Parallels Desktop is the best choice for running multiple OS on my Mac
I use Parallels Desktop to access Windows on my Mac. There are eLearning and local government design applications that require the …
Starting at $49.99 per license
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What is Parallels Desktop?
Parallels Desktop is a virtual user session solution built to run Windows on Macintosh computers without rebooting. It is designed for OS X Yosemite with one-click tuning.
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- File transfer (23)9.898%
- Screen sharing (9)9.090%
- Access to sleeping/powered-off computers (10)8.787%
- Centralized management dashboard (11)8.585%
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Parallels Desktop 16
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Parallels Desktop
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Parallels Desktop 3.0 for Mac - VM Explorer Demo
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How to Run Windows on Mac : Parallels Desktop for Mac
Parallels Desktop Technical Details
| Deployment Types | On-premise |
|---|---|
| Operating Systems | Windows, Linux, Mac |
| Mobile Application | No |
Frequently Asked Questions
Parallels Desktop is a virtual user session solution built to run Windows on Macintosh computers without rebooting. It is designed for OS X Yosemite with one-click tuning.
Reviewers rate File transfer highest, with a score of 9.8.
The most common users of Parallels Desktop are from Small Businesses (1-50 employees).
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Reviews
(1-21 of 21)Companies can't remove reviews or game the system. Here's why
I use Parallels Desktop to access Windows on my Mac. There are eLearning and local government design applications that require the exclusive use of the Windows OS and this has helped me to not need to have two computers, but work on one machine with access to both operating systems. Additionally, on occasions there are colleagues who require support on their computers and I can replicate the problem they may have on the operating system they are running in a friendly and very fast way.
- Windows loads and runs even faster than on a PC
- I can access any OS from within my macOS session.
- It does not consume too many resources and I can multitask.
- The use of external storage devices are always seen as local hard disks and this makes it difficult to manage certain mobile information.
- The weight of the Windows load files are very large and it is like having a complete computer with the OS loaded on the hard disk of my local machine.
February 22, 2024
Desktop virtualization with power and ease.
We are an all Apple environment, but still, we have plenty of applications that require us to run Windows. In some cases, we have entire departments that have this need, and in other instances, it’s a single user. Prior to implementing Parallels Desktop, we had some people who were lugging around an old Dell laptop in addition to a MacBook Pro for a single application. The IT department also uses to easily spin up virtual machines for testing and training on our machines.
- Quickly share resources between the host machine and guest. Great for when we process data in MacOS and then need it in a virtual machine.
- Coherence mode is great for a lot of users. They don’t even realize the app isn’t running natively on the host operating system.
- The user interface for managing virtual machines isn’t my favorite.
January 10, 2024
Parallels Desktop Review on a MacBook Pro M3 Max
I use Parallels to run various operating systems on my MacBook Pro. This includes Windows, Windows Server, Linux, and more. There are many programs only written for Windows such as MS Project which works well as I recently had a project plan with over 12,000 lines in it for a major construction effort and MS Project worked as well on my Parallels enabled MacBook Pro M3 as on other native Windows systems. You can also use applications written for Linux that can help with DevOps use cases and helped with some MLOps use cases.
- Fast Windows Emulation
- Multiple OS Support
- Parallels Tools with many useful apps
- Ability to unify MacOS and Windows
- The ability to do snapshots, backups, and other types of branching for VMs is a little confusing and takes a bit to get used to
- The Parallels tools frequently pop up windows advertising functionality, while this is helpful at times it can also happen when you are doing a presentation or typing in a password.
- Careful using the VMs on a shared cloud drive such as Dropbox or OneDrive, there are hundreds and sometimes thousands of files which are updated when running a VM and this can clog up your Dropbox or OneDrive sync for minutes to hours even on a 2gb connection.
January 10, 2024
Superb software for cross environment compatibility
Most of my work is on Apple only software but I have some software that is only available on Windows. Parallels allows me to have the best of both worlds.
I also love the fact I can sandbox an Apple OS and have multiple Windows installations including XP for some very dated serial software that doesn’t work after that.
