Parallels Desktop for Mac computers with Apple silicon M3 chips

Assuming Apple announces Macbook Pros with M3 Pro chips at their Oct 30 event, will the current versions of Parallels support the new chips (with Win 11 ARM) or does it typically take a few weeks/months for Parallels to issue updates?

 

Hi there!
Parallels cares deeply about the quality of our software products and the experience they provide.
This thread has been created to collaborate on the issues found in Parallels Desktop on Mac computers with Apple M3 chips. Don't hesitate to share your experience!

 

HI
IS THERE ANY NEWS THAT PARALLELS19 WILL WORK ON THE MACBOOK M3 PRO ?

 

HI
WANTED TO KNOW WILL WE BE ABLE TO INSTALL THE PARALLELS19 ON THE NEW MACBOOK M3 PRO OR WILL THERE BE A NEW VERSION OF THE SAME ?

 

Hello!
We expect that there will be no issues with running Parallels Desktop 19 on the new Mac computers with M3 chips. But if any issues come up, please let us know.

 

I just got my M3 iMac setup, had Migration Assistant copy all my apps, etc. from a Time Machine backup. Parallels opened fine - though it did not find my current license for the Pro version of Parallels 19 - but I copied my long activation number from the website and after clicking that the license should be activated on the new iMac everything went fine. Opened Windows 11, was able to access all my apps and my printer without any issues. I did run a few games included Diablo Immortal which seems to run smoother on the new machine (though I now have 16GB RAM so I was able to allocate 8GB to the VM) and two older programs (Lotus Approach and Microsoft Links) both ran perfectly. So far no issues switching from a M1 iMac to a M3. (Have not tried installing Diablo II Resurrected yet because I assume the Direct X 12 issue will still prevent it from running.)

 

I was able to install windows on Parallels on my iMac m3, but could not activate windows like user above. I have an electronic registration key that isn't transferring.

 

installed on MacBook Pro M3 (max) and no issues. Made a clean W11 and Mac OSX Sonoma 14.1.1 vm. What does not work is the config/settings for a Mac vm. I edited the config file, but not easy or user friendly, so hope they fix this soon,. So M3 all works without issues.

 

I created a separate thread for this before seeing this one, hope it's ok to cross post.

I thought there might be a knowledge base article on this, but I didn't find one. I have a new MBP M3 to replace my current M1. I'm hoping since both are Apple silicon, I can just install Parallels on the M3, and copy the Win 11 ARM VM file(s) across to the same locations, also moving the license at some point. Is this documented anywhere, or can someone walk me through it? Thanks!

 

I am no expert but I just did the same thing - M1 to M3 iMac - with Parallels 19 and Windows 11 ARM. Initially I had the Windows VM on my internal hard drive. I set up the new iMac from a Time Machine back (so the VM would be included in the restore) but I also had a clone using Carbon Copy Cloner of the VM on an external SSD hard drive. Everything went as planned. I was asked to enter my "authorization number" from my original install of Parallels (which I copied and pasted) and I was asked if I wanted to transfer the license from the original iMac to the new iMac, which also went without a hitch.
I then decided - to save some space on my hard drive - to use the cloned copy of the VM on the external HD. This was done simply by adding that VM to the Parallels Control Panel, and once I knew it was working properly, I removed the original VM from the Control Panel and deleted that VM from my internal HD. Now running Parallels/Windows 11 off the external SSD drive and everything is working fine.

 

Interesting, I had my Win10 VM on an external SSD before getting the M1 and creating the Win11 ARM on the 1TB internal. I documented how I did this migration in my other thread about this issue. Thanks for your reply.

 

I successfully got Parallels running on my new MBP M3 Max and have been able to run my critical application (Quicken Classic Premiere) with no significant issues. See this thread for more details -- https://forum.parallels.com/threads/quicken-classic-premier-for-windows-on-m3-mbp.362304/

 

If Apple were to release Macbook Pros with new M3 Pro chips and support for Win 11 ARM, it's possible that Parallels would need some time to update their software to ensure compatibility with the new hardware and operating system. Parallels is usually proactive in providing updates to support the latest technologies, but the exact timeline can vary.

To get the most accurate and current information, I recommend checking the official Parallels website, forums, or contacting Parallels support. They typically provide announcements and release notes for their software updates, including information about compatibility with new hardware and operating systems.

