Parallels Desktop for PC and Mac

Software Reviews and Criticism

• By sysjoker

  Why is windows vm usage a paid service ?

  Why should I choose to pay for Parallels Desktop Lite to use Windows VMs when I can do it for free using VirtualBox developed by Oracle ? Before downloading your app from App Store, I missed the line in the description which said Windows VMs need a paid subscription. If I didn't, I would never download it. and when I realized the payment requirement after the trial period, I quit your app immediately without trying. I had checked the differences between Lite and Standart Version before downloading the Lite from App Store. And it had made sense why Lite is free and Standart is not. Standart has great features that I might consider paying for but Lite has no advantage over VirtualBox. If I remember correctly, you didn't have a Lite version at the beginning. and seeing this Lite version made me think that you wanted to gain popularity among the users who choose to use free Virtualbox and don't try the Standart version. I am a developer and I can use Vagrant free version with VirtualBox but Vagrant is not free for Parallels. This also adds to the cost of Parallels Lite. As a summary, I may consider paying for Parallels Standart because of great features but will never pay for the Lite when its equivalent software is free.

  
  
• By Airslide

  Unexpected change in capabilities

  The free version used to support Linux. Parallels has opted to change this to a subscription based feature in an update. I would be okay with this if the new version was a separate app (i.e. existing users could keep using the old version, without any new features). Instead, auto-update kicked in, I find myself in front of a screen demanding a login (not previously required) when I'm trying to get unversity work done on a time crunch, and I find out that the software wants to charge me going forward after a trial period. Again, my biggest issue with this is the update to an existing app--most other apps that have gone to a subscription model have a separate app store listing for their new version to avoid this problem, or permanently grandfather in old users to certain feature sets. If parallels communicated this change at some point, they did not do so in the app any time I've been using it the last few months, and I must say I'm very disappointed.

  
  
• By Syllogomania

  crap

  I have new Windows with only USB-C ports. wanted to use this so i could run a game on steam that uses a controller... obviously had to use an adapter to for anyplug in devices... computer would not recognize or even register there was anything plugged in. on top of that, at start up, it even said there would be no wifi. also couldn't get sound to work through speakers. and for $80...thats total BS. Plus i had a key for windows and i never got to enter it...not sure what that was about. tried to transfer the windows via my microsoft account which is how it is supposed to work...and how they even recommended to do the set up... but without WIFI you cant even connect. Oh and through the adapter that is required to even use an Ethernet to hardline in... this wouldn't support (not an off-brand either). and FYI, all of these things except the gaming controllers work no problem on the Windows side of things through the adapters. i only wanted this to play a game so i could use the controller. I probably would have used the windows for other things too eventually...but then again... NOT for $80/year. for that price: if anyone were gaming or using the windows more than a couple times a year.... you would be better off just spending the extra money to get a cheap PC laptop/desktop or even doing your own cheap build (the route i plan to take). I hope you find this helpful.

  
  
• By L.A. Willis

  No support after depleting hard drive space

  I’m on the free trial, and after a few attempts to get Windows 10 to install on the virtual PC, the application itself worked fine. The problem came in when the application began taking up almost all of my hard drive space. I tried unistalling the program and my virtual PC, but the hard rive size wouldn’t change. I spoke with a rep via chat and he sent me a link to a document to use, but the instructions didn’t match what was on my computer. Because of this, he referred me to Microsoft. After chatting with Microsoft and troubleshooting, they asked me to try a reboot and that worked. First of all, the rep should be trained about rebooting the PC after uninstalling Parallels if that’s all it takes to clear it off. Second, there should be a warning about how much hard drive space you actually need to run it or strongly recommending an external drive because apparently a 500 GB internal hard drive isn't enough.

  
  
• By neretinus

  is that a dud?

  What is that for? It says I can run Windows and hense its apps. The instrallation was easy, but the apps that I installed did not work. They show that they do but there is no actual result. For instance, I used GoPro Fusion Studio app, and it opened the applicaiton but the videos (thumnails) are all black. So al the stitches videos are just black color. I also tried other apps related to linguistic corpora (that are identical to what I have on my authentic Windows PC). And, again, the Parallels shows you that the app is running but when you output the result, everything is empty. The files occupy space but there is nothting inside. I also intalled Steam and wanted to "TRY" if the games would work. NO, THEY DID NOT. Like before, the installation of Steam/Games was succesfull but there when launching the games/apps, there was always something preventing it. It does not matter who is causing these issue, but as a user, I am not going to troubleshoot any of these. So, it's a 1 star from me.

  
  

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