’. Up to 2 GB of RAM can be allocated to a virtual machine, with a total of 4 GB of RAM available.[16]

Parallels Desktop for Mac Build 5608 added support for guest Parallels Tools for Linux in the latest Linux distributions (including Ubuntu 8). It also added support for running 3D graphics in Windows virtual machines on Mac OS X Leopard 10.5.3.

Use of code from the Wine project[edit]

According to Parallels’ Licensing page, Desktop for Mac version 3.0 contains Direct3D code that was originally developed by the Wineopen-source project.[17] Wine software is licensed under the GNU Lesser General Public License, which required Parallels to release the source code. Parallels released the modified source code on July 2, 2007, about 2 weeks after the promised release date.[18] A Parallels spokesman explained the reasons for the delay in a message on the official company blog.[19]

Version 4.0[edit]

Version 4.0, released November 11, 2008,[20] updates its GUI, adds some new features, enhances its performance by up to 50%[21] and consumes 15–30% less power than previous versions.[22] Version 4.0 is the first version that supports both 32-bit and 64-bit guest operating systems. Parallels Desktop 4.0 for Mac’s 3D support includes DirectX 9.0, DirectX Pixel Shader 2.0 and OpenGL 2.0[23] as well as 256 MB video memory. It also adds support for 8 GB RAM in a virtual machine and 8-way SMP. Parallels Desktop 4.0 introduces an adaptive hypervisor, which allows users to focus the host computer’s resources towards either host or the guest operating system.[24]

Parallels Desktop 4.0 for Mac adds some new features such as:

A fourth viewing mode called Modality,[20] which allows users to scale the size of an active guest operating system on the Mac’s desktop
A new screenshot utility called Clips, which lets users take and share screenshots between the host and the guest operating systems.
Start Menu integration and Automatic Windows Notifications on the Apple Menu Bar.
The ability to use select voice commands[25] to remotely control the virtual machine.
The ability to start and stop a virtual machine via the iPhone. (Requires installing an iPhone application from Apple’s AppStore.)

Starting with the Version 4.0 release, Parallels Desktop for Mac has a new logo, which resembles an aluminum iMac, with what appears to be Windows XP on the screen and 2 parallel red lines overlaid on the right side.

Feature update[edit]

Build 3810, released January 9, 2009,[26] includes performance enhancements and features, such as DirectX 9.0 Shaders Model 2 and Vertex Shader support for additional 3D support Intel Streaming SIMD Extensions (SSE4) for better media applications performance. Build 3810 also adds support for running Windows 7 in a VM and for running Mac OS X Snow Leopard Server as either a host or as a guest OS.[27]

Also included are usability features such as the ability to share Windows files by dragging them directly to a Mac application in the Mac Dock. Windows can now also automatically start in the background when a user opens a Windows application on the Mac desktop. Version 4.0 drew criticism for problems upgrading from Version 3.0 shortly after its initial release.[28] Build 3810 also addresses installation and upgrade issues previously experienced with Version 4.0 and introduces the option to enroll in the company’s new Customer Experience Program, which lets customers provide information about their preferences and user priorities.

Version 5[edit]

Officially released on November 4, 2009, Parallels Desktop 5 adds several new features, mainly to improve integration with the host OS.

New features include:

3D graphics and speed improvements
Optimized for Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard)
Support for Windows 7
Theming of Windows applications to make them look like native applications
Support for Multi-Touch gestures (from a trackpad or Magic Mouse) and the Apple Remote
The ability to drag and drop formatted text and images between Windows, Linux, and Mac applications,
The ability for a system administrator to lock down a virtual machine so that users can’t change the state of the virtual machine,
Support for OpenGL 2.1 for Linux guest virtual machines.
Support for DirectX 9c with Shader Model 3.

Feature update[edit]

Build 9308, released on December 21, 2009, added some new features.[29]

Linux guest operating systems[edit]

Parallels Tools support Xorg 1.7 in Fedora 12 virtual machines (experimental)
Parallels Tools support Mandriva 2010 (experimental)
OpenSUSE 11.1 installation media auto detection

Virtualization[edit]

Improved performance for USB mass storage.

