Run Windows on Mac with our virtual desktop for easy, powerful, seamless performance.

Virtual Machine for Mac

Experience faster virtual machine (VM) startup performance while running Windows 11 and macOS Sonoma, and access to thousands of Windows applications, including Microsoft Office 365, accounting software, trading software, SAP, Matlab, and more on your Intel or Apple M series Mac.

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Experience optimal performance on Macs with Apple Silicon and more. The latest release introduces a new option for Linux VM on Apple silicon to use Rosetta for running x86-64 binaries, supports Docker for running x86-64 containers in Arm-based Linux VM, and offers compatibility with the Packer tool for automating CI/CD workflows. It also includes CentOS 9 Stream and an updated set of Linux distributions, including Ubuntu 22.04.2, Fedora 38, and Debian 12.

Additional enhanced features for macOS virtual machines on Apple silicon include support for VM suspend and resume, dynamic resolution adjustment, syncing keyboard layout with Mac hardware, and multitouch gestures with Trackpad.

Virtualization on your Mac

Parallels Desktop uses a hardware-assisted virtualization that relies on Intel VT-x technology and allows for simulation of the whole computer. This simulated environment is called a virtual machine (VM) and enables a Virtual PC on your Mac.

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* Maximum Virtual RAM and CPUs per virtual machine
** The functionality will remain in the Business Edition for some time but will be removed in the future. Please consider upgrading to the Enterprise Edition if this functionality is crucial for you. Contact your account manager for more details.

Standard Edition
Basics: Run thousands of Windows applications such as Microsoft Office 365, accounting software, trading software, SAP, Matlab, and more.
Get major updates to support new versions of macOS, Windows, Linux, and new Mac models Subscription only
Run professional graphics-intensive Windows applications and powerful virtual machines 8 GB vRAM, 4 vCPUs *
24/7 phone, chat, and email support Subscription only
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Pro Edition
All the Standard Edition features PLUS:
Basics: Run thousands of Windows applications such as Microsoft Office 365, accounting software, trading software, SAP, Matlab, and more.
Get major updates to support new versions of macOS, Windows, Linux, and new Mac models
Run professional graphics-intensive Windows applications and powerful virtual machines 128 GB vRAM, 32 vCPUs
Develop, automate, test, and debug software in Windows, Linux and macOS
New Parallels AI package for developers and education (Available for download until 12/31/25)
24/7 phone, chat, and email support
Buy nowUpgrade
Upgrade
Business Edition
All the Standard and Pro Edition features PLUS:
New Parallels AI package for developers and education
New Automate CI/CD workflows with Parallels DevOps
Single volume license, access to License Portal, ability to create sublicense keys, multiple administrators
Business-friendly billing. Extra seats are prorated. Option to get PO, quote to Cart
Provisioning with Mac Management tools or Parallels deployment package
IT-configured Windows "smart” declarative Image in Parallels Desktop Interface **
Buy now
Enterprise
All the Standard, Pro and Business Edition features PLUS:
Premium support, Account manager, Onboarding with System Engineers
New Management portal for deployment and control, policies, and monitoring and managing of users’ virtual machines
Per-user licensing option with SSO/SAML/SCIM integration
Access to security documentation and questionnaires

* Maximum Virtual RAM and CPUs per virtual machine
** The functionality will remain in the Business Edition for some time but will be removed in the future. Please consider upgrading to the Enterprise Edition if this functionality is crucial for you. Contact your account manager for more details.

Frequently asked questions

System requirements

Run most applications including Microsoft Office, accounting software, trading software, SAP, Matlab, and more.

Operating system

macOS Sequoia 15.0 or newer
macOS Sonoma 14.5 or newer
macOS Ventura 13.2 or newer
macOS Monterey 12.6 or newer
macOS Big Sur 11.7 or newer[1]
macOS Catalina 10.15.7 or newer[1]
macOS Mojave 10.14.6 or newer[1]

Processor

Any Apple silicon chip

Intel Core i5, Core i7, Core i9, Intel Core M or Xeon processor

Memory

4 GB of RAM

Storage

600 MB for Parallels Desktop application installation

Additional disk space for the guest operating system (at least 16 GB is required for Windows OS)

Graphics

Any Apple silicon chip

Intel, AMD Radeon, or NVIDIA graphics cards

[1] — an earlier product version is installed

For graphics-intensive applications, high loads, and running multiple virtual machines.

