Guest support blog post by: Ivan Latyshev

It’s hard to keep up with technology nowadays. New software is released seemingly every day, making it difficult to keep up with upgrades on all your devices. And what if you skipped a version or two of the software you use on a regular basis? No wonder many users are hesitant to move to the latest versions right away.

So let me walk you through upgrading Parallels Desktop 9 (or earlier versions) to Parallels Desktop 12 in this blog post. If you have want to update to our latest version, Parallels Desktop 13, please click here.

Keep in mind that the full Parallels Desktop 12 license you purchase when upgrading from Parallels Desktop 9 or earlier versions contains the same new features and performance improvements that users of Parallels Desktop 10 and 11 receive in their Parallels Desktop 12 upgrade.

As for your old virtual machines, they’ll be safe. Good news, right? No visible changes will be made apart from the usual Parallels Tools updates.

There’s one more thing you should check before we get started: Make sure your computer’s hardware and software are compatible with Parallels Desktop 12.

Here are the system requirements:

Parallels Remote Application Server; Parallels Desktop for Mac Business Edition; Parallels Desktop for Mac Pro Edition; Parallels Mac Management for SCCM; Parallels Desktop for Mac; Parallels Toolbox for Mac & Windows; Parallels Access. Includes Parallels Toolbox for Mac and Windows, with over 30 one-touch tools: clean your drive, secure private files, take screenshots, download a video, and more-all with a single click. Quote: 'It’s always been astonishing that it’s faster to start up Windows on a Mac with Parallels than a real PC. Aug 17, 2020 For Parallels Desktop 14 for Mac, you need: Hardware: A Mac computer with an Intel Core 2 Duo, Core i3, Core i5, Core i7, Core i9, Intel Core M or Xeon processor. The Parallel desktop and VMware Fusion 8 are the popular virtualization software for OS X. Parallels Desktop 10 for Mac is the most powerful solution for running Windows applications on a Mac. Parallels Desktop for MAC is available with three modes which are given below. ”Parallels Desktop is the easiest, fastest, and most tightly integrated app for running Windows apps or the Windows desktop in Apple OS X.”Edward Mendelson, PCMag.com “The latest version of Parallels, the popular Windows virtualization tool for Mac OS X, almost feels like its trolling Apple.”Engadget.

Hardware:

• A Mac computer with an Intel Core 2 Duo, Core i3, Core i5, Core i7, Core M, or Xeon processor
• 4 GB of memory (8 GB recommended)
• 850 MB of disk space on the boot volume (Macintosh HD) for Parallels Desktop installation
• Additional disk space for virtual machines (SSD drives recommended for better performance)
• Internet connection

Software:

• macOS Sierra 10.12
• OS X El Capitan 10.11.5 or later
• OS X Yosemite 10.10.5 or later

For the full list of Parallels Desktop system requirements, please visit kb.parallels.com/123893.

Alright, good to go? Let’s rock.

In the example below, I will walk you through upgrading Parallels Desktop 9 to Parallels Desktop 12, but the process is similar if you are upgrading from Parallels Desktop 8, 7, etc.

The first image demonstrates your current look. Nothing new, right?

Now, let’s purchase and download Parallels Desktop 12. Here’s the link: parallels.com/products/desktop/buy/(pick New License).

Then choose the edition depending on what you use Windows for.

If you don’t know which one to choose, here is an article about the differences between the Standard and Pro editions: kb.parallels.com/123296

As for the Business edition, it’s for…business, you know?

Then you’ll need to choose either a 1-Time Purchase (perpetual license) or 1-Year Subscription plan (subscription license). And again, I’ve got an article for you about the pros and cons of each option: kb.parallels.com/en/122929

The final step is to choose the number of license keys for all your family and friends.

At the end, hit the green “Buy Now” button, which will redirect you to the shopping cart.

When completed, you’ll get an e-mail with the purchase order and the link to download the software. Simply download it and proceed with the installation.

When you get to the point where you are prompted to activate the product, copy/paste the key from the e-mail you received and click “Activate.”

Note: It will be much better if you shut down Windows before installing the new version. But if you forgot to do so and left it in a suspended state, no worries—the Parallels Tools installation will begin once Windows is resumed.

That’s it! Enjoy the cool design changes, Retina display resolution improvements, and other wonderful features.

Here is the full list of Parallels Desktop 12 features for your reference:

Thanks for reading, and comment below if you have any questions!

Try Parallels Desktop for free for 14 days!

System Requirements for Parallels Desktop 16

Supported Mac Configurations

Guest Operating Systems

• Windows 10
• Windows 8.1
• Windows 8
• Windows Server 2019

• Windows Server 2016
• Windows Server 2012 R2
• Windows 7 (SP0-SP1)
• Windows Server 2008 R2 (SP0-SP2)
• Windows Vista Home, Business, Ultimate and Enterprise (SP0-SP2)
• Windows Server 2003 R2 (SP0-SP2)
• Windows XP (SP0-SP3)
• Windows 2000 Professional SP4
• Windows 2000 Server SP4
• Boot2Docker
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 8,7 and 6
• CentOS Linux 8, 7, 6
• Fedora Linux 32, 31
• Ubuntu 20.04, 19.04, 18.04 LTS, 16.04 LTS
• Debian GNU/Linux 10, 9
• Suse Linux Enterprise 15
• OpenSUSE Linux 15.2, 15.1, 15
• Linux Mint 20, 19, 18
• Kali 2020.2, 2019, 2018
• Elementary OS 5
• Manjaro 18
• Mageia 7
• Gentoo Linux **
• Solaris 11, 10 **
• openBSD 6 **
• FreeBSD 12, 11 **
• openVZ 7
• eComStation 2, 1.2 **
• ReactOS 0.4 **
• Android OS *
• macOS Big Sur 11.0 (when released)
• macOS Catalina 10.15
• macOS Mojave 10.14.x
• macOS High Sierra 10.13.x
• macOS Sierra 10.12.x
• OS X El Capitan 10.11.x
• OS X Yosemite 10.10.x
• OS X Mavericks 10.9.x
• OS X Mountain Lion 10.8.x
• OS X Lion 10.7.x
• OS X Lion Server 10.7.x
• Mac OS X Snow Leopard Server 10.6.x
• Mac OS X Leopard Server 10.5.x
• and many more...
• * — Only the version downloaded with help of the Installation Assistant with Parallels Desktop.
  ** — Parallels Tools are not available for this operating system.

10.10.5 Mac Update

Note: 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.
Parallels Tools for Linux require X Window System version 1.15-1.20 and Linux Kernel version 2.6.29-5.1.

Moving Your PC?

Parallels For Mac Support

PC system requirements to move your PC to your Mac (using Parallels Transporter Agent):

Mac Os 10.10.5 Download

• 700 MHz (or higher) x86 or x64 processor (Intel or AMD)
• 256 MB of RAM
• 50 MB of available hard disk space for installation of Parallels Transporter Agent
• Ethernet or WiFi network adapter for migrating over network
• External USB drive for migrating via external disk
• Supported Windows: Windows 10, Windows 8.1, Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP, Windows Server 2003 and Windows 2000 *
• * — To migrate Windows Vista or older, Transporter Agent from Parallels Desktop 13 should be used. Download the Parallels Transporter Agent.