This article gives instructions on installing Windows on your Mac for the first time to use with Parallels Desktop.
You can also:
- Import data from your Windows PC to your Mac. For instructions, see KB 123929.
- Upgrade an existing Windows 7, 8 or 8.1 virtual machine to Windows 10. For instructions, see KB 122884.
- See the list of supported Windows versions in KB 124223.
Install Parallels Desktop for Mac
If you are new to Parallels Desktop for Mac, download the latest version here.
Parallels Desktop provides support for a plethora of operating systems, such as Windows (going from Windows 3.11 to Windows 8), MS-DOS, RED Hat Enterprise, Fedora, CentOS, Ubuntu, Debian, Suse Linux Enterprise, Mandriva, Solaris, Chrome OS, Mac OS X Leopard and Snow Leopard Server or Android.
If you are already a Parallels Desktop user, proceed with the next steps.
Download Windows
Starting from Parallels Desktop for Mac 14 you can easily download Windows 10 via Parallels Desktop at the first Parallels Desktop start.
Click on Parallels icon in Mac menu bar > New... > Get Windows 10 from Microsoft > Download Windows 10.
If you are running an earlier version of Parallels Desktop for Mac, visit this page to Download Windows 10 from Microsoft.
For earlier versions of Windows, please refer to retail stores or authorized online resellers, including Amazon.com.
Please note that Parallels Desktop does not include a Microsoft Windows license. If you don’t have a Windows copy, you can purchase Windows 10 from the Microsoft Online Store:
Note:visit this page if you need help to choose Windows 10 edition: Home or Pro.
Install Windows from your source
Create new virtual machine
Open Parallels Desktop.app from the Applications folder and choose File > New.
Select Install Windows or another OS from DVD or image file, then click Continue.
Select an installation media
You may install Windows from a DVD or an .iso disc image, or a bootable USB drive.
Important: Windows installation files with an .exe extension can be used only to upgrade an existing Windows virtual machine (VM). If you are performing a new Windows installation, the .exe file will not work. Please contact local retailer to request either a physical disc or an .iso image.
Installation Assistant will detect available installation media automatically for installing Windows.
You can also switch to manual mode and choose the source for Windows installation.
Enter your Windows License Key
Click Continue. Enter Windows license key for automatic Windows activation upon installation.
If you don't have a Windows license key, click Continue and then Skip. To activate Windows later follow instructions from the article.
When you are ready, click Continue.
Select how you want to use Windows
Select how you want to use Windows in Parallels Desktop for Mac Home Edition:
- Productivity
- Games only
And in Parallels Desktop for Mac Pro and Business Editions:
- Software development
- Software testing
- Design
To learn more about virtual machine profiles, visit KB 123878.
Specify a name and location
Name: You may specify a name for your virtual machine.
Location: The default location for Parallels Desktop virtual machines is /Users/username/Parallels/.
If you want to change your default virtual machine settings select Customize settings before installation. These settings can also be changed easily after installation.
Begin the installation
Click Continue and Windows installation will begin. Once Windows is installed, launch it by opening a Windows application or by clicking the Power button in the Control Center.
Install Parallels Tools
The first time Windows starts, Parallels Tools will be installed to allow seamless operation between Windows and macOS. Please do not cancel or stop the installation process. Once the Parallels Tools are installed, you will be prompted to restart Windows.
Other ways to create a Windows virtual machine
It is possible to create a Windows virtual machine by:
Parallels Desktop For Mac Windows 7
Troubleshooting
If you have any problems installing Windows from a DVD, or if you don't have a DVD drive, you can use another drive to create an .iso image and install from that. For instructions, see KB 4917: How to create an .iso image from a Windows installation DVD.
I have a Mid 2014 MacBook Pro Retina 15' (16 GB, Iris pro, 750M Nvidia, 512 GB SSD). I don't like to use Boot Camp, it's not productive and I don't like to use Windows unless its super necessary.
I saw a YouTube video of someone playing BattleField 4 with Parallels Desktop on the same model MacBook Pro I have, and the game seems to play fine.
I wish to play DayZ and Overwatch, my question is: Will Parallels Desktop gaming effect my laptop's performance or lifespan (heat, etc.)?
user34398942 Answers
No, your computer will be fine, and performance will be fine, but there's a little fun involved.
Parallels uses a technology called virtualization to run another OS–in this case, Windows–using a combination of hardware and software to create a 'virtual machine' that acts like a computer. Due to a variety of technologies that exist, virtual machines offer quite good performance when compared to their actual physical counterparts, and can be used for gaming with relatively hit to performance. And no, your computer won't explode, heat management and all that is the same.
Unfortunately, there's a catch with Parallels: GPUs. Modern games (such as those you want to play) rely heavily on GPUs to provide good performance. Games such as these rely on APIs to handle many functions related to GPUs. Currently there are two primary APIs used for games: Microsoft's DirectX and OpenGL. Unfortunately, DirectX is exclusive to Windows–thus, games utilizing DirectX are generally Windows exclusive (ignoring consoles.) The games you described use DirectX: thus, they are Windows exclusive. This presents a problem when using Parallels: because it runs a virtual machine, it can't normally perform the low-level calls needed by APIs like DirectX to the GPU. To get around this, Parallels translates DirectX calls to OpenGL calls (which do work on Mac) before they are executed. This can result in a somewhat significant decrease in performance, though it may be tolerable.
Parallels Desktop Free Download
However, recent Intel processors have started shipping with a technology called Intel Virtualization Technology for Directed I/O (VT-d) that allows these low-level calls to be passed through a virtual machine, eliminated the performance hit described earlier. Your Haswell processor is just new enough that it does ship with this technology onboard! Following these instructions for Parallels, you can leverage VT-d within Parallels to run Windows games with very little performance hit. It's quite lengthy, references a few other pages, and generally wouldn't work well if I posted it here like I normally would, so I recommend you read it there.
In conclusion, you'll be able to play your games using Parallels just fine with a little bit of work.
JMY1000JMY1000You will most likely see a performance hit while you are running a virtual machine on your mac. Depending on how much resources you allow the VM to use will have an effect on that. Example: if you use 10gigs of ram for your Win VM and then try to do something heavy on the mac (with only 6 gigs left) you may see a hit.
I don't think running Parallels will work your system any greater than other software would, so should not reduce performance or longevity of your laptop. Use and wear is use and wear.
While full of information, the answer from JMY1000 doesn't appear to apply to Parallels Desktop for Mac, but rather Parallels Workstation Extreme, which only runs on Windows and Linux. Sad face. I'm still digging... it looks like VT-D was an experimental feature in previous versions of Parallels Desktop, so there might be hope...