Does Parallels Desktop 20 work with MacOS X 10.5, 10.6

According to the release notes, Parallels Desktop 20 "removed support for Mac OS X 10.5 to 10.8". Does this mean that it doesn't actually work any more with these guest operating systems, or that you no longer support these Virtual Machines any more, and so they may or may not work properly.
I still require Mac OS X 10.5, 10.6 VMs so I can build and test our product on PPC hardware
Regards,
Chris

 

Hi warnergt,
Thank you. I will risk the upgrade then.
Regards,
Chris

 

Hi warnergt and anyone else interested in old MacOS X VMs,
Well I tried it. While a 64-bit MacOS X 10.6.8 VM does indeed boot, on my MacBook Pro 2019 with macOS 13.6.9:

1. launchd crashes on login.
2. Parallels Tools do not work. No shared folders, dynamic screen resolution etc.
3. Attempts to reinstall Parallels Tools fails because the new installer has been marked as incompatible with MacOS X 10.6.
   
4. The VM refuses to boot with the Parallels hypervisor. You must use Apple's hypervisor.
   
5. I didn't bother trying my 32-but MacOS X 10.6.8 VM, nor the MacOS 10.5.8 VM.

Your mileage may vary, but it's pretty useless to me. I downgraded back to Parallels 19.4.1 using a Time machine backup. (Just replace /Applications/Parallels Desktop.app with the backup and reboot a few times when you are told to, and the reinstall Parallels Tools on VMs you "upgraded" when prompted.)

To the Parallels people, I don't actually want or need anything in Parallels 20, other than continued security fixes and other bug fixes. How about just providing security fixes only, say, for Parallels 19.x, on Intel only? I have been a customer since Parallels 4.x and have tried to help you fix problems over the years...
Regards,
Chris

 

The statement in Parallels Desktop 20's release notes about "removing support for Mac OS X 10.5 to 10.8" means that Parallels will no longer actively provide updates, bug fixes, or technical support for virtual machines running these older macOS versions. However, this doesn't necessarily mean they won't work at all--it means there's no guarantee of compatibility, and they may or may not function properly.

If you require Mac OS X 10.5 or 10.6 virtual machines for testing on PPC hardware, you can still try running them, but issues might arise without any official support. It's recommended to test the setup first to see if it meets your needs before relying on it for critical work. If compatibility issues arise, you might need to explore alternative solutions, such as using older versions of Parallels that still fully support these macOS versions.

 

I have had nothing but trouble with Parallells 20 running Snow Leopard server. After installing it i lost all toolbox functions including screen size and most importantly shared folders. I tried reinstalling 20 and got it to work until I updated to the latest release of 20 and again lost all toolbox function. Trying to reinstall toolbox resulted in a disc image with a non functional installer. Even restoring 19 from Time Machine did not work. Had to download the 19 installer and run after removing 20.

 

PD 26 host and Snow Leopard Server guest

Hi. Yesterday I installed Parallels Desktop 26. Three of my VMs (Mojave, Monterey and Windows 10) seem to work OK, but my old Snow Leopard Server VM is now unable to boot. Naturally, it will still work because I have a working snapshot that I can resort to, but the fact that Parallels now says there is no operating system in this virtual machine if I try to restart it is somewhat disturbing. Anyone have an idea how to force PD 26 to actually see the Snow Leopard operating system and make it boot up the virtual machine?

 

I upgraded from Parallels Desktop for Mac 20 to the new 26 version. Install worked, but on launch Snow Leopard VM errored out with an error message that it could not find the VM
I re-loaded the 20 version and I can again use that VM
With version 20 I cannot re-install the Parallels Toolbox, so those features cannot be used in the Snow Leopard partition - regrettably that means no shared folders.

 

For what it's worth, you can still install Parallels Tools 19.4.1 on Parallels Desktop 20, and they will also work on PD 26, provided they were already in place before updating. Sadly, the Snow Leopard virtual machine itself won't reboot when PD 26 is used.