Parallels Install Macos Catalina

Catalina

Installing macOS Mojave virtual machine before upgrading to macOS Catalina. If you running Mojave do the following to install macOS Mojave VM with Parallels Desktop: Open Parallels Desktop.app from the Applications folder and select File New. Scroll to the right under Free Systems select Install macOS 10.14 Using the Recovery Partition. Install Windows 10 on a Mac Catalina With Parallels Desktop Parallels Desktop is very intuitive and easy-to-use for regular computer users. The app will configure everything for you, even download Windows 10 or utilize the one you already downloaded via Boot Camp.

How to Get Windows 10 on a macOS Catalina

If you want to install Windows on your Macbook, there are a few ways to do it: you may use Mac’s Boot Camp Assistant to install Windows as its own independent OS; then you will be able to startup either macOS or Windows depending on which one you need at the time. The other way is using a virtual machine: you may create a virtual Windows setup using Parallels Desktop, VMware Fusion or VirtualBox. Then at any time you may start that virtual machine and load Windows inside macOS. This article describes pros and cons of each method, so that you can decide which one is right for you.

Option 1: Download Windows 10 on a macOS Catalina With BootCamp

Boot Camp comes with your Macbook for free, and it allows you to install Windows alongside macOS, so you can choose which of them to boot on startup. Mac’s Boot Camp Assistant will help you install Windows, partition the startup drive and install necessary drivers.

If you install Windows via Boot Camp, Windows will have all of your Macbook’s resources and can run programs with the maximum possible performance. That’s why dual-booting is ideal for running resource-intensive programs like video-editing software or high-end games.

On the other hand, only one operating system will be able to run at the same time, so you will have to reboot between them depending on which apps you need to run at the moment. Another possible drawback is fact that Windows and macOS use different file systems, and you will not be able to open Mac files on Windows or vice versa unless you install specific third-party drives for it. That is not a problem when using virtual machines.

Option 2: Run Windows 10 on a Macbook Without BootCamp, Using a Virtual Machine

Parallels Install Macos Catalina

Virtual machines allow you to install and open Windows 10 in a window on your Mac desktop. Windows will “think” it’s running on a real computer, when it is running inside an app. With virtual machines you run both macOS and Windows at the same time, which is handy if you want to open a single Windows program alongside your Mac applications. However, when you run a virtual machine, your computer’s resources are split between the two operating systems, so everything may run slower than usual.

Install Windows 10 on a Mac Catalina With Parallels Desktop

Parallels Desktop is very intuitive and easy-to-use for regular computer users. The app will configure everything for you, even download Windows 10 or utilize the one you already downloaded via Boot Camp. You can open Windows in a separate window (including a full screen mode), or you can turn on Coherence mode. In Coherence mode the virtual machine will run in the background, while Windows programs can run alongside your Mac apps. You can even put Windows programs on your macOS desktop or pin them to Dock. Parallels Desktop allows you to copy and paste or drag and drop between Windows and macOS without any problems.

Parallels

Parallels Desktop prices start at $79.99, however there is a free trial period available.

Get Windows 10 on a Mac Catalina With VMware Fusion

VMware Fusion is another popular virtualization software for Macbooks. It is close to Parallels in terms of functionality and pricing, but VMware’s Fusion supports a larger number of operating systems than Parallels. On the other hand, Parallels is easier for beginners, and runs a little smoother. Otherwise, these two programs are approximately on the same level.

Parallels Install Macos Catalina

Install Windows 10 a Mac Via VirtualBox

If you don’t plan to spend extra money on virtualization software, there’s always VirtualBox by Oracle. VirtualBox is a pretty decent free alternative to paid software if not slower, less polished and missing some handy functions. If you need to run some resource intensive Windows programs, VirtualBox might not be the best choice for you. VirtualBox also requires more technical knowledge than, for example, Parallels, as users need to tune some settings themselves when installing it. However, if you are a power user already or don’t mind doing a little more work, and you are not going to run latest Windows games or video-editing software, VirtualBox is a good (and free!) alternative.

I love playing with different operating systems including Linux, Windows, and Mac. I like macOS Catalina that’s why I run a Hackintosh Catalina on my Thinkpad T450. It runs very well and I am pretty satisfied with it. Today, I want to install Parallels Desktop version 15.0 on my Hackintosh. I want to share with you how this program performs on Catalina. Parallels is not the only software to run Windows on macOS. You can also use Virtualbox as well as VMware Workstation. But in this particular post, I will focus on Parallels.

There are so many things have been updated to this new version 15.0. You may want to take a look at what’s new on Parallels 15 here. It works flawlessly on macOS Catalina for sure. If you want to run multiple operating systems on your Mac, then you can continue to follow this guide to install Parallels.

Steps to install Parallels 15 on macOS Catalina

Step 1. Obtain the Parallels Installer

Go to the following page to download the latest version of Parallels. You may download the free trial version or you can also purchase the full version.

Catalina

Save the file ParallelsDesktop-15.1.3-47255.dmg to your download folder.

Step 2. Install Parallels

Double-click the dmg file you’ve just downloaded and then double-click or right-click and choose open on the following window

Wait until the installation process completes. Once completes, you can start using Parallels Desktop to create your first virtual machine.

Parallels Install Macos Catalina 2019

Step 3. Create a new virtual machine

Run Parallels Desktop. From the first window, select Install Windows or another OS from a DVD or image file. At this point, we must have an ISO file for the operating system we are going to install. For example, I am going to install Fedora on my system.

Click Install Windows or another OS from a DVD or image file

Parallels Install Macos Catalina Free

Parallels can detect any ISO file automatically. Choose the operating system and click Continue.

Parallels Install Macos Catalina Update

Now provide a name and install location

Parallels Install Macos Catalina Island

Enable the option Customize settings before installation to modify some default settings. Click Create and then we can start customizing the new VM. You can modify the cpu and memory allocation, graphics performance and so on.

Parallels Install Macos Catalina

Click Continue and you can now start the virtual machine

Install Parallels On Mac Catalina

That’s it. Now you can create as many vm’s as you want. Only your system resources are the limit.