Parallels Desktop 19.3.0 is released!

Dear Parallels Community,
We're thrilled to announce the release of our latest update for Parallels Desktop - version 19.3.0! Find the details at https://kb.parallels.com/129860.
We value your input and want to hear from you! Whether you've already tried out the new update or are planning to do so, we encourage you to share your thoughts, suggestions, and any issues you may encounter in this thread.

Happy updating!

 

I noticed in the release notes that one of the now-unsupported features is:

• The option to launch a virtual machine when your Mac starts

There are two locations in a virtual machine's settings where this is configurable in "Startup and Shutdown":

1. 'Always ready in background' starts the VM when the Mac boots
2. Custom -> Start Automatically -> When Mac Starts

I use the first option to host virtual machines that run services for the local network. It's understandable to deprecate options that are uncommonly used, but I would like to clarify whether both options will be removed in the near future, or just the latter one?

Thanks for the great product!

 

I'm a bit worried about the Deprecation notice. The loss of two features will affect me:

• The option to launch a virtual machine when your Mac starts
• Network boot for macOS virtual machines

I run some legacy services from a server VM hosted on a Mac mini 2018 so the loss of launch of Mac startup is an annoyance, although I could obviously make a startup script using prlctl .
The Network Boot option is something I've been using to test my NetInstall service which is used to support old Mac's for either historic interest purposes, or to get a working macOS to install firmware updates to make the Mac as ready as possible for alternative OS installation.

Is there a way to prevent my Parallels Desktop Pro installation from updating to Parallels Desktop 20 so that I can keep my Intel Mac mini on version 19?
Is there an end-of-life date on Parallels Desktop 19 for security updates?

Any advice would be appreciated.

 

>>> Message has been deleted by the user <<<

 

Have you ever purchased a key from Parallels Desktop in the past? If you don't have it, you need to submit a support ticket and ask for refund to buy a full key but not the upgrade one.

 

I am disappointed by the decision to remove the Parallels Virtualization SDK, as it is currently the only way to automate several configuration options.

The Parallels Command-Line interface could be updated with the functionality currently provided by the SDK, which would satisfy my use case. I suspect that would also satisfy most other Pro users who have used the SDK. I made a feature suggestion thread about it here: https://forum.parallels.com/threads...lity-in-parallels-cli-before-removing.363344/ .

 

The knowledge base article link in the release notes is "permission denied"





The embedded link address is: https://kb.parallels.com/130091?cli...W*MTcxMDAzMjgwNi40LjAuMTcxMDAzMzIzMi42MC4wLjA.

 

Thank you for the feedback! The KB is available now.

 

Thank you for the feedback! I've asked a few additional questions about your use case in thread https://forum.parallels.com/threads...lity-in-parallels-cli-before-removing.363344/.

 

Hi @Macintosh Rescue ,
Thank you for the feedback. The option we're about to drop is 'Start automatically: When Mac starts'.

 

Great! Thanks for the reply! Note @Macintosh Rescue has the additional question after mine.

Do you have metrics on usage of the other feature "Always ready in background"? Seems that would be popular as a way to run workgroup servers in a SMB environment. Curious what the metrics say though.

 

Thanks @Mikhail Ushakov ,
That's the option I use on my Intel Mac to load an AFP software museum, but I am sure I can just make my own startup script going forward. The loss of NetBoot support for Mac guests could be a minor inconvenience for me but perhaps I can figure out some sort of bootstrap VM to do the same.

Some feedback I'd like to offer about Parallels 19.3:
It has made macOS guests much more useful to the extent that I have moved away from some macOS guests that I was running on the Intel Mac and replaced them with macOS 12.7.4 and macOS 13.6.5 on my M1 Mac. I particularly like that IPSW files appear in the Create New wizard, and being able to change settings with the GUI is much quicker than digging through the text configuration files. For me running services, these macOS virtual machines are ideal and run very efficiently on my M1 Mac, but users wanting to run applications would probably benefit from further development to get closer to Linux in terms of functionality and easy host/guest integration. It feels like progress has been made though so my thanks to the developers.

