Parallels brings back the magic that was waiting seven minutes for Windows to boot

Desktop hypervisor specialist Parallels has released an early technology preview of code that allows virtual machines running OSes coded for the x86_64 architecture, such as Microsoft Windows, to run on Apple’s Arm-powered silicon.

The preview arrived in version 20.2 of Parallels Desktop, and is capable of running 64-bit x86 OSes and their 64-bit or 32-bit applications. The developer reckons peeps want this, either to run and test 32-bit x86 Windows apps in a native environment, or as an alternative to running x86_64 Linux VMs on Apple’s Rosetta emulator.

Parallels warns the tool is “slow, really slow.”

“Windows boot time is about two to seven minutes, based on your hardware,” advises a knowledge-base article, which adds: “The responsiveness of the operating system is low.”

So low that Parallels recommends not running multiple apps and instead closing whichever software you’re using before opening another application. Parallels seems to expect that things will go awry, as it advises: “If you meet unfamiliar Windows behavior, restart Windows.”

USB isn’t supported, sound won’t play, and it’s possible to use just a single vCPU. All of which sounds like a PC running Windows 3.x, circa 1992 – just without the sound of a hard disk drive grinding its way to inevitable future physical failure.

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The product’s crap-tastic experience can be had with Windows 10, 11, Server 2019 and Server 2022 VMs, and a few versions of Kubuntu, Lubuntu, Ubuntu and Debian. Fedora can be installed but fails immediately. In other words, yes, Linux is slow on this preview, too, but you can already run Linux natively on Arm Apple Macs, anyway.

Parallels presumably plans to improve this feature, because as it stands Mac-using folk who really need to run x86 flavors of Windows or Linux could do far better with a cloudy remote desktop, an old Intel or AMD box, or a cheap mini-PC.

Parallels cut its teeth as a desktop hypervisor player and a minor figure in server virtualization. As explained to The Register in a late 2024 chat with CEO Christa Quarles, the company is now keenest on desktop virtualization, application publishing, and security tools such as browser isolation.

Quarles told us Parallels wants in to those markets partly because she thinks incumbent vendors VMware/Omnissa and Citrix are not serving customers or partners well, so buyers will be receptive to alternatives. She said Parallels’ pipeline of prospects is “bursting” and new deal registrations have tripled.

Windows VMs on Apple silicon has much less upside than desktop virtualization and secure application access, but is far cooler. ®