Upgraded to PD12 - Is it Possible to Go back to PD11?

Hi,
I just upgrade to PD 12 and really do not like the changes that were made regarding running your VMs (specifically Windows) in full screen mode.
Is it possible to uninstall PD12 and reinstall PD11? My main concern is that I have already started my VMs in PD12 and the new Parallels Tools for PD12 have already been installed in the VMs. Will this be an issue if I reinstall PD11 and then try to open my VMs?

Ray

 

Are you talking about this?

"I used to be able to run a full screen VM, literally press Command + Space to wake up mac Spotlight, type "chrome", and the chrome web browser would start. The VM remained full screen and in the background so I frequently moved whatever I was doing on my mac to the side and could see both the VM apps running, and the mac apps running; effectively turning the running VM into a live background." - me, in an email to support wondering why they removed YET ANOTHER feature from the newest version of PD12

 

As long as your VM's are stored in the standard location a downgrade should work the same as an upgrade. You will need the parallels desktop 11.dmg file which you can download after login into your parallels account. I would HIGHLY RECOMMEND making a backup before trying this. Actually if you are not able to make a backup i would not go forward because anything can happen when installing software. If you do have your backup the process should be as simple as upgrading was. uninstall parallels desktop 12 and make sure to keep all your .pvm files. next mount the parallels desktop 11 .DMG file and install. The safest option here would be to use a backup you have and just restore but im guessing from the post that you dont have a backup of your mac with parallels 11 installed?

 

Hey, you can make a snapshot (actions -> take snapshot) and then downgrade to the Parallels Desktop 11.
Once you start your VM in 11 version-> Parallels Tools will be reinstalled automatically.

 

In case anyone else is interested, I was able to downgrade to PD 11 without any problems. I deleted the Parallels Desktop 12 app from the Applications folder. Reinstalled PD 11 and then restarted all my VMs. Each one re-installed the PD 11 Tools and are all running fine.

 

I too can confirm downgrade without incident. A flawless rollback is the best feature of PD12

 

Could you rollback using snapshots ?

 

Can this be done by removing Parallels 12 from applications and then restoring Parallels 11 from a Time Capsule backup?

 

yes but you can just remove parallels desktop 12 and then install parallels desktop 11 and you will have 11 running again and your VM's will be untouched as long as when you delete parallels desktop 12 make sure to leave VM's on the machine if it asks. Now download 11 and install. Your ready to go.
http://www.parallels.com/directdownload/pd11/

 

Parallels 11 works great in Sierra... what a cluster

 

Parallels 11.2.2 just added support for macOS Sierra (even though 11.2.1 was working fine for me). Why would anyone upgrade to v12 again?

 

BillM4: I'm glad I read this post. Parallels 12 sounds like an absolute nightmare -- not even Beta quality. The only reason I haven't upgraded my host OS from El Capitan to Sierra is a fear that Parallels 11 wouldn't run properly. So are you saying that Parallels 11 (I'm running 11.2.1) will run just fine on Sierra?
What about the guest (VM) OS's? My Parallels VMs are currently running El Capitan, the same OS as the host. Is Sierra supported at the VM level as well?

 

Hi DavidS13,
you can use Parallels Desktop 11 on macOS Sierra. Refer to this article.

 

I can confirm that I'm running a Windows 10 VM (not specifically an OS X El-Capitan VM), and 11.2.2 (and 11.2.1) work in Sierra.