- Windows integration
- Multiple operating systems
- Sandboxing
- Size of update installers
March 21, 2022
If you need to run Windows Apps and are Mac User, buy Parallels. Best decision you can make.
Parallels Desktop is used in my organization and with our customers to support Windows Apps when there is no Mac Application or the Mac Application is not fully featured.
We have a legacy application where only administrative functions can be performed in a Windows App. For some of our customers, all users are Mac users. Parallels and their Coherence Mode provide a near-seamless virtual machine/desktop experience for these users. Coherence Mode means they don't have to deal with a windows environment and can work side by side with our app and their other Mac apps (Adobe Creative Cloud apps, for example).
We have a legacy application where only administrative functions can be performed in a Windows App. For some of our customers, all users are Mac users. Parallels and their Coherence Mode provide a near-seamless virtual machine/desktop experience for these users. Coherence Mode means they don't have to deal with a windows environment and can work side by side with our app and their other Mac apps (Adobe Creative Cloud apps, for example).
- Windows (or other OS) virtualization on machines running MacOS
- Using Windows apps side by side your Mac apps
- Coherence Mode allows you to hide the Windows Virtual Machine and only interact with the Windows Apps (no Windows desktop in browser window)
- I think that over time it slows down, but this is really linked to Windows bloating.
- I think Coherence Mode could improve slightly...how the windows search window populates and moves around sometimes is weird. (this could be changed in settings, but I'm not sure)
- Memory Usage optimization (again, they do a great job, so I'm nitpicking here)
December 20, 2021
Works if you need it. Will make your MacBook an inferno.
We use Parallels [Desktop] strictly because we are an Apple company, but the technical writing software we use is only available on Windows.
- It allows easy back and forth between operating systems. Can access all my Mac documents within my Parallels [Desktop] instance.
- [It] is a fully functioning Windows operating system on my MacBook.
- My MacBook gets incredibly hot when I run Parallels [Desktop]. Like scorching hot.
- My MacBook's battery only lasts 1 hour when running Parallels [Desktop}. Normally will last over 4 hours.
November 10, 2021
Best Application of Virtual Machine for MacOS
I'm using Parallels Desktop for to have multiple operating systems all in one device. I can set the CPU, RAM, and Harddisk according to how many sources I need. Also, this app works really stable and supports almost all operating systems. Also possible to sync files between the local device and virtual machine.
- Virtualization
- Customisable
- Safe place for external files
- Security
- Expensive
- Need an stable version for Windows
November 02, 2021
Parallels give you power, functionality and a smooth interface for all your desktop virtualization needs
Parallels Desktop allows our organization to virtualize Windows and Linux as well as MacOS on the company Mac computers. While not all departments use it, the Systems Department and Schooling Management teams do make use of it every day. We are able to test software and capabilities as well as run Windows programs that are not compatible natively with the Mac. State school system still use legacy software for accessing student data and Windows is sadly still a requirement. The Systems team uses a lot of Linux VM's to experiment with security testing and to create secure labs and Parallels Desktop becomes critical.
- Takes good advantage of hardware
- Virtualizes very efficiently
- Is fast and responsive
- Allows virtually seamless integration of overlapping OS'
- It could launch faster
- the licensing model forces upgrades often
- Has a relatively high resource footprint
I use Parallels to run older versions of Mac OS X on my MacBook Pro for the purposes of testing apps on older versions of Mac OS. Parallels does this job perfectly, by allowing me to easily boot up older versions of the OS at leisure. I also run Windows 10 in Parallels so I can use PC-only apps that are not available on OS X.
- File Transfer - You can easily transfer files between Parallels virtualized desktops and the host desktop either through Copy and Paste functionality, or Drag and Drop. You can also configure shared folders.
- Switch Between Virtual and Host Desktop - You can configure swipe gestures on a MacBook Pro to be able to switch between the virtualized and host desktop. You can also launch apps from the OS X Taskbar.
