Can´t create any virtual machine - "The specified configuration file is invalid."

[AndreasH44]

Did you find a solution?
I am in your exact situation. Migrated from M1 MacBook Air to M5 MacBook Air and i have the same issue still. I don't want to upgrade my parallels version, at least not now.

No solution of the original issue, but a solution for me. I wanted to do light gaming and office. As I found no help or solution I solved the office by using Mac Office and solved the gaming by purching Crossover for Mac, which provides quite a good performance. And I said goodbye to parallels, because this behavior I don't want to support.

 

[EmmaC2]

Hi Andreas,

I'd try updating Parallels first, especially since you're on an M4 Mac. I had a similar issue before and an update fixed it for me.

If that doesn't help, maybe try creating a completely new VM from scratch instead of importing the old one.

Hope you get it sorted!

 

[RubenI]

I had a M2 with Parallels 18 purchased several years ago and one Win 11 on it. The Mac OS has been updated several times, the last version ist Tahoe 26.4.1
Parallels works, Win 11 works.
Then I trnasferred all to a new M5 machine via the migration assistant. On the new machine I have Tahoe 26.5 and parallels starts but the VM with Win 11 doesnt. I also get the "The specified configuration file is invalid."
I frequently read that people solved this issue with an update to the latest parallels version - but I find this weird. There must be a solution without spening money.

I have the exact issue. My MacBook air M2 failed. I purchased a MacBook Pro M5 Pro, restored it via Time Machine, but the VM fails to start, and I cannot create a new VM either. I have created a post within the forums and messaged Parallels on Facebook.

 

[dra3b]

Yes I can in fact confirm it. I was waiting for Parallels 27, and I just purchased it last week and now everything works on the M5 again. They forced us to do this. I hope they won't keep doing that. I discovered the problem last June when I got my M5 MBA, and I know Parallels updates every August, so I waited for the new version in stead of buying the old one. There are no major differences anyway.

 

[RubenI]

I am writing to confirm that Parallels 18 does not work with MacOS26. According to Parallel, users should not upgrade MacOS when using a lower version of Parallels. If you bought version Parallels 18 you need to remain on a lower MacOS.