Parallels Desktop 15 for Mac: Updates Summary

Parallels Desktop 15 for Mac 15.1.5 (47309)
This update for Parallels Desktop 15 for Mac 15.1.5 (47309) addresses stability issues and includes the following fixes and improvements:

• Resolves an issue with not being able to install Windows 10 Insider Preview 20H2 in a virtual machine.
• Resolves an issue with an error message appearing after the Parallels Tools installation and saying that Parallels Tools cannot be updated.
• Resolves an issue with suspended virtual machines not resuming on Macs with an Intel Core i9 processor type and upgraded to macOS 10.15 Catalina.
• Resolves a very rare issue with Parallels Desktop continuously asking to restart the Mac after being installed in macOS 10.15 Catalina.

macOS 11 Big Sur

• Resolves an issue with Parallels Desktop not starting in macOS 11 Big Sur.
• Resolves an issue with Parallels Desktop freezing when opening a virtual machine configuration.
• Resolves an issue with Parallels Desktop freezing when a user chooses to quit the app.
• Resolves an issue with a keyboard not typing certain symbols in a virtual machine (e.g., 1, 2, T, Y, etc.).
• Resolves an issue with Parallels Desktop crashing after a user logs in to Windows.
• Resolves an issue with Parallels Desktop crashing after clicking "VM is ready" at the end of the virtual machine installation.
• Resolves an issue with a macOS virtual machine showing a black screen after upgrading it to macOS 11 Big Sur.
• Resolves an issue with Parallels Desktop incorrectly showing the macOS 11 Big Sur version as 10.16.

Parallels Desktop 15 for Mac 15.1.4 (47270)
This update for Parallels Desktop 15 for Mac 15.1.4 (47270) addresses overall stability and security issues, and includes the following fixes and improvements:

• Adds support for Ubuntu 19.10.
• Adds support for Fedora 31.
• Resolves an issue with Parallels Tools failing to install in Fedora with kernel 5.5.8.
• From now on, you can update Parallels Desktop without having to enter a password.

Note: If you update Parallels Desktop from build 15.1.3 to this one, there's no need to update Parallels Tools.

Parallels Desktop 15 for Mac 15.1.3 (47255)
This update for Parallels Desktop 15 for Mac 15.1.3 (47255) addresses overall stability and security issues, and includes the following fixes and improvements:

• Install and use Windows 10 Insider Preview 20H1 in a virtual machine.
• Resolves an issue with the keyboard language in Windows 10 Insider Preview 20H1 not syncing with that in macOS and causing Microsoft Office apps to freeze or work slowly.
• Resolves an issue of not being able to join the Windows Insider Program.
• Resolves an issue of not being able to open guest OS files with host OS applications by dragging them from Windows 10 to macOS app icons in the Dock.
• Resolves an issue with Bluetooth support which caused Windows-connected devices to stop working after a short period of inactivity.
• Resolves an issue with right-click not working and Boot Camp Manager not opening after starting a Boot Camp virtual machine with Windows 10 in Parallels Desktop.
• Resolves an issue of not being able to use Windows Remote Assistance (msra.exe) in Coherence.
• Resolves an issue with shared smart card reader not accepting security PIN.
• Resolves an issue with background virtual machines appearing in the foreground after starting a Windows application.
• Resolves an issue with blurry text in Disco Elysium.
• Install and use RHEL 8.1 in a virtual machine.

Parallels Desktop 15 for Mac 15.1.2 (47123)
This update for Parallels Desktop 15 for Mac 15.1.2 (47123) addresses overall stability and security issues, and resolves an issue with the installation of Windows 10 November 2019 update (1909).

