Introducing the Parallels Desktop extension for Visual Studio Code

I’m excited to share the new Parallels Desktop extension for Visual Studio Code, allowing developers to manage a wide range of operations for their virtual machines.

This new tool caters to the increasing demand for improved extensibility, smooth customization, and an easy-to-use interface that takes your development skills to new heights.

It provides you with an integrated platform to manage your Parallels Desktop virtual machines, all within the familiar environment of Visual Studio Code (VS Code).

Ready to get started? Read on to learn and get your full-featured free trial of Parallels Desktop now.

What you can accomplish with the Visual Studio Code extension for Parallels Desktop

With this extension, you can easily handle various tasks for your Parallels Desktop virtual machines, such as creating, organizing, and working with their snapshots and containers.

The Parallels Desktop extension for Visual Studio Code also seamlessly integrates with HashiCorp Vagrant and Packer, streamlining your workflow and automating your processes — all from inside Visual Studio.

Using the Visual Studio Code extension to manage your virtual machines

Once installed, all virtual machines configured are listed within the extensions panel in Visual Studio, as well as any snapshots of the systems that may have been taken and any containers that may be running within the systems.

From the Parallels Desktop panel, you can control many aspects of your virtual appliances, as well as just getting a visual idea of their state.

You can start, stop, pause, or resume them, show their IP address if they have one, and create groups of systems. And if you don’t want to manage and see specific virtual machines or groups in Visual Studio Code, you can hide them away and then show them again with a click of a button.

Creating a group allows you to have better management of the virtual machines, allowing you to start, stop, pause, or suspend all virtual machines in the group with a single click, rename them, or even create, restore, or delete any group snapshots, as you can with a single virtual machine.

Once created, you can see the tree of snapshots made, allowing you to select the one you wish to roll back to easily.

Creating new virtual machines with the Visual Studio Code extension

Of course, as well as seeing all the systems and groups you already have created, you can also create new virtual machines.

Parallels Desktop supports a wide range of operating systems, including Windows 11, Ubuntu, Fedora Workstation, Red Hat Enterprise, Debian GNU/Linux, Kali Linux, and macOS, and if running on a Mac Intel processor, x86 operating systems as well. A complete list of supported systems can be found at the bottom of the page here.

When creating a new customized machine, you can select from the list of installation images, which are open sourced for future expansion by Parallels and the community or create the system from your own pre-configured ISO and IPSW files.

Customizing your virtual machines with the Visual Studio Code extension

All of this allows you to install and customize the virtual machine to your needs, including using “add-ons” to pre-installed applications into your new virtual machines.

Additionally, if you wish to test on an X86 system, you can also specify the use of Rosetta, allowing you to support running x86 versions of products such as Docker right into a particular machine.

If you use Docker containers in your virtual machine, you can manage and create them from this panel without opening a separate window.

The same is true if you use HashiCorp Vagrant; all the Vagrant boxes you have installed can be seen or deleted, or a new one can be initialized from the Parallels Desktop extension for the Visual Studio Code panel.

Unlocking the full power of your development skills with the Visual Studio extension for Parallels Desktop

Parallels Desktop unlocks the power of cross-platform development and testing from your Mac without compromising performance and security, allowing you to develop and test for all popular platforms.

The Parallels Desktop extension for Visual Studio Code elevates your development capabilities with an integrated platform for managing Parallels Desktop virtual appliances within the familiar environment of Visual Studio Code (VS Code). It offers enhanced extensibility and efficient customization, all within an IDE that you are already using.

Find out how Parallels Desktop lets you maximize performance and unlock the full power of your Mac.

Sign up for a free 14-day trial of Parallels Desktop, and then go to GitHub to get the Parallels Desktop extension for Visual Studio Code.