Parallels 16 for M1 Macs Gets Technical Preview 2 Update With New Features

Back in December, Parallels released a Parallels Desktop 16 for M1 Macs Technical Preview Program, which is designed to allow Parallels to run Windows on ‌M1‌ Macs.

Parallels today released a second Technical Preview, introducing new features and various improvements to the software for a better usage experience. The update adds support for suspending and resuming a virtual machine, improves stability, and more, with the full feature list below.

New features
- Added support for suspending and resuming a virtual machine.
- Support for installing Parallels Tools in the following Linux distributives: Ubuntu 20.04 or later, Debian 10.7 or later, and Fedora Workstation 33-1.2 or later.
- Compatible Linux installation images are now automatically detected in the Installation Assistant.

Improvements
- Improved overall stability.
- Resolved the issue with ARM-based Linux ISO images being recognized as Intel-based ones.
- Resolved the issue with missing sound when a virtual machine is created from a VHDX image.
- Resolved the issue with not being able to select an ISO image as an installation source when VHDX is specified in the drop-down menu.

Known issues
- During the Parallels Tools update, the virtual machine's screen may freeze for several minutes, please simply wait.

The Parallels software can run Windows using Microsoft's Arm-based version that's available through the Windows Insider program, but there's no publicly available version of Arm Windows that can be purchased.

There are also several limitations to the software. It is not possible to install or start an Intel x86 based operating system in a virtual machine, and ARM32 applications do not work.

Current release versions of Parallels are not able to run on ‌M1‌ Macs, so ‌M1‌ Mac owners who want to use the software will need to participate in the Technical Preview program.