Parallels Desktop 15 for Mac 15.1.1 (47117)
This update for Parallels Desktop 15 for Mac 15.1.1 (47117) addresses overall stability and security issues, and includes the following fixes and improvements:

• Resolves an issue with a Windows virtual machine getting stuck while checking the disks after it was improperly shut down.
• Resolves an issue with Parallels Desktop crashing occasionally while the Mac is sleeping.
• Resolves an issue with not being able to create a Boot Camp virtual machine if the Boot Camp partition resides on a hard disk which is larger than 2 TB.
• Resolves an issue with not being able to install Parallels Tools in Linux virtual machines with kernel v5.1 or newer.
• Resolves an issue with Bentley MicroStation drawings becoming black and white after upgrading to Parallels Desktop 15.
• Resolves an issue with a Windows virtual machine crashing after launching the Cuphead video game.
• Resolves an issue with a Windows virtual machine crashing after launching the Hollow Knight: Godmaster video game.

Parallels Desktop 15 for Mac 15.1.0 (47107)
This update for Parallels Desktop 15 for Mac 15.1.0 (47107) has been created specially for the macOS 10.15 Catalina release. We have fixed the known issues that may happen when using Parallels Desktop and virtual machines in the latest version of macOS. Parallels engineers made Parallels Desktop more stable, secure and comfortable to use. This update includes the following new features, fixes and improvements:

macOS 10.15 Catalina
New Features:

• You can now use "Sign in with Apple" to create a Parallels account.
• Parallels Desktop 15 for Mac fully supports all macOS 10.15 Catalina security requirements. After you install Parallels Desktop, it asks your permission to access some of your folders and explains why access is required.

Resolved Issues:

• Resolves an issue with frame rate always locked to 60 fps.
• Resolves an issue with the Sidecar onscreen keyboard typing "aaaa" instead of correct symbols.
• Resolves an issue with not being able to open Windows applications' menus with Apple Pencil.
• Resolves an issue with not being able to share Windows files with Mac services.
• Resolves an issue with not being able to open Windows files with macOS system applications (e.g. TextEdit, Photos, Music, etc.).
• Resolves UI performance and font issues in Parallels Desktop.
• Resolves an issue with Parallels Desktop not showing alert notifications.
• Resolves an issue with the Parallels Desktop user interface displayed half-light or half-dark when the macOS appearance is set to "Auto".
• Resolves an issue with low resolution icons in the virtual machine status bar.
• Resolves an issue with the "Install" button displayed for Parallels Toolbox and Parallels Access though they are both already installed.
• Resolves an issue with not being able to create a macOS 10.15 Catalina virtual machine using the Recovery partition.
• Resolves an issue with Parallels Tools trying to reinstall every time after suspending and resuming a macOS 10.15 Catalina virtual machine.

Issues with Windows applications

• Resolves an issue with Luminar 2018, Photocentric Studio, Autodesk Recap 2015/2016, Expresii and Pix4Dmapper working incorrectly or not working at all.
• Resolves an issue with Altium Designer performance becoming slow.
• Resolves an issue with incorrect rendering of layers in Altium Designer 19.
• Resolves an issue with Autodesk Recap Photo showing an error message on startup.
• Resolves an issue with black screen displayed in MegaCAD 3D 2018.
• Resolves an issue with slow response in Microsoft Office 365 documents.
• Resolves an issue with slow scrolling in Microsoft Office applications.
• Resolves an issue with Vectorworks not refreshing its screen in 3D.
• Resolves an issue with NTi XL2 Data Explorer not showing any content in its window.
• Resolves an issue with Nox (Android emulator) showing black screen in a virtual machine.
• Resolves an issue with Metrolog X4 crashing when opened in a virtual machine.
• Resolves an issue with the "Run" and "Open folder" buttons not working in Microsoft Edge.
• Resolves an issue with virtual machines crashing when a user worked with virtual camera applications such as CamTwist, Snap Camera, etc.
• Resolves an issue with Parallels Tools making the ERP software slow and unstable in virtual machines.
• Resolves an issue with mouse cursor not working in VMware vSphere Client installed in a virtual machine.

