Parallels Desktop for Mac Resources
- What's New in Parallels Desktop 17 for Mac
- Getting Started with Parallels Desktop 17 for Mac
- Parallels Desktop 17 for Mac User's Guide
- Parallels Transporter Agent User's Guide
- Parallels Desktop Pro Edition Command-Line Reference
- Parallels Python API Reference
- Parallels C API Reference
- Parallels Virtualization SDK Programmer's Guide
- Readme for SDK
System requirements
Run most applications such as Microsoft Office, accounting software, trading software, SAP, Matlab, and more.
Processor
Any Apple silicon chip
Intel Core i5, Core i7, Core i9, Intel Core M or Xeon processor
Memory
4 GB of RAM
Storage
600 MB for Parallels Desktop application installation
Additional disk space for the guest operating system (at least 16 GB is required for Windows OS)
Graphics
Apple M2, M2 Pro, M2 Max, M2 Ultra, M1, M1 Pro, M1 Max and M1 Ultra chips
Intel, AMD Radeon, or NVIDIA graphics cards
Operating system
macOS Sonoma 14.0 or newer
macOS Ventura 13.2 or newer
macOS Monterey 12.6 or newer
macOS Big Sur 11.7 or newer[1]
macOS Catalina 10.15.7 or newer[1]
macOS Mojave 10.14.6 or newer[1]
[1] — the marked OS version is not supported by Parallels Desktop 19, and the product installer will set up an earlier product version; support of guest operating systems can be limited. It is recommended to update macOS if possible.
For graphics-intensive applications, high loads, and running multiple virtual machines.
Processor
Apple M2, M2 Pro, M2 Max, M2 Ultra, M1 Pro, M1 Max and M1 Ultra chips
Intel Core i5, Core i7, Core i9 or Xeon processor
Memory
16 GB of RAM or more
Storage
600 MB for Parallels Desktop application installation
Additional disk space for the guest operating system (at least 16 GB is required for Windows OS)
Graphics
Apple M2, M2 Pro, M2 Max, M2 Ultra, M1, M1 Pro, M1 Max and M1 Ultra chips
AMD Radeon Pro graphics card
Operating system
macOS Sonoma 14.0 or newer
macOS Ventura 13.2 or newer
macOS Monterey 12.6 or newer
macOS Big Sur 11.7 or newer[1]
macOS Catalina 10.15.7 or newer[1]
macOS Mojave 10.14.6 or newer[1]
[1] — Product installer will setup an earlier product version; support of guest operating systems can be limited. It is recommended to update macOS if possible.
Supported guest operating systems (Mac with Apple silicon):
Only ARM versions of operating systems are supported.
- Windows 11 Pro and Enterprise editions (recommended)
- Ubuntu Linux 23.04, 22.04, 21.10, 21.04, 20.10, 20.04
- Fedora Workstation 38 and 37
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9
- Debian GNU/Linux 11 and 10
- Kali Linux 2023.1, 2022.2, 2022.1, 2021.3
- macOS Monterey 12 (in-app download)
- macOS Ventura 13 (in-app download)
- macOS Sonoma 14 (in-app download)
Supported guest operating systems (Mac with Intel processors):
Only x86 versions of operating systems are supported.
- Windows 11 (recommended)
- Windows 10[1]
- Windows Server 2022
- Windows Server 2019
- Windows Server 2016
Note: To run legacy Windows OS versions (2000, XP, Vista, 7, 8/8.1), download and use Parallels Tools version 18.3.0. Learn more at https://kb.parallels.com/en/129252.
Parallels Desktop for Mac emulates PC hardware, so operating systems that are not present in this list can work as well. You can download the Parallels Desktop trial and install an operating system of your choice. If it doesn’t work and you believe it should be supported, let us know at Parallels Forum.
To learn more about limitations of running Windows 11 in Parallels Desktop, please visit KB 129497.
Parallels Tools for Linux require X Window System version 1.15-1.20 and Linux Kernel version 3.1-6.4-rc2.