 

I have just upgraded to a MacBook Pro 16 M3 Max. I have not held back and have gone with the top spec M3 Max chip with 16‑core CPU, 40‑core GPU, 16‑core Neural Engine, 128GB RAM and 2TB SSD and are on Sonoma 14.2.1.

Subsequently I have installed Parallels Desktop 19 Pro Edition Version 19.2.1 with Windows 11 Pro VM configured for "Design" and taking the automatic option for CPU & Memory which gives it 8 CPUs and 64GB RAM...

My previous Mac is a MacBook Pro 15 2019 32Gb Inte 2.3GHz 8-Core Intel i9 with a Radeon Pro Vega 16 4GB graphics card and 1TB SSD running Parallels 19.2.1 with a Windows 10 Home VM again configured for "Design" and automatic option for CPU & Memory which gives it 8 CPUs and 16GB RAM...


Benchmarking the software I use for lighting design, Dialux evo 12 (www.dialux.com) I find that doing the intensive lighting calculation the M3Max is 30% slower than the old machine!!!! Much to my current dismay...


Differences in the two MacOS installations are the M3Max has an APFS encrypted partition vs plain APFS on the MBP15

I notice that the M3Max VM has an extra hardware page called "TPM Chip" which says the TPM data has been encrypted.


Could this encryption be part of the performance difference? It still seems extraordinary to me that this could be possible...


The Dialux Evo hardware requirements suggests:

A modern Intel or AMD processor works perfectly with our DIALux evo software. Multiple cores (4-8) will definitely help to reduce the calculation time.

The CPU (clock frequency and number of cores/threads: 4/8 @ 4 GHz vs. 6/12 @ 4 GHz) is probably the most important factor for the calculation. If possible, the calculation uses all available threads....


(https://evo.support-en.dial.de/support/solutions/articles/9000062586-hardware-requirements)


Thoughts anyone?

 

Hi Peter,
I believe the issue here is that Dialux is not compiled for Arm and doesn't use built-in Windows libraries for calculations, thus you experience performance degradation due to the translation of x86 instructions to Aarch64. Apple Silicon power usually negates it, but you own an impressive configuration of an Intel MacBook.

With the Arm ecosystem growing, Dialux might as well consider compiling an Arm version of their product. That would be your moment to enjoy

 

Thank you Alev,
It has been a very expensive upgrade of which one of the main goals was to improve the Dialux lighting calculation performance as it is something that is done repeatedly through the design process and at this stage it has certainly been a failure on that front.
I will need to review my workflow and design process...

If there are any future improvements I will post again and thank you if you would do the same.

 

I am changing computers from MacBook Pro with M1 Pro (with Parallels 18 and Windows 11 ARM) to a new MacBook Pro with M3 Pro. I plan to use a timemachine backup of old system to new system. After successful set up of new computer I will deactivate old computer license and then activate new computer. Any issues I should know about? Hoping this can be completely transparent.
In the event I can not do a backup restore from old to new and have to manually install Parallels desktop and move a copy of the Windows drive, are there any known gotchas? Again, after successful setup of parallels and desktop on new MacBook I will deactivate old one and use license to activate new one. Thanks for anyone's feedback and help in advance. Rich

 

Hey RichardM54,
The plan looks good!
Make sure your virtual machines were in a stopped state when you were doing the time machine backup. It will ensure they will restore correctly.
If you still have the M1 Pro, we recommend using the Migration Assistant.
And the license should migrate without issues, no need to deactivate the copy, simply enter your license key (you can find it at my.parallels.com) into the Parallels Desktop on your new Mac. https://kb.parallels.com/123461 has some additional details about this.

 

I keep getting a popup about ParallelsMD.mdimporter will damage my computer. Found discussion in another thread, but never saw any answers about how to fix it. I've been plugging away on a MBP from 2012 and finally decided to upgrade - to the latest 14" MBP with M3Pro, but it seems this error has been popping up for a while now. Help!

 

Martin,
You didn't mention, but I take it you either migrated the old computer or used a Time Machine backup.
You need to remove the old Parallels, uninstall is best, and reinstall with a fresh copy of v19.2.1.
Once that is done you will need to get the ARM version of your Windows OS. They have them for 10 and 11. But the 10 is not as "robust" as the 11 is.
Once the new Windows is installed then activating it requires you to inform Windows that it was moved to a new computer. Should activate without issue.