Games

• We're happy that instead of buying another computer, you can save the money and planet by using Parallels Desktop to play games on your Mac.
• Resolves an issue with low performance of World of Tanks.
• Resolves an issue with Total War: Warhammer 2, X-Plane 11, Assassin's Creed: Origins and Call of Duty: Black Ops III crashing on startup.
• Resolves an issue with graphics artifacts in Final Fantasy XI, Final Fantasy XIV, Rome: Total War v1.5, Hearts of Iron IV, EVE Online, Gang Beasts, Wolfpack and ManiaPlanet.
• Resolves an issue with Titanfall failing to start.
• Resolves an issue with crashes of Dovetail Games Train Sim World.
• Resolves an issue with a virtual machine crashing on Warface startup.
• Resolves an issue with Division 2 not working and showing the "Render Initialization Error" message.
• Resolves an issue with not being able to log in to City of Heroes.
• Resolves an issue with graphics artifacts and performance in Tomb Raider 2013.
• Resolves an issue with performance in Anno 1404.
• Resolves an issue with time lags in Need For Speed Most Wanted 2012.

Integration

• Resolves an issue with virtual machines periodically showing wrong time.
• Resolves an issue with Windows applications not starting in a virtual machine after double-clicking their shortcuts on the macOS Desktop.
• Resolves an issue with periodical crashes of virtual machines after opening and resuming the Mac from sleep.
• Resolves an issue with the Start menu displayed incorrectly when opened in Coherence using the Windows Dock icon.
• Resolves an issue with the Windows Start menu opened in Coherence using the Parallels menu icon and freezing the virtual machine.
• Resolves an issue with a macOS virtual machine informing the user that the Mac is not connected to power though it actually is.

Devices

• Resolves an issue with a Bluetooth SteelSeries Stratus XL controller not pairing to a virtual machine.
• Resolves an issue with the Mac's screen becoming partially black after connecting additional displays to a virtual machine.
• Resolves an issue with letter keystrokes getting dropped when typing in Windows applications.
• Resolves an issue with not being able to create a new virtual hard disk in some directory other than the virtual machine .pvm bundle.
• Resolves an issue with Parallels Desktop 15 for Mac crashing when trying to resume a virtual machine with multiple monitors that was suspended in Parallels Desktop 13 for Mac.

Linux

• Resolves an issue with incorrect screen resolution in Full Screen after a Zorin or Ubuntu virtual machine resumes from suspended state or reverts to a snapshot.
• Resolves an issue with a black screen showing in Ubuntu 19.04 after the installation and every reboot.
• Resolves an issue with dynamic resolution not working for the root user in Kali Linux 2019.2.
• Resolves an issue with not being able to switch between applications using the hot keys in Ubuntu 19.04 if Parallels Tools are installed.
• Resolves an issue with Kali Linux not displayed properly after the Parallels Tools installation.
• Resolves an issue with black screen displayed when trying to start Manjaro 18.0.4 Live CD.
• The amount of memory assigned to Debian 9/10 and RHEL 8 virtual machines by default has been increased to 2 GB.

For Parallels Desktop 15 Business Edition only

• Resolves an issue with not being able to deploy Parallels Desktop in Single Application Mode using JAMF.
• Resolves an issue with not being able to deploy Parallels Desktop using a mass deployment package.
• Resolves an issue with additional mDNS record appearing and multicasting after each virtual machine restart.

Other

• Resolves an issue with Parallels Desktop crashing after trying to mount a virtual machine with Parallels Mounter.
• Resolves an issue with a virtual machine not starting and showing the "Operation failed - you must enter the host OS administrator credentials" error message.
• Resolves an issue with Windows XP screen becoming black for a few seconds after switching to this virtual machine running in Full Screen.
• Shows a new error message informing the user that he/she cannot resume a virtual machine provided that this user has no permission to access some of the virtual machine files (in cases when the virtual machine was suspended by another user).
• Shows a new message explaining the user that a suspended virtual machine was restarted because the file responsible for the virtual machine state had been damaged.
• Resolves an issue with Parallels Desktop Help not displayed correctly.
• Resolves an issue with incorrect Japanese localization of the Travel Mode items.

