Parallels Desktop for Mac computers with Apple M2 chips

Hello!
This thread has been created for collaborating on the issues that are found in Parallels Desktop 17 on Mac computers with Apple M2 chips. Don't hesitate to share your experience!

 

Hi, I'm currently on the trial version, looking to upgrade to the Pro version on my Mac Pro (i7 16G RAM 512) Its a bit laggy and want to understand a) if the upgrade will improve the performance / experience of this Mac ? b) allow me to move the licence to a new M2 Air when they are released in a months time and I purchase one of these ?
Any help appreciated ..

 

Hi Gary!
First, let me answer question number 2 - yes, you can move a license to a new Mac as per https://kb.parallels.com/123461 .
As to the issue with performance you've reported - would you reproduce the issue once again and generate a tech report at the moment of reproduction as per https://kb.parallels.com/9058 ? It'll take no more than 5 minutes. Send me the 9-digit ID number of the generated report.
Any additional details about the lags would also be appreciated - when does it happen, do you have a stable reproduction of the issue?

 

Hi, I've been looking for information about nested virtualization of M2 chips and I hope this function can be adapted to Parallels Desktop soon. Here is the information that I found on Twitter that confirmed that M2 chips support nested virtualization.
https://twitter.com/denniscdietrich/status/1534565127617380355
What do you guys say about this and what's the eta that Parallels Desktop will support nested virtualization with M2 Macs?

 

I have the same concern. Accordingly, if this change is implemented for nested virtualisation, then many usages including using Docker, WSL2, Android subsystem will be possible on Parallels. Would love to know if this function will be added back to Parallels on M2 machines.

 

Hello!
We also love nested virtualization but it's currently impossible to implement this feature on Mac computers with M1 chips. As to M2 chips, we can't either confirm or decline it - we're waiting for the respective changes in the Apple API.

 

Hi, Just as a follow ups, I received this from your colleague - very confusing as they don't confirm that it will work ? ... and have just purchased full version based on your answer...

Hello Gary,

Thank you for contacting Parallels Desktop support.

This email is with regards to your query about Parallels Desktop on M2.

At the moment we do not have any information about the M2 realease.

Please reply back for any further clarification.

We appreciate your time and consideration.

--
Thanks,
Shravan Nayini
Customer Support Engineer
||Parallels

 

Garry,
Thank you for bringing it up!
That's right - Mac computers with Apple M2 chips aren't shipped yet, so we can't state Parallels Desktop is supported to run on these computers. However, based on the information provided by Apple, Parallels Desktop is supposed to run smoothly on these devices. Anyway, if you have any concerns, I can arrange a refund for your purchase.

 

Hi Mikhail, Thanks for the offer. If OK with you, I'll hold off until I get the Air M2 and hope that it works. If it doesn't / won't work, If you will allow me to refund then, that would be great. At that point, I would have sold / traded my Mac Pro so I wouldn't have a machine to run Parallels on anyway ... Thanks again for the support !

 

Hi Mikhail,

Re the laggy / issues that I reported, here is an example - unable to close windows. I generated a report - see below.

400151743

Best, Gary

 

Hi, I've always wondered if the M2 chip or the later updates of Parallels Desktop could give the latest macOS the ability to run a Big Sur virtual machine. On macs with M1 chips, only macOS virtual machines after the Monterey version can be installed, not the previous version. Being able to run a Big Sur virtual machine on the latest macOS system has always been a feature I've been looking forward to the most, and I'm sure it's what many other users have been looking for, because only Big Sur has the ability to install ipa files (iOS apps) without restrictions.)

I'm still stuck on Big Sur and haven't updated to the latest macOS, just to keep using some handy iOS apps on my macbook. If the M2 chip or the latest parallel desktop allows to install a Big Sur virtual machine, I will upgrade my macOS to the latest immediately, because the new features brought by the latest system, like universal control, airplay to mac, live text, stage manager are also very attractive to me. Imagine how exciting it would be to install a Big Sur virtual machine running iOS apps on macOS Ventura via Parallels Desktop and be able to turn on Coherence mode at the same time.

