Hands-On with Parallels Desktop 19

Parallels Desktop 19 offers Touch ID integration, macOS Sonoma compatibility, and an intriguing new Visual Studio Code extension. But the basics haven’t changed: this product still runs Windows on Arm faster than is possible on native Arm-based PCs, and it’s a terrific way to use Mac and Windows side-by-side on a single computer.

This gets more impressive with the passage of time. My current Mac, which was never particularly interesting, is an OG M1-based MacBook Pro with just 8 GB of RAM, and you might think that it’d be getting pretty long in the tooth by this time, especially when it comes to virtualization. But no: Apple Silicon really is that impressive, and even this old entry-level configuration shows no signs of slowing down. Helping matters, Apple and Parallels have worked together to improve the Virtualization framework capabilities in macOS, slowly chipping away at some of the limitations compared to the old Intel-based platform. This version, for example, supports x86 Docker container emulation using an Arm-based Ubuntu Linux VM.

Of course, most users are a bit more casual than that. And what they see will vary depending on how they use the product. For example, I had assumed that most users probably stuck with Parallels’ terrific Coherence mode, as I do. This is where the Windows desktop is hidden and you simply run Windows apps side-by-side with Mac apps on the macOS desktop. But I was told that’s not the case: most users aren’t all that sophisticated, as it turns out, and so most access the virtual environment in a window, or in full-screen mode, where the Windows desktop and other UIs are always visible. Windowed seems weird to me, but full-screen mode makes some sense since most Mac users are familiar with touchpad gesture-based app switching, and in that mode, the Windows desktop in the VM works like a standalone Mac app.

Those installing Parallels for the first time will be greeted by subtly modernized windows throughout the process that match Apple’s latest design guidelines. And, as crucially to any Mac user, a new icon: apparently, Parallels received a lot of complaints about the old one not fitting in with the other icons on their Macs. I guess I get that, but the new icon will hopefully meet these people’s needs.

By default, the Parallels installation assistant configures a Windows 11 VM such that there is a local user account with the same name you use in macOS (“Paul” in my case) and no password. So VM reboots are seamless and don’t require you to enter credentials; it just happens in the background. This is satisfactory for lots of people, like those who simply need that one Windows application (or some small number).

But some will need to sign in to Windows, of course. This includes consumers using Microsoft accounts (MSA), like me. Or those on what Microsoft calls Work or School accounts (now EntraID, but formerly Azure Active Directory, or AAD). And for those customers, Parallels Desktop 19 includes a welcome new integration with Touch ID, allowing you to sign in securely using your Mac’s native (and Windows Hello-like) authentication method.

To set this up, you need to open Settings in Windows 11, navigate to Accounts, and either convert that default local account to an MSA (or Work or School account) or create a new account and sign in with that. I did the former, using my MSA, and when I rebooted the VM (I probably could have just signed out), I was greeted with this unique customization to the Windows 11 sign-in screen.

As a bit of semi-humorous trivia, I’m embarrassed to say that I needed to look up my MSA’s password, but remember that those who enabled 2FA on their MSA account years ago, as I did, haven’t needed to enter a password in a long, long time. Anyway, once that was entered, I was good to go. And now, each time the VM has to reboot or whatever, I’m prompted to sign in with Touch ID. Excellent.

For those that wish to virtualize macOS—i.e. run macOS in a VM—Parallels Desktop 19 also supports dynamic resolution so that the display scales as you resize the VM window. This feature already worked in Windows, though I don’t recall when it was added. Granted, I use Coherence most of the time.

And because of a modernization in macOS Sonoma, in which Apple has removed the legacy Postscript converter and moved to Internet Printing Protocol (IPP) for shared printing, Parallels has likewise updated its software. And it’s a huge improvement: my Windows VM found the printer I had already configured in the Mac, as before, but now it uses an improved driver that provides Windows apps with access to all of its features instead of the basic driver used before.

Students and professionals with CAD needs will be happy to know that Parallels Desktop 19 adds support for OpenGL 4.1 in Windows on Arm, enabling support for such apps as ArcGIS CityEngine 2023, VectorWorks Vision 2023, VariCAD, Deswik.CAD, and other solutions. And Parallels has improved the install experience for ArcGIS, AutoDesk Inventor, Ansys Workbench, and other apps. You’ll see improved performance in ArcGIS Pro, too. (I wasn’t able to test any of that, but it’s fair to say that the Parallels user base is about as diverse as they come.)

Finally, developers can look forward to the new Parallels extension, which lets you create and manage VMs right from the code editor. This requires installing and configuring HashiCorp Packer and Vagrant first, so I’m still working through that bit. But the demo I had last week suggests this will be quite welcome for many developers.