Windows guest operating systems[edit]

Improved resume from suspend in virtual machines with multiple monitors assigned.
Improved performance for file access via Shared Folders.

3D and video[edit]

Improved performance for video playback in Windows Vista and Windows 7.
Windows Aero is not available by default for machines with Intel GMA X3100 and GMA 950 graphic adapters (some MacBook and Mac Mini models). It is available on MacBooks with NVIDIA 9400M graphics cards.[30]
Vertical synchronization is now configurable. You can configure these settings using the corresponding option in the virtual machine video configuration page.
Improved 3D performance for the video game Mirror’s Edge.

macOS Server guest operating system[edit]

The ability to pass kernel options to the macOS Server guest OS has been added. To do so, enable the ‘Select boot device on startup’ option in the virtual machine configuration, which will enable you to specify the necessary kernel options in the 5-second timeout before booting the kernel.

Version 6[edit]

Officially announced on September 9, 2010 and launched on September 14, 2010, Parallel 6 has full 64-bit support for the first time. Parallels claims that Parallels Desktop 6 for Mac ‘[has] over 80 new and improved features, including speed 40% above the previous version.’ Specific new features include:

An all-new 64-bit engine
5.1 Surround Sound support
Better import implementation of VMware, Virtual PC virtual machines and Boot Camp partitions
Improved network, hard drive and Transporter performance
Windows program Spotlight integration
Faster Windows launch time
Enhanced 3D graphics that are 40% better than previous versions
Ability to extend Mac OS X Parental Controls to Windows applications
Ability to use Mac OS X keyboard shortcuts in Windows applications
Enhanced Spaces and Exposé support

Version 7[edit]

Officially announced on September 1, 2011 and released on September 6, 2011, Parallels Desktop 7 adds many new features. These include:

Integration with OS X 10.7.4 ‘Lion’:
Full-screen support
Use of Launchpad for Windows apps
Mission Control support
Lion as a guest OS
Lion animations support
Improved user interface
New standard help and documentation
Shared devices with Mac OS X
Longer battery life
Mac OS X parental controls support
Support for Intel AES-NI encryption
Enhanced performance and 3D graphics
Support for up to 1GB video memory in virtual machine
Enhanced audio support — up to 192 kHz
Surround sound 7.1
Added support for Windows 7

Version 8[edit]

Officially announced August 22, 2012 and released September 4, 2012, Parallels Desktop 8 adds many new features:

OS X 10.8 ‘Mountain Lion’ as a guest OS
Retina resolution can be passed to virtual machines
Windows 7 and Windows 8 automatically optimised for best experience on Retina
Parallels Desktop notifications
Notification Center support for Windows 8 toast notifications
Mountain Lion Dictation in Windows apps
Full screen on demand for Windows applications in Coherence
Presentation Wizard
Open in Internet Explorer button for Safari
Drag & drop file to Outlook in the Dock opens new email with attachment
Multi-language Keyboard Sync in Mac and Windows
Full support for new Modern UI Windows 8 applications (Dock, Mission Control, Launchpad)
Reworked Keyboard shortcuts preferences
Use the standard OS X system preferences to set Parallels Desktop application shortcuts.
Resources (CPU/RAM) monitoring
Indication for VM hard drive space usage
Shared Bluetooth
Improved Virtual Machine boot time/Windows boots time are up to 25% faster than previous version
Pause & resume Windows up to 25% faster than previous version
Input/output (I/O) operations are up to 35% faster than previous version
Games run up to 30% faster than previous version
DirectX 10 support
Full USB 3.0 support for faster connections to peripheral devices for Virtual Machines starting from Parallels Desktop 8.0.18305 <http://kb.parallels.com/en/115008>

Version 9[edit]

Officially announced on August 29, 2013 and released on September 5, 2013, Parallels Desktop 9 for Mac includes these new features and enhancements:

Brings back the ‘real’ Start menu for Windows 8 and enables Modern apps in separate windows instead of full screen
Power Nap support, so applications stay up-to-date on Retina Display Mac and MacBook Air computers
Thunderbolt and Firewire storage devices are designated to connect to Windows virtual machine
Sticky Multi-monitor setup remembers settings and puts Windows virtual machines back into Full Screen mode on the remote monitor
Sync iCloud, SkyDrive, Dropbox and more without unnecessary duplication of files
Windows apps can launch the OS X Mountain Lion Dictionary with Dictionary gesture
Enhanced integration with MacOS for Linux users
Enhanced New Virtual Machine Wizard makes it easier to set up a new virtual machine, especially on computers without hard drives
PDF printer for Windows to print from any Windows application to a PDF on the Mac desktop, even if the application doesn’t have that functionality
Compatibility with OS X 10.9 ‘Mavericks’
Easily install and access complimentary security software subscriptions from one location
Up to 40% better disk performance than previous versions
Virtual machines shut down up to 25% faster and suspend up to 20% faster than with Parallels Desktop 8
3D graphics and web browsing are 15% faster than in Parallels Desktop 8

Enterprise version:

Set an expiration date for the virtual machine.
Run virtual machines in headless mode.
Start virtual machines on Mac boot.

Version 10[edit]

Released August 20, 2014, Parallels Desktop 10 for Mac includes support for OS X 10.10 ‘Yosemite’.[31]

Less than a year after release of its release, Parallels spokesperson John Uppendahl confirmed version 10 will not be fully compatible with Windows 10. The coherence mode, which integrates the Windows user interface with OS X, will not be updated and users will need to purchase and upgrade to version 11 to continue using this feature.[32]

Version 11[edit]

Released August 19, 2015, Parallels Desktop 11 for Mac includes support for Windows 10 and is ready for OS X 10.11 ‘El Capitan’.[33]

Parallels Desktop 11 for Mac is available as a one-time purchase of $79.99 for the Desktop edition, and as an annual subscription of $99.99 for Pro edition.[34] Version 11 has multiple issues with macOS 10.13, High Sierra. The website currently offers a full price upgrade to Version 13 as a correction, effectively making this version obsolete with the macOS upgrades.[35]

Version 12[edit]

Released August 18, 2016.[36]

Version 13[edit]

Released August 22, 2017,[37] Parallels Desktop 13 for Mac provides macOS High Sierra readiness and support for upcoming Windows 10 features. According to Parallels, the new version makes it simple for MacBook Pro users to add Windows applications to the Touch Bar, and to use the Touch Bar within Windows applications. It is also the first solution to bring the upcoming Windows 10 People Bar feature to the Mac, including integration with the Mac Dock and Spotlight. The new version also features up to 100 percent performance improvements for completing certain tasks. The update also brings in a slightly refreshed UI to better match macOS and visual improvements for Windows users on Retina displays.[38]

Version 14[edit]

Released August 21, 2018, Parallels Desktop 14 supports macOS 10.14 ‘Mojave’.[39]

Supported operating systems[edit]

Parallels Desktop for Mac Business, Home and Pro Editions requires these versions of MacOS:[40]

Parallels Desktop VersionMacintosh OS host version141312111098765432.5macOS 10.14 ‘Mojave’10.14✓macOS 10.13 ‘High Sierra’10.13✓✓✓AB✓ABmacOS 10.12 ‘Sierra’10.12✓✓✓✓10.11✓✓✓✓✓10.10✓✓✓✓✓10.9✓✓✓✓10.8✓✓✓10.7.5

10.7.0

✓✓✓

✓

OS X 10.6 ‘Snow Leopard’ &10.6.8

10.6.3

10.6.0

✓✓✓

✓

OS X 10.5 ‘Leopard’ &10.5.8

10.5.2

✓✓

✓

OS X 10.4 ‘Tiger’ &10.4.11

10.4.6

✓✓

✓

Parallels Desktop 11 and 12 only partially support macOS ‘High Sierra’:

A Coherence Mode windows may appear under MacOS windows, and some graphics artifacts may occur.

B Neither Parallels Desktop 11 nor 12 fully support APFS disks, including virtual disks and Boot Camp partitions. Therefore, a ‘High Sierra’ guest machine must be installed ‘manually’ by passing the ‘ — converttoapfs NO’ command line switch, and cannot use the automated Parallels virtual machine creation process.