Parallels Desktop 15 for Mac 15.0.0 (46967)
Graphics
Graphics in Parallels Desktop 15 have been significantly improved compared to previous product versions.

• With the help of Apple Metal, Parallels introduces support for DirectX 11. Now you can run Autodesk 3ds Max 2020, Lumion, ArcGIS Pro 2.3, products from MasterSeries and more. You can also play many favorite games, including Madden NFL 19, Age of Empires: Definitive Edition, Anno 2205, Railway Empire, Space Engineers, Frostpunk, Risk of Rain 2 and many more.
• DirectX 3D graphics are now accelerated by the Apple Metal engine.
• Enhanced compatibility with new Linux distributions due to Virtio GPU that supports sliding mouse (when Parallels Desktop captures the guest OS mouse cursor), dynamic resolution (when the screen resolution changes dynamically if you resize the virtual machine window) and multimonitor support--even without Parallels Tools.
• Support for DRM-based graphics required by recent versions of major Linux distributions.

Performance
Despite continuous performance improvements every year and almost native performance in many scenarios, we managed to make the product even faster and efficient.

• Some applications can use DirectX 11 and thus are much faster, compared to being unusably slow in previous versions.
• 3D graphics are up to 15% faster.
• Microsoft Office applications are up to 80% faster.
• User interface is more responsive.

Getting ready for macOS 10.15 Catalina

• Get even more graphics power with the release of macOS® 10.15 Catalina. Play more DirectX 11 games including FIFA 19, Fallout 4, Elite Dangerous, Prey (2017), Crysis 3, Anno 1800 and more.
• Improved support for Apple Pencil® drawing capabilities when you work with Windows applications on iPad® using Sidecar:
  • Tilt support for Apple Pencil.
  • Double-tap Apple Pencil to get new Touch Bar options:
    • Toggle between Pen, Eraser and Mouse modes.
    • Easily take a snip, enable Windows Tablet mode or open the Windows onscreen keyboard from Touch Bar.

Hardware

• Support for non-volatile memory express (NVMe) disk controller--the next generation of storage controllers. NVMe is more virtualization friendly and effective than AHCI. NVMe leverages not just solid-state storage but also modern multicore CPUs.

• Support for Intel HDA audio card:
  • Supports up to 8/2 channels (out/in), 192kHz sample rate and 32-bit samples.
  • Improved sound quality of VoIP phones.
  • Support for "jack sense."
    • Automatic detection when the microphone is muted. If access to the Mac® microphone is not allowed by the user or macOS preferences, Windows shows the microphone as muted.
    • Automatic detection when sound output is disabled. If it is disabled in the virtual machine settings, Windows also shows sound output as disabled.

• Support for Bluetooth Low Energy. This allows you to use more devices, including Logitech Craft, IrisPEN and some IoT devices (such as smart home appliances and smart bands).
• Version of the Bluetooth driver is 4.0.

Convenience

• Boot Camp-based virtual machine improvements:
  • Windows became more stable on startup.
  • Resolved the issue with Boot Camp-based virtual machines becoming broken due to hard disk reconfiguration.
  • Improved support for major Windows updates. When Windows installs a major update in a virtual machine, Parallels Desktop offers to complete update installation in Boot Camp natively.
  • New Boot Camp icon is used instead of the Windows 10 icon for Boot Camp-based virtual machines.

• When reverting to a snapshot, Parallels Desktop offers to save current VM state as a new snapshot.
• Though dragging and dropping images has been supported from the very beginning, some of the latest macOS screenshots cannot be simply dragged to Windows because of the new format. We have enhanced drag-and-drop functionality--now you can drag screenshot previews, images from Safari, Photos and other macOS applications and drop them to your Windows applications.
• Completely redesigned keyboard layouts support improving several aspects, including:
  • Excel shortcuts "Ctrl" + "+" and "Ctrl" + "-" are now supported.
  • Improved support for JIS keyboard.
  • Fixed input with CAPS LOCK on for most of non-English layouts.
• Now you can send files from macOS as attachments using the default email application in Windows. Right-click a macOS file, point to Share > More > Send with Windows Email App.