- Performance - Apps in Parallels run quite smoothly on my 2015 MacBook Pro, as of 2020. Considering they are running on a 5-year-old computer, I give Parallels top marks for performance.
- Support for more versions of OS X. For instance, I would like to install Snow Leopard, but it is not supported. Parallels supports Snow Leopard Server but it is prohibitively expensive now, having gone up in price due to rarity and also likely because of people needing it due to the lack of support for normal Snow Leopard.
- Compatibility issues with certain versions of OS X, meaning you have to continually upgrade Parallels for it to work with the current version of OS X. It would be better if older versions of Parallels continued to work bug-free with updated versions of OS X.
- Lack of support for gaming and multimedia - The newest version of DirectX is not supported at the time of this writing, and some games that run at 90-110 FPS on host architecture or BootCamp run at only 20 FPS in Parallels.
January 24, 2020
Life Saver
I am the only user as our company is very small. I use Parallels in order to access Windows because my accounting program (QuickBooks Desktop Pro) is only available in Windows and not in Mac.
- I like how it is a separate entity from the workings of my Mac. I can access the programs on Windows in a separate section on my desktop.
- Parallels allows Windows to run seamlessly.
- Parallels uses a lot of RAM, so unless your machine has 16 GB of RAM, it will probably run slowly.
January 17, 2020
Parallels for Windows Browser Testing
Parallels Desktop is primarily used for testing Microsoft Windows browsers within macOS. Running Microsoft Windows 10 within Parallels allows us to test both the Internet Explorer 11 and Microsoft Edge browsers for front-end development. It can also be used to run Windows-specific software that will not work in macOS, as well as add support for writing to NTFS drive partitions.
- Easy to use
- Easy to setup
- Support for all major guest operating systems
- Good integration within macOS
- Good performance
- Expensive
- Pricing and release model forces yearly upgrades
- Some default settings can be undesirable if wanting to reduce integration with macOS
January 16, 2020
Parallels is an excellent choice for local Virtual Machines
About half of our Mac users have Parallels installed on their systems, both for the purposes of coding for two different systems, as well as for testing purposes. There are many different departments that use Parallels, for software development, support and QA testing purposes. It allows them to use a single machine for all their needs, instead of having to connect to a remote VM or use two machines.
- Ease of setup
- Responsive
- Easily configurable
- Needs better error messages
- Better handling of network loss
- Better handling of USB
October 31, 2019
Parallels Lets Your Users Dump Windows with Coherence Mode
As my department continues to have designers and developers migrate off of Windows operating systems and onto Macs, we needed a solution for those users to access legacy business applications that work only with Macs. As a result, Parallels was our solution of choice, as it offered simple Windows virtualization on the Mac without a need for centralized VM management (though we have that too).
- Simple, intuitive Windows virtualization: Parallels makes it easy to create a guest operating system on your Mac. From there, users can easily access legacy business applications that work only on Windows.
- Coherence Mode: Allows Windows applications to run side by side with Mac applications in MacOS—this gives users a more cohesive environment to work in, enabling them to be productive and not requiring them to switch contexts constantly.
- Performance: Parallels continues to focus on enhanced performance with every new release.
- Price: While Parallels offers great functionality and support for their price, there are free options available that satisfy my needs, namely, VirtualBox.
- 3D Performance: This is less of a knock against Parallels, and rather a shortcoming of virtualization in general - it's hard to get "bare metal" performance from a virtual machine when using 3D applications.
- Upgrade Justification: For some time, Parallels has struggled to justify an upgrade to its users, other than "compatibility" with the latest MacOS. This continues to be the case.
We use Parallels Desktop in our organization for users who use Mac platform. Many products for which we provide consulting services such as Oracle EBS and some integration software for Oracle Cloud do not work on Mac. Parallels Desktop allows us to use these software with ease and efficiency without having dedicated separate machines.
- You don't need to switch between host and guest system like other virtual systems.
- Apps from the guest system shows in menu which makes them seamless to use.
- Even the most resource intensive software run smoothly such as visual studio.
