Cross-platform development simplified!

Are you a developer striving to conquer the cross-platform development landscape using Windows or Linux virtual machines on your Mac?

Your quest for streamlined productivity and efficiency ends here.

Discover how Parallels Desktop can revolutionize your development process.

Unleash the power of cross-platform development on your Mac

Don't let platform limitations hinder your development journey. Take the next step towards cross-platform development success with the first solution authorized by Microsoft.

Seamless integration

Seamless integration

Say goodbye to the hassles of juggling between Mac and Windows or Linux environments.

Parallels Desktop seamlessly integrates virtual machines into your Mac ecosystem, allowing you to harness the power of all platforms in perfect harmony.

Performance optimized

Performance optimized

Our technology is designed to squeeze the maximum performance out of your hardware.

Enjoy smooth, lag-free operation even with resource-intensive development tasks.

Simplified workflow

Simplified workflow

We understand the importance of an efficient workflow.

That's why we offer a user-friendly interface, intuitive controls, and time-saving features. Focus on your code, not your setup.

Superior compatibility

Superior compatibility

Never worry about compatibility issues again.

Parallels Desktop is built to ensure that your cross-platform development environment is as flexible and compatible as possible.

Run any tool, software, or application you need.

Time-saving features

Time-saving features

Boost your productivity with time-saving features like snapshots, backups, and templates.

Spend less time on setup and maintenance and more time on coding.

Optimal resources management

Optimal resources management

Maximize resource utilization and minimize overhead.

Parallels Desktop lets you allocate resources as needed, ensuring you have all the power required for your development tasks.

Parallels Desktop has several open-source projects hosted on GitHub. We invite all users and developers to contribute to enhancing our extensions and tools by actively participating in their development.

Your contributions, whether through code, bug fixes, or new features, are highly valued and can help shape the future of our product.

Examples include:

  • Parallels Desktop Visual Studio Code extension
  • Packer Templates and examples
  • Parallels Desktop Command Line scripts
  • AWS Terraform automation
  • Vagrant plugin
  • Parallels Desktop Driver for Docker Machine
Parallels Desktop hosts numerous open-source projects on GitHub
Elevate your cross-platform testing to new heights

Try Parallels Desktop today!

  • Level up your cross-platform development game on your Mac.
  • Join the ranks of developers who have discovered the advantages of Parallels Desktop.
  • Say goodbye to compatibility headaches and performance bottlenecks.

Join the cross-platform development revolution!

System requirements

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

Operating system

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, 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

Apple M3, M3 Pro, M3 Max, M2, M2 Pro, M2 Max, M2 Ultra, M1, M1 Pro, M1 Max, and M1 Ultra chips

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 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

Apple M3, M3 Pro, M3 Max, M2, M2 Pro, M2 Max, M2 Ultra, M1 Pro, M1 Max, and M1 Ultra chips
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 (at least 16 GB is required for Windows OS)

Graphics

Apple M3, M3 Pro, M3 Max, M2, M2 Pro, M2 Max, M2 Ultra, M1, M1 Pro, M1 Max, and M1 Ultra chips

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)
  • Ubuntu Linux 23.04, 22.04, 21.10, 21.04, 20.10, 20.04
  • Fedora Workstation 38, 37, 36, 35, 34, 33-1.2
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9
  • Debian GNU/Linux 12, 11, 10
  • Kali Linux 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)

Supported guest operating systems (Mac with Intel processors):

Only x86 versions of operating systems are supported.

  • Windows 11 (recommended)
  • Windows 10[1]
  • Windows Server 2022
  • Windows Server 2019
  • Windows Server 2016
  • Windows Server 2012 R2
  • Boot2Docker
  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 9,8 and 7
  • CentOS Linux 9 Stream, 8, 7
  • Fedora Linux 38 and 37
  • Ubuntu 23.04, 22.04 LTS, 21.10, 21.04, 20.04 LTS, 18.04 LTS, 16.04 LTS
  • Debian GNU/Linux 11, 10
  • Suse Linux Enterprise 15
  • OpenSUSE Linux 15.5 and 15.4
  • Linux Mint 20
  • Kali 2023.1, 2022.2, 2022.1, 2020.2, 2019, 2018
  • Elementary OS 7
  • Manjaro 22 and 21
  • Mageia 8
  • Gentoo Linux[2]
  • Solaris 11 and 10[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 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]
  • Mac OS X Leopard Server 10.5.x - OS X Mountain Lion 10.8.x[3][4]
  • 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.
  • [4] — Starting Parallels Desktop 19.3.0 Parallels Desktop no longer supports virtual machines with these operating systems.

Note: To run legacy Windows OS versions (2000, XP, Vista, 7, 8/8.1), download and use Parallels Tools version 18.3.0. Learn more at https://kb.parallels.com/en/129252.
Parallels Desktop for Mac emulates PC hardware, so operating systems that are not present in this list can work as well. You can download the Parallels Desktop trial and install an operating system of your choice. If it doesn’t work and you believe it should be supported, let us know at Parallels Forum.
To learn more about limitations of running Windows 11 in Parallels Desktop, please visit KB 129497.

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