The default email application can be changed in Windows settings.

• Improved USB automatic connection. Prior to Parallels Desktop 15, when a USB device connected to a virtual machine for a repeated time, Windows might treat this device as new and initiate driver installation. Now Parallels Desktop stores history for USB devices and connects a device to the same USB port every time, so users are not bothered with driver installation on repeated device connection.
• Parallels Desktop saves your Parallels account credentials to Mac Keychain. Next time you need to sign in, your account credentials will be autofilled from Keychain.
• Similar to the CD/DVD icon in the virtual machine title bar, other devices like camera, microphone and speakers now have indication when they are disabled.
• Upgrade to Windows 10 Adviser. In January 2020, Windows 7 will reach the end of extended support (no more security patches). A new menu item for Windows 7 users opens an assistant with the details on how to upgrade to Windows 10.
• New Parallels Desktop users might have issues understanding Coherence mode. We have created a dialog that appears with animation to explain how a virtual machine works in this view mode.
• Installing Windows updates is a resource-consuming operation. To improve the user experience with the product, new Windows 10 virtual machines will have Windows Updates paused for 7 days.
• If required, you can resume updates in Windows settings.
• If a user updates or upgrades Parallels Desktop manually while a previous version is running, installer now offers a button to quit Parallels Desktop in one click, instead of making the user do it manually.
• Improved Download Windows 10 dialog. It was not obvious what to do if you wanted to cancel the download. In this version, we added the "Cancel" button.

Look and Feel

• Improved Boot Camp import process.
  • If you do not boot to Boot Camp natively for one month, Parallels Desktop recommends that you should import Boot Camp to a standalone virtual machine. If all required Windows applications work correctly in this virtual machine, you can remove the Boot Camp partition to save disk space on the Mac hard disk.
  • New dialogs were created.
  • Added "Import" button to the Free Up Disk Space dialog.

• Windows switches to Coherence more seamlessly. Login, Shutdown, Black (on slow virtual machines) and some other Windows screens are now hidden behind the Parallels Desktop dialog.
• The icons for Windows 10 Modern applications used by Parallels Shared Applications were improved and are now easier to recognize.

For Parallels Desktop 15 Pro Edition and Business Edition Only

• Connect external physical disks to a virtual machine as internal disks. This functionality allows you to:
  • Install Windows or another OS to this disk.
  • Boot to the OS installed on that disk.
  • Use non-native Boot Camp installations (e.g. restore using WinClone).

Limitations: if the disk has an Apple partition scheme or Apple File System (HFS+ or APFS), the disk cannot be connected to a Windows virtual machine to prevent data loss.

• Support for virtual trusted platform module (vTPM). Now you can add TPM to your virtual machine configuration. It can be used by some Windows security features such as BitLocker or Windows Hello.
• Support for Python 3.0 in the Parallels Virtualization SDK.

For Parallels Desktop 15 Business Edition Only

• Added the ability to restrict users to change the virtual machine view mode with a macOS administrator (or custom) password.
• Now the virtual machine configuration (config.pvs file) can be protected from being changed with an administrator or custom password.
• Support for DNS requests over TCP in the Shared Networking mode.
• Now you can save time and network load by deploying virtual machines in the archived (.pvmz) format.
• Users working in the Single Application mode are no longer bothered with Parallels Desktop notifications.
• More control over support tickets for administrators of a business account:
  • By default, all account administrators can see all support tickets.
  • License administrators can create support tickets.
  • Account administrators or ticket creators can add watchers to a particular ticket.
  • Watchers will receive email notifications about the ticket updates.
• More details at https://kb.parallels.com/124709