In Window mode, the guest OS runs in a window on the Mac desktop. Figure 1 shows them all, and Video 1 shows them in use. There are three commonly-used view modes, and one rarely-used view mode. View modes change the way you see the guest OS and its applications in a virtual machine. You can view a virtual machine in several different ways, called view modes. How do I fix this? (Answer: Which OS: the guest OS or the host OS?) How do I update the OS? (Follow-up: Which OS: the guest OS or the host OS?) I am using macOS Lion as the guest OS in my virtual machine.Ĭan I use Parallels Desktop 16 on my iMac running Sierra as the host OS? (Answer: no.)Īnd, here are two poor examples because they require further clarification:

When you are talking about using Parallels Desktop, it is often important to explicitly state whether it is the host OS or the guest OS. Other possibilities include Windows 7, a Linux version, a Mac OS, or even an older Mac OS like Lion or Sierra. The most-used guest OS in Parallels Desktop is Windows 10. The operating system running in a virtual machine.

For a Parallels Desktop 16 user, this may be macOS Catalina, macOS Mojave, macOS High Sierra, or even macOS Big Sur.

Parallels Desktop constructs a virtual computer to run additional operating systems on your Mac at the same time that macOS is running. To keep things from getting confusing, we use some specialized terminology that a typical, only-one-OS-at-a-time user wouldn’t necessarily need. Running two (or more) operating systems at the same time, on one Mac, may seem rather odd. This blog post will give some tips to help the newer users get the most out of Parallels Desktop by using the view mode that will best fit their needs.įirst, some framework. While there are many experienced Parallels Desktop users, there are just as many new users. This post is part of a series to assist new users of Parallels Desktop.

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