Parallels Desktop for Mac lets you run Windows and Windows apps on your Mac, shoulder to shoulder with OS X.
- Parallels Desktop for Mac Pro Edition is the easiest and most powerful application to run Windows on Mac for developers, testers, and experienced power users. Specifically tailored for users who need the best performance and extended functionality for running non-Mac apps on Mac.
- Virtualization software Parallels on Thursday issued its latest release, Parallels Desktop 12 for Mac, with a host of new features including support for Apple's upcoming macOS Sierra, a standalone Toolbox app and performance improvements.
If anyone installs Sierra, I would be interested to know if Parallels / Windows 10 is working correctly with it. Thank you in advance.
Parallels For Mac Reviews
Pros
VM setup choices: With Parallels Desktop for Mac, you can set up a virtual machine by using a Windows 10 disc image; by migrating Windows from a PC, either over a network or from an external hard drive; or by using the version of Windows you installed with Apple's Boot Camp, if you previously went through that process. Or you can run a second copy of OS X, earlier versions of Windows, or Chrome OS in the Parallels virtual machine.
Choice of views: After setup, select how you want to see and work with Windows. If you choose the Coherence view, Parallels folds Windows into OS X, placing a collection of Windows controls in the OS X menu bar and dock, giving you access to the Start menu, Action Center, and System Tray icons. Exiting the Coherence view presents the traditional Windows desktop and apps gathered in a separate window. Either way, it's easy to move between OS X and Windows environments.
Parallels 7 Mac Sierra
Solid integration: Through Parallels, you have quick access to the Windows 10 Store and the Edge browser and the ability to call on Cortana for help. Copy and paste works seamlessly between environments.
Cons
Almost too well integrated: The Coherence view sweeps away the Windows desktop, but the way it merges the Windows and OS X environments can feel cluttered, with Windows and OS X controls crowded into the menu bar, for example.
Bottom Line
Parallels Desktop for Mac does a good job of letting you work in the OS X and Windows environments simultaneously, switching between Mac and Windows apps. You have several options for how to blend Windows into OS X, although at times the merged OSes can feel a bit crowded.
What do you need to know about free software?
I wanted to install macOS High Sierra on a virtual machine on my Mac so that I could debug some issues. The host machine is running macOS and the guest VM would be running macOS as well.
VirtualBox does not support APFS right now and neither does Parallels Lite. This is a problem since APFS is the default for macOS High Sierra.
Although it should be possible to install macOS High Sierra in VirtualBox on an HFS+ disk, I could not get it to work with VirtualBox. However, I was able to get it working with Parallels Desktop Lite (after a couple workarounds).
I am assuming you are comfortable working with the command line, and already have a High Sierra installer available to you and downloaded on your Mac.
First, generate an
.iso
file from the High Sierra installer (thanks to some helpfulguides for showing me how to do this).Run each of these commands one after another. If something goes wrong, you can reboot to clear things out and try again.
Install the Parallels Lite App from the App Store. Follow the wizard to create a new virtual machine. Choose to “Install Windows or another OS from a DVD or image file”.
Click “Locate Manually” to manually select our
HighSierra.iso
file.You may see a warning saying “Unable to detect operating system”. That is ok.
Click “Continue” and select “macOS” as the operating system.
The virtual machine should then boot to the installation iso.
Launch
Terminal
from the Utilities
menu.Parallels
Format the virtual machine hard drive as
HFS+
using the terminal.![Parallels For Mac Sierra Parallels For Mac Sierra](/uploads/1/2/6/0/126058669/845955356.jpg)
Reboot the VM and it should boot to the installation iso again. Rebooting may be overkill, but I do it to ensure that the install iso is properly detecting the disk and partition layouts after the erase we just performed.
Again, launch
Terminal
from the Utilities
menu.Parallels For Mac Free Download
We will use a special installer command called
startosinstall
, and manually run the installer from the iso rather than using the GUI.The only flags needed are
--converttoapfs NO
to prevent converting the disk to APFS, and --volume /Volumes/MacHD
to specify our target installation volume.