Or conversely, is it possible that a future Parallels Desktop update will give Parallels Desktop installed on Big Sur the ability to install macOS Monterey or Ventura virtual machines?

If neither of these two ideas is possible, then is it just not feasible on a technical level, or if you guys think that there isn't exactly much business value relative to the engineering effort that is required

 

Hello!
First, we do appreciate you have had a chance to share your opinion with us!
As to your questions, due to the difference in the architecture of the M-series Mac computers contrary to the Intel-based Macs, it's quite a sophisticated task to let customers run Big Sur virtual machines (VMs) on such Macs. In the meantime, we also highly depend on our partners from Apple. Thanks to their help, we were provided with the API to support macOS 12 VMs on M-series Mac computers. We keep researching the ways to extend the list of supported OS on Apple Silicon Mac computers. We don't say we'll never support it - one of the future Parallels Desktop updates might bring this feature to our customers, who knows

 

I asked this elsewhere before I found this thread so forgive the repetition. I just bought a nw MacBook Pro with M2 chip. I installed Parallels 17, then attempted to install Win 11. I got a message as follows
The folder "/Users/myname/Parallels" used to store the virtual machine files is not available.
When I clear that message, I get a screen saying "installing" and a device indicating an ongoing process, but nothing further happens. I was referred here (to the forums) when I asked for help on Parallels support chat. Any ideas?? I actually looked for and found the folder described above.

 

I'm sorry to hear you've had such a negative experience.
I've asked our engineers to follow up and help you to address the issue.

 

I fixed this by following a KB link to the Microsoft insider downloads, Found the M2 armx64 download and after download installed without difficulty. Runs my programs

 

Uh... what is the link? Where did you get it? Parallels KB? Microsoft KB? Hopefully you can provide? Thanks!!

 

https://insider.windows.com/en-us/getting-started#flight
I went here, restored and followed the options until I was allowed to download a Win 11 preview. It automatically found Parallels (which I already had on my Mac) and did the install. The install is typical Windows, so be prepared for at least a half hour or so. Once installed, it really is an amazing upgrade from Win 10 (I was running Win 10 on an old late 2013 MacBook Pro)

 

Thanks so much!
I think I'm missing something though... Were you coming from a 2013 MacBook Pro... meaning you migrated to an M2 and upgraded Parallels and then was also trying to upgrade 10 to Windows 11 when you ran into this problem?

 

yes, I had operated a late 2013 MacBook Pro with Parallels (which I kept up to date) with a copy of Win 10 (which I also kept up to date). The old MacBook was no longer supported, second battery was dying, etc., so I replaced. When I received the new MacBook Pro, it had the M2 chip, a bit of a surprise to me. I went to the Parallels site, downloaded and installed Parallels 17. I then attempted to use their Win 11installer, but it would not work. It would fail to find the Parallels site in the MacBook. I tried to get help from Parallels support, but could not get through on the phone. I eventually got someone on the chat line, but that person just told me Parallels had not "tested" the M2 chip. That chat person referred me to the Parallels forum for help. I found no help there, though a Parallels moderator did respond, and helped me get in touch with an engineer at Parallels. But while that was evolving, I discovered the Microsoft Insider program, registered, and eventually stumbled into the Win 11 Preview page. I wasn't sure it would work, but tried it, and voila!, when I started the Win 11 install, it found the Parallels program, installed properly, and all is well (almost- I have one application which is fussy about requiring admin permission, and I can't get that permission fixed)

 

Thanks so much! I really appreciate the detailed response! I'm surprised you had to get an ARM install, though. I mean Parallels should be able to emulate x64 or ARMx64. If Parallels only supported ARM because the underlying hardware was ARM, then that'd lock out a whole bunch of VMs you could run. Many VMs have no ARM versions.

Parallels support should really comment on this.