- The overall requirement to run this on older laptops is bit too high. If you are running with less than 8 GB ram, it slows down the system quite badly.
- Installation is quite tricky.
November 06, 2018
Virtual Software Solution That really Exists
Parallels is being used right now by users who want/requested Macs and also need a Windows machine to do certain business functions. It is being used across the whole organization in various departments. A business problem Parallels helps solve is that some users have needs that are better met with Macs, but want Windows as well due to the fact of us being a Windows shop.
- Snapshots, being able to create images of your Windows VM daily
- Share folders across machines
- Disk IO, never seems to be a hog
- Size, it seems bloated
- We have had issues with users trying to reclaim disk space. Not sure if it is just us or a known hassle
- Updates seem few and far between
September 11, 2018
Parallels Desktop - The best choice for virtual machines on Mac
As a person whose job it is to test and troubleshoot audio video equipment with a variety of equipment attached, and as a Mac user that relies on a variety of Windows software tools to accomplish my job, I spend most of my work day in virtual operating environments. When I first started using Parallels, I tested it against other options such as VirtualBox and VMWare. I have tested those options since then and every time, Parallels stands out as the most stable and most efficient option.
When it comes to the virtual environment configuration customization and USB compatibility with non-standard devices, Parallels consistently stands at the top of the list.
When it comes to the virtual environment configuration customization and USB compatibility with non-standard devices, Parallels consistently stands at the top of the list.
- USB device compatibility. This is ESSENTIAL when using some of the USB-connected testing hardware I often have to work with.
- Parallels also makes it seamless to share data between the host OS and the virtual environment.
- I spend most of my time in Parallels running Windows, but at times I do load up a Linux or Android VM for testing. I am able to switch back and forth between them or run multiples with little to no effort.
- I honestly cannot think of anything I would want Parallels to add or do differently. After 10 years of use, since Parallels 4, I have stuck with Parallels because they just do it right from the beginning.
February 01, 2018
Multi-OS Engineers - here's your one-stop-shop solution
We use Parallels as a catalyst to being able to use Mac computers while still being able to use Windows OS. 90% or more of our product team (developers and QA) use Windows for their development needs with running code locally. Visual Studio and Visual Studio Code have systems in place that allow us to run our distinct code locally in a browser to test our specific changes. Parallels allows us to have both OSX and Windows on the same machine and without having to own two computers. Parallels also allows OS specific files to be shared between the two operating systems.
- Being able to use two OSs at the same time allows me to use OS-specific applications at the same time on the same machine.
- Parallels works like a browser window or any other "program" window on your native machine, you can minimize parallels like any other program which means you're essentially able to minimize and hide an entire computer screen.
- File sharing. Being able to access, say, a Microsoft Office document on windows and then can save it and open it on my native Mac system means that it's immensely more efficient than having to use to computers.
- You can use virtual desktops as your OS rather than having to share hard drive space between two OSs and having to partition the processor locally to run both OSs at the same time.
- Adjusting settings in Parallels is difficult and confusing. There are a few different menus that only open depending on whether Parallels is running or not.
- Setting up an "are you sure you want to close" modal when closing out of the program via the mac side. It can get confusing switching between Mac and PC windows and clicking the correct "exit" button since Mac and PC are on opposite sides.
- Parallels uses a ton of local processor data. Making Parallels more CPU friendly for users that aren't running i7 processors would greatly improve their attraction to non-commercial developer users.
December 09, 2017
When you need to run Windows on a Mac to look good.
Parallels desktop was used by Apple OS users who needed Windows specific applications. It was also used by executives who wanted a Macintosh computer but wanted to solely use Windows OS. The issue was unsupported applications for Mac OS or aesthetic preferences by executives.
- Emulates the entire Windows OS on a Macintosh computer. You can launch the entire Windows OS from your Mac desktop and work entirely in a Windows desktop environment.
- Emulates specific programs if you want to run in Windows mode. With this option you don't have to be in a separate OS but launch single applications with Parallels.
