Parallels Desktop 19.4.3 cannot start Windows 11 ARM VM on MacBook Air M5

Discussion in 'Parallels Desktop on a Mac with Apple silicon' started by 김준호, May 17, 2026 at 4:31 PM.

  1. 김준호

    김준호

    Messages:
    1
    Subject: Parallels Desktop 19.4.3 cannot start Windows 11 ARM VM on MacBook Air M5 - "Destination CPU is incompatible with source one"

    Hello, I am using Parallels Desktop 19.4.3 build 54993 on a MacBook Air with Apple M5.

    Environment:
    - Mac model: MacBook Air
    - Model Identifier: Mac17,3
    - Chip: Apple M5
    - Memory: 16 GB
    - macOS: 26.5 build 25F71
    - Architecture: arm64
    - Parallels Desktop: 19.4.3 build 54993
    - Guest OS: Windows 11 ARM
    - VM BIOS type: efi-arm64
    - Hypervisor type: Apple

    Issue:
    After installing Windows 11 ARM through Parallels Desktop, the VM cannot start. The UI shows a generic error saying the virtual machine cannot be started.

    The VM log repeatedly shows:
    Destination CPU is incompatible with source one
    Monitor config initialization failed
    Failed to set VM configuration
    PRL_ERR_VM_POWER_ON_FAILED

    Troubleshooting already tried:
    1. Quit and reopened Parallels Desktop
    2. Rebooted macOS
    3. Reinstalled Parallels Desktop 19 using the official Install.app from the DMG
    4. Confirmed Parallels Service is running after reinstall/reboot
    5. Updated Parallels Desktop 19.4.1 to 19.4.3
    6. Tried changing VM CPU from auto 4 cores to fixed 2 cores
    7. Tried changing VM RAM from auto 6 GB to fixed 4 GB
    8. Disabled Adaptive Hypervisor
    9. The same error still occurs

    Question:
    Is Parallels Desktop 19.4.3 officially compatible with Apple M5 Macs and macOS 26?
    If yes, please provide a fix or workaround for this "Destination CPU is incompatible with source one" error.
    If no, please confirm whether upgrading to the latest Parallels Desktop version is required for Apple M5 support.
     
  2. Adarsh Jeetun

    Adarsh Jeetun Staff Member

    Messages:
    133
    Hello,
    You would need to use Parallels Desktop 26 on your Apple M5 Mac running macOS 26 as Parallels Desktop 19 is not compatible with macOS 26.
    You may learn more from this article: https://kb.parallels.com/en/114381
    Thank you!
     

Share This Page