Parallels Desktop for Mac
Run Windows apps without rebooting.
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Parallels Desktop overview
Parallels Desktop allows you to run Windows and Mac applications side by side. Choose your view to make Windows invisible while still using its applications, or keep the familiar Windows background and controls on your Mac.
Works with Boot Camp®
- Reuse your existing Boot Camp installation. Converting a virtual machine from Boot Camp is now much easier and more intuitive than ever.
Not just for Windows
- Run a wide array of operating systems including OS X, Windows 10, 8.1 & 7, Linux, and Google ChromeTM. You can run just about anything on your Mac!
One-click tuning
- Select productivity, games, design, or development, and Parallels Desktop 11 for Mac will optimize your virtual machine settings and performance for you.
Robust Performance
- Parallels Desktop Pro Edition gives your virtual machines more processing power. Up to 64 GB vRAM and 16 vCPUs per virtual machine lets you run even the most demanding applications with ease.
Business Class Software
- Keep IT in control of end user licenses and Windows virtual machines with a Unified Volume License Key, centralized license management, and advanced security features available in Parallels Desktop Business Edition.
Compare Parallels Desktop Pro and Business Edition you can here.
What’s new in version 20.3.0
General
- Fixes the issue that led to the reset of a virtual machine’s suspended state when upgrading to Parallels Desktop for Mac 20.2.0 or newer.
- Fixes the issue that led to an active Parallels Desktop license being shown as expired.
- Fixes the issue that prevented macOS 15 users from authenticating the installation of Parallels Desktop with Touch ID.
- Fixes the issue that required double authentication (TouchID and password) to change the settings of a protected virtual machine.
- Adds support for SSE 4.2 instruction set in x86-64 emulation mode, required by many modern operating systems.
- Adds Event Emitter functionality to the Parallels Desktop command-line utility (prlctl monitor-events) that continues to stream virtual machine events that an external recipient can listen to instead of querying for changes. Available in Pro, Business, and Enterprise editions.
Full list of changes available here
Parallels Desktop for Mac
$99.99
In English
Version 20.3.0
What users say about Parallels Desktop
Value: 1.0
Since version 16 and MacOS Big Sur, Parallels Desktop no longer works properly. To be precise, network and Internet connections are no longer possible.
Customer support: 1.0
The worst point of all. Paralles' customer service doesn't seem to care about customer complaints. The Internet and the official support forums are full of the aforementioned errors and complaints, but the customer service offers no solutions to the problem. Even worse, they don't respond at all in the meantime.
Other user ratings:
Ease of use | 5.0
Features | 4.0
Reliability | 1.0
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(749 Reviews of Parallels Desktop)
Comments
User Ratings
Apr 8 2025
Version: 20.2.2
The MU download link returns you to exactly here. Use this link for the trial version installer: https://www.parallels.com/directdownload/pd/
Feb 28 2025
Version: 20.2.2
The folks at Parallels should be ashamed of how long it took them to release this security update! It was discovered and reported to them months ago and the failed to patch this (zero-day) critical security flaw in a timely manner. It wasn't until the flaw discoverer publicly published (with proof of concept) the flaw last week, did they do something about it months later. They left their customers exposed ..........!! Keep this in mind if you're considering this product.
Feb 15 2025
Version: 20.2.1
I've replaced VMWare Fusion with Parallels Desktop, years ago, after carefully testing their speed and reliability — I can only talk about versions that run on 10.14 for the time being. VMWare Fusion remains better for Windows, but for the rest (MacOS, Android, Linux), definitively not. It's important to tinker settings values until you find the best ones (but the generally recommended "half of the CPU cores and half of the RAM" available in your computer work great).
Dec 20 2024
Version: 20.1.2
I found out that Parallels Desktop for Mac connects to a Chinese website (parallels.cn) when you start it up.
I posted a screen capture of this event on their forums and asked what was going on and I was immediately banned.
What's going on, Parallels?!