Operating system

macOS Sequoia 15.0 or newer
macOS Sonoma 14.0 or newer
macOS Ventura 13.2 or newer
macOS Monterey 12.6 or newer
macOS Big Sur 11.7 or newer[1]
macOS Catalina 10.15.7 or newer[1]
macOS Mojave 10.14.6 or newer[1]

Processor

Any Apple silicon chip

Intel Core i5, Core i7, Core i9 or Xeon processor

Memory

16 GB of RAM or more

Storage

600 MB for Parallels Desktop application installation

Additional disk space for the guest operating system(s) (at least 16 GB is required for Windows OS)

Graphics

Any Apple silicon chip

AMD Radeon Pro graphics card

[1] — an earlier product version is installed

Supported guest operating systems (Mac with Apple silicon):

Only Arm versions of operating systems are supported.

  • Windows 11 Pro and Enterprise editions (recommended)
  • Windows Server 2025 (when released)
  • Ubuntu Linux 24.04, 23.04, 22.04, 21.10, 21.04, 20.10, 20.04
  • Fedora Workstation 40, 39
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9
  • Debian GNU/Linux 12, 11
  • Kali Linux 2024.2, 2023.1, 2022.2, 2022.1, 2021.3
  • CentOS Stream 9
  • macOS Monterey 12 (in-app download)
  • macOS Ventura 13 (in-app download)
  • macOS Sonoma 14 (in-app download)
  • macOS Sequoia 15 (when released)

Supported guest operating systems (Mac with Intel processors):

Only x86 versions of operating systems are supported.

  • Windows 11 (recommended)
  • Windows 10[1]
  • Windows Server 2025 (when released)
  • Windows Server 2022
  • Windows Server 2019
  • Windows Server 2016
  • Boot2Docker
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 9,8 and 7
  • CentOS Linux 9 Stream, 8, 7
  • Fedora Linux 40, 39
  • Ubuntu 24.04, 23.04, 22.04 LTS, 21.10, 21.04, 20.04 LTS, 18.04 LTS, 16.04 LTS
  • Debian GNU/Linux 12, 11
  • Suse Linux Enterprise 15
  • OpenSUSE Linux 15.5 and 15.4
  • Linux Mint 20
  • Kali 2024.2, 2023.1, 2022.2, 2022.1
  • Elementary OS 7
  • Manjaro 22 and 21
  • Mageia 8
  • Gentoo Linux[2]
  • openBSD 6[2]
  • FreeBSD 12 and 11[2]
  • openVZ 7
  • eComStation 2 and 1.2[2]
  • ReactOS 0.4[2]
  • Android OS (in-app download only)
  • macOS Sequoia 15.0 (when released)[3]
  • macOS Sonoma 14.0[3]
  • macOS Ventura 13.0[3]
  • macOS Monterey 12.0[3]
  • macOS Big Sur 11.0[3]
  • macOS Catalina 10.15[3]
  • macOS Mojave 10.14.x[3]
  • macOS High Sierra 10.13.x[3]
  • macOS Sierra 10.12.x[3]
  • OS X El Capitan 10.11.x[3]
  • OS X Yosemite 10.10.x[3]
  • OS X Mavericks 10.9.x[3]
  • and many more...
  • [1] — Only the 64-bit version is supported.
  • [2] — Parallels Tools are not available for this operating system.
  • [3] — Requires a Mac computer that supports the operating system as a host OS.

Note: Support for legacy Windows OS versions (2000, XP, Vista, 7, 8/8.1, Windows Server 2012 R2) is limited. Learn more at KB 129252.
Parallels Desktop for Mac emulates PC hardware, so operating systems that are not included in this list can work as well. You can download the Parallels Desktop trial and install an operating system of your choice. If that OS doesn’t work and you believe it should be supported, let us know in the Parallels Forum.
To learn more about the limitations of running Windows 11 in Parallels Desktop, please visit KB 129497.

For information about supported Linux kernel versions, please visit KB 129963.