This article gives instructions on installing Windows on your Mac for the first time to use with Parallels Desktop.
Free Windows Parallel For Mac
- Overall: We use Parallels Desktop for Mac on all of our Macs in our company. It makes it easy for our mac users to run the few needed Windows applications while still keeping the look and feel of the Mac OS that they are used to.
- Parallels presently requires one license per computer, so if you use both a desktop and laptop Mac, for instance, you’ll need to buy two copies of the program. After activating, a new Parallels.
If you want to run Windows in a virtual machine to play games that you can’t play on a Mac, then you’ll want to use Parallels Desktop 7. In my testing, it handily outperformed Fusion.
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.
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:
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.
Boot Camp is the easy way to run Windows on a Mac, but it has one major drawback: it requires you to reboot. And that can be a rather big disruption of your work, depending on how much time you spend in either Mac OS X or Windows.
Virtualization software like Parallels Desktop 7 avoids this glaring issue altogether, as it lets you run a full copy of Windows from within Mac OS X. But is it actually the best of both worlds or just a bag of compromises?
[ VDI shoot-out: VMware View 5 and Citrix XenDesktop 5.5 ]
Virtualization for serious work?
In part 1 of my Running Windows on a Mac series, I made it very clear that virtualization solutions such as Parallels or VMware Fusion are merely a compromise for anyone who needs to get serious work done or has to spend several hours in full-screen Windows.
And I didn't just base that on my past experience with virtualization, but also one some benchmarks Ed Bott performed this summer.
It was only a couple of days after that article went live that Parallels came out with version 7 of their 'Parallels Desktop'. And they didn't exactly play small: Parallels promised not just the full-blown Lion support (Launchpad, full screen mode, Mission Control) and the ability to run Mac OS X Lion as a guest machine. They also made a big promise of running Windows 'without compromising performance'. The company also claims that Parallels Desktop 7 runs 45% faster using Windows 7 and 60% faster on 3D-accelerated applications (games, rendering, etc.) than before. These claims, coupled with enhanced support for USB, networking and sound cards (7.1 surround sound in a virtual machine), made me curious.
Can I run my Windows applications under Lion on Parallels Desktop 7 with no compromise? Can I run it all day?
Parallels For Mac Help
For this shootout, I took the plunge and used Parallels Desktop 7 for over four weeks. After having some severe performance issues with running Windows 8 Developer Preview under Parallels, I decided to use Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 under Mac OS X Lion for my test. Here's what I found:
Pricing and installation
Boot Camp is free and pre-installed on every Mac (post 2006). Parallels, on the other hand, charges you $79.99 ($49.99 for upgrade) for its Mac virtualization product. In both cases, that also excludes the price of a Windows 7 license, which you'll need! So, if you're adding Windows 7 Home Premium to the mix, think at least $99 (for the system builder DVD) of additional charges for the privilege of running Windows on your Mac.
Boot Camp doesn't support Windows XP or Vista, so if you're going the Boot Camp route on OS X Lion, you're basically stuck with Windows 7. I can imagine this being a deal breaker for some companies.
Parallels Desktop 7, however, fully supports Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7. And it doesn't stop there. Parallels supports Chrome OS, Linux and even the Windows 8 Developer Preview, which makes it a full-blown virtual PC solution and not just a way of running Windows on your Mac. In fact, a built-in downloader allows you to grab the respective ISOs and install them automatically. I think that's quite a killer feature for IT pros: Getting all of these OSes to run on a Mac is torture, so in terms of OS support and pure simplicity, Parallels just blows Boot Camp away. Period.
Parallels For Mac
The Windows 7 installation procedure is fairly straightforward in both Boot Camp and Parallels Desktop 7. You insert the DVD or the ISO, perform some initial configuration and run the Windows installer. However, I went a slightly different route. I actually used Parallels to virtualize my Boot Camp partition. Yes, Parallels Desktop 7 allows you to select your pre-existing Windows 7 partition on your Mac and just run it as it if were an actual virtual machine. This is actually the only way to compare performance of Boot Camp versus Parallels, since I'm testing both solutions on the exact same configuration with the exact same number of programs installed and identical settings. Neat.