 

What was the rationale for dropping "Start automatically: When Mac starts"? technical or usage?

 

I'm having trouble sending keyboard shortcuts to the host when I'm inside a macOS VM.
Before the update, when inside a VM, pressing Cmd+Space sent the command to the host, and Fn+Cmd+Space sent the command to the VM.
Now either way sends the command to the VM. I haven't found a way of detaching the keyboard focus from the VM to send keyboard shortcuts back do the host, it seems the keyboard is always attached to the macOS VM. The only way I found to detach the keyboard or send shortcuts back to the host was by actively using the mouse to switch to an app on the host so the shortcuts could be sent to the host again.
Could you enlighten me how could I move the keyboard focus to the host without having to use the mouse and switch to another app on the host to do that?
Besides that, is there any configuration where this behavior could be changed?

"Parallels Desktop for Mac 19.3.0 (54924) update addresses the overall stability and security issues and includes the following additions and improvements:
macOS

• Enables Cmd+Tab, Cmd+Space system shortcuts and Fn button to be sent to a macOS virtual machine."

 

My hope is that the functionality is duplicated by the "Always ready in background" radio button option in VM Configuration -> Options -> Startup and Shutdown which will NOT be removed. @Mikhail Ushakov can you confirm this?

 

Yes, we're not going to deprecate the "Always ready in background" option.

 

@Mikhail Ushakov
Just a thought:
How about offering a knowledge base article for those still wanting a virtual machine to start with the Mac without requiring login. The way it would likely work would be to write a ParallelsAutostart.plist file in /Library/LaunchDaemons which would be permanently enabled like:
sudo launchctl load -w /Library/LaunchDaemons/ParallelsAutostart.plist
This way the Mac startup option can be deprecated but the functionality can remain as part of macOS. The tricky part is that the plist would have to execute prlctl and the user who owns the virtual machines so something like:
sudo -u username /usr/local/bin/prlctl start "VMName"

You can autostart in VirtualBox with a plist style service so I think it should be easy to do this. I might have a go at writing a plist myself when I get some time and will share it if it works.

 

I was disappointed to read in the release notes that macOS 10.5-10.8 will not be supported in the next release for Intel Macs. With Parallels being sold as a subscription service, it's frustrating to see features I use removed from a product I keep paying for.

 

Interestingly these weren't technically supported anyway even though they were listed; there is some small print at the bottom of the supported guest list stating that for macOS guests: "Requires a Mac computer that supports the operating system as a host OS." and for OS X Mountain Lion (10.8) the newest Mac that would run on is from late 2009. A late 2009 Mac would support up to OS X El Capitan (10.11), and the oldest macOS release that Parallels Desktop 19 supports is macOS Mojave (10.14.6) which definitely isn't supported on late 2009 hardware.
Mac OS X can be a tricky guest sometimes and I have had success running Mac OS X Server 10.5 in Parallels Desktop on a Mac mini server 2012, but when I moved to Parallels Desktop on a Mac mini 2018 the guest just kept self destructing and I couldn't keep it going. If your current guests work and you keep your current hardware I doubt that they would stop working when you update Parallels Desktop because of the way the hypervisor works. I do wish we had levels of emulation available to keep those old guests running going forward.

 

Well, there's always Parallels 18, where the asterisked limitation you cite only applies to Ventura. Luckily I've never had a problem with my Snow Leopard Server or my High Sierra VMs on my 2018 Mac Mini (which of course never supported those as hosts), but I may switch back to Parallels 18 (if I can find an installer and my license will work) just to be safe. No reason to mess with something that's working by installing unnecessary updates, even with the hypervisor remaining constant.
Sorry your Leopard VM bit the dust. That would infuriate me.