Nested Hyper-V Support in Parallels Desktop

Parallels Desktop® for Mac provides nested virtualization support (VT-X technology) that allows users to run Hyper-V virtual machines (VMs) inside Windows 8, 10, and Windows Server 2012 virtual machines.

Microsoft outlines Hyper-V technology but the shorthand is that Hyper-V exclusively provides the ability to virtualize hardware in Windows operating systems. This directly helps users who utilize VMs in professional or development environments to have more flexibility with hardware, time, and money.

Hyper-V can help IT utilize hardware more effectively by consolidating servers or physical computers to minimize resources needed for one-off projects or extensive infrastructures.

Within a developer’s needs, Hyper-V makes development and testing more efficient by creating VMs, avoiding the need to buy additional hardware or physical systems for testing.

There’s also the incredible ability for remote connectivity and management. While Parallels Access® is available for managing your VMs from iOS or Android, Hyper-V includes Virtual Machine Connection, a Windows or Linux remote connection tool to provide console access. With the combination of both Parallels Access and Virtual Machine Connection, users could access and control their machines from anywhere, with any device.

To enable Hyper-V support in Parallels Desktop for Mac Pro Edition and Parallels Business Edition:

Go to the Actions menu > Configure > Hardware > CPU & Memory > Expand “Advanced Settings” and click the Enable Nested Virtualization checkbox.

If you’re interested in running a nested virtualization environment on your Mac via Hyper-V, feel free to download a free 14-day trial of Parallels Desktop.

Older versions of Parallels Desktop also have this feature. You can find more information on where these VM settings can be configured in this knowledgebase article.

Note: Running a virtual machine within a virtual machine may slightly slow down the hosting VM’s performance. Dividing the Mac hardware resources between your computer and two VMs will require more resources than running only one. We warn not to use Hyper-V VMs in a production environment. Microsoft® doesn’t support nesting Hyper-V, and so such VMs may be unstable.

8 comments on “Nested Hyper-V Support in Parallels Desktop”

Jakub
September 24, 2019 at 11:31 am

After turning on nested visualization, Win10 cannot start. It hang on loading circle and stops. Any idea why?
Kayla Myrhow
September 24, 2019 at 3:27 pm

Hey Jakub, thanks for your message. Experiencing a hang from Win10 should not be what happens. Our support team is happy to help you with this. You can easily reach out to them here: http://www.parallels.com/support/. Any further questions let us know. Thanks! Kayla, Audience Marketing Manager
Leo
February 11, 2020 at 6:20 pm

This option (Nested Hyper-V) is missing when VM is MacOS.
It is just shown when VM is Windows.
Is that the expected behavior ? Is there a way to run Nested Hyper-V in MacOS VM ?
Beatrice Vogel
February 12, 2020 at 7:21 am

Hey Leo, Thanks for reaching out. Nested Hyper-V is only supported in Windows VM. Please reach out to our support team if you have further questions on Facebook https://www.messenger.com/t/ParallelsInc, Twitter https://twitter.com/ParallelsCares or any other of our support channels: http://www.parallels.com/support/. Any further questions let us know. Thanks
Chuen Yuen Yang
August 9, 2020 at 10:52 pm

I been running windows 10 pro in macpro, have 4GM memory and 1 TB Hard disk in the external disk. i wonder what is the Max memory and Hard disk space can i use in Parallels desktop to run windows 10 ???
Thanky you
Beatrice Vogel
August 11, 2020 at 4:38 am

Hey Chuen, It depends on the edition that you have purchased. Please check out this overview for further information: https://www.parallels.com/products/desktop/#compare. Thanks so much
R. Hamilton
August 31, 2020 at 6:58 am

How does networking work with a nested VM? Assume for the question that the outer (Parallels) VM is bridged. And that bridged networking would be preferable for the inner VM. I don’t see a promiscuous option for the networking, so I wonder how any MAC other than that for the outer VM would be sent or received.
Beatrice Vogel
September 3, 2020 at 12:15 am

Hey, You can set up and use an external network switch with a nested Hyper-V VM similarly as you do it on a real PC, but only if you use an Ethernet cable as a Bridged network device for the Parallels Desktop virtual machine – Parallels Desktop functions as a network switch in this case. When the Parallels Desktop VM is bridged to the wired interface, it doesn’t differ much from the usual PC connected to wired Ethernet. Hope this helps. Let us know if you have any further questions. Thanks