Parallels For Mac Free Space For Windows

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Parallels Desktop for Mac 14 has been unveiled. The popular cross-platform solution that lets you run Windows 10 on your Mac features support for Apple’s upcoming macOS Mojave update and includes storage and performance enhancements, and more.

Parallels Desktop provides support for a plethora of operating systems, such as Windows (going from Windows 3.11 to Windows 8), MS-DOS, RED Hat Enterprise, Fedora, CentOS, Ubuntu, Debian, Suse Linux Enterprise, Mandriva, Solaris, Chrome OS, Mac OS X Leopard and Snow Leopard Server or Android.

The primary focus of this year’s Parallels Desktop for Mac release is on enhanced storage optimization. This year’s version is between 20 percent and 30 percent smaller than earlier releases. This will allow you to save as much as 20GB of disk space.

Performance improvements, meanwhile, include:

  • Up to 200 percent performance improvement on the iMac Pro (audio and video encoding, AI, 3D modeling, cryptography and other complex math calculations workloads)
  • Up to 80 percent faster application launch
  • Up to 10 percent faster boot time
  • Up to 30 percent faster suspend operation on APFS partition
  • Up to 130 percent more frames per second in Shared Camera
  • Up to 17 percent more frames per second in Coherence view mode

Also, for the first time, Apple TouchBar support has arrived for the following popular Windows apps: Microsoft Visio and OneNote, SketchUp, AutoCAD, Revit, Quicken, QuickBooks and Visual Studio. They join other apps that picked up TouchBar support in previous years including Office 2016 (Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook), Windows Start Menu and desktop (Cortana, Task View and Task Bar pinned elements), File Explorer (File Open and Save As settings), and web browsers (Internet Explorer, Microsoft Edge, Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Opera and Vivaldi).

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In announcing Parallels Desktop 14 for Mac, Jack Zubarev, Parallels president explains:

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Millions of Parallels Desktop customers highly value performance and efficiency. With Parallels Desktop 14, we’ve taken those to the next level by focusing on graphics and storage, allowing customers to save as much as 20 GB of disk space while enjoying the best-ever performance. Personal productivity enhancements include more Windows features available on Mac devices. Touch Bar support for Windows applications—such as OneNote or Quicken—enables customers to add their favorite applications to the Mac Touch Bar so their shortcuts are at their fingertips.

You can download a copy of Parallels Desktop 14 for Mac online. Current version 12 and 13 users can upgrade to the latest version for $49.99. New users can buy the software for $99.99 or sign up for a $79.99 per-year subscription. Parallels Desktop 14 Pro Edition and Business Edition are both priced at $99.99 per year.

For testing purposes, you can download free trials of both Parallels Desktop 14 for Mac and Windows 10.

Parallels lets you run many different types of operating systems on your Mac. Because the developers knew that most Mac users will want to install at least a Windows OS, Parallels includes a Windows Express installation option that eliminates the need to babysit a Windows XP or Vista installation.

This guide will take you through the Windows Express installation, which creates a virtual machine on your Mac. We'll stop short of actually installing Windows, because the specific steps depend on whether you're installing Windows XP, Vista, Win 7, or Win 8.

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What You Will Need

  • Parallels Desktop for Mac v3.0 or later.
  • The installation CDs for Windows XP or Vista.
  • 20 GB free disk space. You can get by with less (I've performed an installation with as little as 8 GB of available disk space), but you'll appreciate the extra room if you later want to install more Windows applications or store larger Windows files than you originally intended.
  • About an hour of free time, for the Windows Express setup and to actually install Windows.
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The Parallels OS Installation Assistant

By default, Parallels uses the Windows Express installation option. This option creates a virtual machine with settings that will work just fine for most individuals. You can always customize the virtual machine parameters later if you need to.

The real advantage of Windows Express is that it's fast and easy; it does most of the work for you. It will collect most of the information that Windows needs by asking you some questions. Once you supply the answers, you can leave and then return to a fully installed version of Windows. This is a much more pleasant Windows installation than the standard. The downside is that the Windows Express method doesn't let you directly configure many settings, including type of network, memory, disk space, and other parameters, although you can always tweak these and other settings later.

Using the OS Installation Assistant

  1. Launch Parallels, usually located at /Applications/Parallels.
  2. Click the ‘New’ button in the Select a Virtual Machine window.
  3. Select the installation mode that you want Parallels to use.
    • Windows Express (recommended)
    • Typical
    • Custom
  4. For this installation, select the Windows Express option and click the ‘Next’ button.

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Configuring a Virtual Machine for Windows

Parallels needs to know which operating system you plan to install, so it can set the virtual machine parameters and collect the information necessary to automate the installation process.

Configure the Virtual Machine for Windows

  1. Select the OS type by clicking the dropdown menu and choosing Windows from the list.
  2. Select the OS version by clicking the dropdown menu and choosing Windows XP or Vista from the list.
  3. Click the ‘Next’ button.
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Entering Your Windows Product Key and Other Configuration Information

The Parallels Windows Express installation option is ready to collect some of the information it needs to automate the installation process.

Product Key, Name, and Organization

  1. Enter your Windows product key, which is usually located on the back of the Windows CD case or inside the Windows envelope. The dashes in the product key are entered automatically, so just enter the alphanumeric characters. Be careful not to lose the product key, because you may need it in the future if you need to reinstall Windows.
  2. Enter your name by using the alphanumeric keys and the space key. Do not use any special characters, including apostrophes.
  3. Enter your organization's name, if appropriate. This field is optional.
  4. Click the ‘Next’ button.
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Name That Virtual Machine

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It's time to specify a name for the virtual machine that Parallels is about to create. You can choose any name you like, but a descriptive name is usually best, particularly if you have multiple hard drives or partitions.

In addition to naming the virtual machine, you will also choose whether your Mac and the new Windows virtual machine should be able to share files.

Pick a Name and Make a Decision About Sharing Files

  1. Enter a name for Parallels to use for this virtual machine.
  2. Enable file sharing, if desired, by placing a check mark next to the 'Enable file sharing' option. This will let you share files in your Mac's home folder with your Windows virtual machine.
  3. Enable user profile sharing, if desired, by placing a check mark next to the ‘Enable user profile sharing’ option. Enabling this option allows the Windows virtual machine to access the files on your Mac desktop and in your Mac user folder. It's best to leave this file unchecked and manually create shared folders later on. This provides more protection for your files​ and lets you make file sharing decisions on a folder-by-folder basis.​
  4. Click the ‘Next’ button.
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Performance: Should Windows or OS X Get Top Billing?

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At this point in the configuration process, you can decide whether to optimize the virtual machine you're about to create for speed and performance or allow applications to have dibs on your Mac's processor.

Decide How to Optimize Performance

  1. Select an optimization method.
    • Virtual Machine. Choose this option for the best performance of the Windows virtual machine you're about to create.
    • Mac OS X applications. Choose this option if you prefer your Mac applications to take precedence over Windows.
  2. Make your selection. I prefer the first option, to give the virtual machine the best performance possible, but the choice is yours. You can change your mind later if you decide that you made the wrong choice.
  3. Click the ‘Next’ button.
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Start the Windows Installation

All of the options for the virtual machine have been configured, and you've supplied your Windows product key and your name, so you're ready to install Windows. I'll tell you how to start the Windows installation process below, and cover the rest of the process in another step-by-step guide.

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Begin the Windows Installation

  1. Insert the Windows Install CD into your Mac's optical drive.
  2. Click the ‘Finish’ button.

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Parallels will start the installation process by opening the new virtual machine you created, and booting it from the Windows Install CD. Follow the onscreen instructions to install Windows.