- There were occasions where the system would crash. Typically there would be no reason and a reboot would resolve the issue.
I'm the only Mac-user at my company. We provide BIM Consultancy services for clients and work a lot with BIM-software tools, which are often Windows-only. I have used Parallels for several years. It allows me to use software such as Autodesk Revit and Navisworks and a few others, although I prefer Mac-versions for software where they are available (ARCHICAD, Rhinoceros).
I've used BootCamp to have a separate Windows partition. Parallels allows me to access this also in a running macOS session, which is my primary use (even though performance does suffer a bit).
I've used BootCamp to have a separate Windows partition. Parallels allows me to access this also in a running macOS session, which is my primary use (even though performance does suffer a bit).
- Run the Bootcamp partition in a running macOS session.
- Integrate in both directions: copy/paste text, open files in both directions, integrate the file system, to read and write files in either direction.
- Using the same hardware and network connection.
- Run Clickshare in a Windows session, when the Mac-version fails due to non-updated system firmware updates.
- No update for OpenGL 3, which prevents some 3D applications from launching. The Windows-version of SketchUp is but one example.
- Frequent (yearly) updates which don't always bring benefits (I always skip at least one version).
February 16, 2017
Parallels: unparalleled simplicity
Right now, we only use Parallels in a single user environment. I do software development on an iMac, but the development platform only works under Windows. I use Parallels to run Windows 10 side-by-side with Mac OS X. There are so many things I love about the iMac that I can't get with a Windows PC; Parallels give me a great compromise. I can use all the features I love about the Mac alongside my Windows environment. The Parallels Coherence mode allows me to run my Windows applications and OS X applications as though they were running under one OS. I love it!
- Range of application support. When I first started using Parallels, one of the applications I run for development seemed to have issues running in the VM. I discovered that I had actually failed to install a needed Windows component during the installation process. To date, I haven't found any applications that don't play nice in the Parallels environment.
- Ease of Use. This one deserves honorable mention. The setup was a snap; their setup wizard is excellent and asked me difficult technical questions in plain English so I was able to set up Parallels in just a few minutes. The user interface is pretty much what you see is what you get, with a caveat I'll explain later.
- Coherence Mode. I've mentioned this already in the review, but the Coherence mode is just cool. Parallels runs in a sort of full-screen mode but sits behind the Mac OS. Programs appear in the dock with two vertical bars so you know they're actually running under Parallels. Otherwise, the transition between Mac and Windows under Parallels is almost transparent.
- Keyboard shortcuts. This is the only thing I've really struggled with in using Parallels. When moving from Mac to Windows and back, the keyboard shortcut keys change. For example, to copy+paste under Windows is Ctrl + C and Ctrl + V. Under the Mac it is Command + C and Command + V. Small thing, but when you're hurrying, it can cause trouble. Some of the keyboard shortcuts for moving to the beginning or end of a line also don't work quite right in Parallels. Now, this could all be user error. I've still got some searching to do.
March 25, 2016
Parallels Desktop for Mac bridging the GAP
I deployed Parallels Desktop to 40 Macs. Parallels is mainly used on MacBooks; Parallels Desktop for Mac was deployed to Mac users who need Windows to run some applications but wanted a stable operating system to run on. Once deployed we were able to recoup PCs and redeploy them to other users. We also used Parallels Desktop for Mac in a classroom with 15 Macs. The setup saved the school $15,000 for three semesters because the classroom could accommodate Windows or Mac users so the school wouldn’t have to rent outside space.
- Parallels Desktop is very stable and over the year has improved tremendously. I particularly love the migration, this feature allows a user to convert a desktop image to virtual image.
- Parallels Desktop is very user friendly and users actually believe they are working on a real Windows Desktop. I use Parallels Desktop to constantly test applications that need to run in both a Windows and Mac environment.
- I love the snapshot feature I recovered several users VM with this feature it's one of best backup options I have ever used.
- I am quite satisfied with features and I have no complaints. I have no problem with functionality.
- It would be nice if it was a little bit cheaper for home users.