by Guest Blog Author, Alex Sursiakov, Program Manager at Parallels
- 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 Click Continue and proceed with the installation.
- While Parallels Desktop 12 and 13 will run your virtual machine on macOS Mojave, you will experience performance issues, including: macOS Mojave guest install from recovery option unavailable No mouse visible in macOS guests after suspending or pausing the virtual machine.
On June 4 at the WWDC 2018 keynote, Apple® announced major updates to all of its software platforms. One of them is macOS® Mojave, the new version of the operating system for your Mac®.
Parallels Desktop 15 for Mac is the fastest, easiest and most powerful application for running Windows on Mac—without rebooting. Get up and running in minutes. Easily switch between Mac and Windows applications. Keep the look and feel of macOS or use the familiar Windows desktop.
macOS Mojave will be available to Mac users this fall. But what if you want to look at it earlier?
Immediately after the keynote, the Developer Beta of macOS Mojave became available to members of the Apple Developer program. We expect that by the end of June, it will also be available as a public beta. This will enable many more people to download and install it.
If you’d like to try macOS Mojave, there are several ways:
- You can upgrade the macOS on your Mac. However, Mojave is a beta of an operating system, so this is not a recommended approach.
- You can install it on a separate partition on your Mac. This is a rather geeky approach and requires lots of steps, including repartitioning your drive, booting from the recovery partition, and rebooting several times.
- You can install macOS Mojave on a spare Mac—but how many of us have a spare Mac lying around?
- You can use Parallels Desktop® for Mac and run macOS Mojave in a window alongside other Mac applications. This is a very safe way to try out a beta OS. I’ve done it for years, and I highly recommend it.
Thousands of people use Parallels Desktop to run some version of macOS: Lion, El Capitan, Sierra, or High Sierra. They do it for a number of reasons: to test applications on different macOS versions as developers; to tune it in a sandbox as system admins; to run legacy PowerPC applications using OS X® Snow Leopard; or just to try a new macOS version out of curiosity.
Here’s how you can try Mojave in Parallels Desktop for Mac:
1. Get Parallels Desktop, if you don’t already have it.
- Download Parallels Desktop. You’ll be given a free 14-day trial.
- Install Parallels Desktop—it’s a pretty straightforward process.
If you already have Parallels Desktop on your Mac, make sure it’s version 13.3.2. Earlier versions won’t work with macOS Mojave.
2. Skip the offer to download Windows and you’ll get to the Installation Assistant. (See Figure 1.)
Figure 1_The Installation Assistant window in Parallels Desktop
Scroll through the “Free System” row until you see the “Install macOS” item. (It will name the macOS version you currently have on your Mac. Don’t worry about that.) Select it and click Continue. Parallels Desktop will create a software version of a Mac computer (also called a virtual machine or VM) and automatically boot it from the recovery partition of your Mac.
3. Proceed through the macOS setup: select “Reinstall macOS.” (Don’t worry here either: this will not affect the macOS installed on your Mac.)
macOS will be installed on the virtual disk of the VM that was just created. This is just a file in the Parallels folder in your Documents folder.
4. Now you have a version of macOS running inside a window. Click the yellow triangle in the title bar and install Parallels Tools. Parallels Tools will enhance usability of your virtual computer. You’ll be able to drag and drop files, copy and paste text between systems, and resize windows to change resolution.
5. Now you can upgrade your virtual computer to macOS Mojave. In your new VM, go to the Beta Program page on the Apple site. Sign in and follow the instructions.
6. You will download and run the Beta Access Utility in the virtual computer. Your system will look like Figure 2.
Figure 2_Downloading the Install OS X Mojave application inside your virtual machine
The Install OS X Mojave application will download and launch. Note that this will be about a 5 GB download. Run this application, and soon you’ll have macOS Mojave running in your VM on your Mac.
(Note: As macOS Mojave is not available yet, I’m not 100% sure that steps 5 and 6 are completely accurate. But they are probably very, very close.)
When you have macOS Mojave, it’s time to try its new features: Dark Mode, Dynamic Desktop, new applications and the updated App Store, and more. (See Figure 3.)
Figure 3_Running macOS Mojave in a virtual machine with Parallels Desktop for Mac
Keep in mind that this is a beta version of an operating system, so it might have some issues.
You can help Apple by submitting feedback using Feedback Assistant application. (See Figure 4.)
Figure 4_Use the Feedback Assistant to tell Apple about your experience using macOS Mojave
One interesting thing about macOS Mojave is that it’s likely to be the last macOS to run 32bit applications. This might make it a popular macOS to run in a virtual machine, similar to how Snow Leopard is used to run PowerPC applications via Rosetta.
Parallels Desktop is famous for running Windows applications on Mac. It makes millions of people more productive by running Windows and macOS software side by side on Mac computers. You can also use Parallels Desktop to run many different versions of Linux.
Parallels is excited about the news from Apple and is working hard to get the most out of macOS Mojave in upcoming Parallels Desktop updates.
Important: Known Issues or Limitations
macOS Mojave is a beta release of an operating system. Here are the issues or limitations that we know about today:
- You must use Parallels Desktop 13.3.2 to be able to use macOS Mojave with Parallels Tools. This is a free update to Parallels Desktop 13 for all users.
- Parallels Desktop Lite 1.3.0 and previous versions of Parallels Desktop might experience black screen issues with Mojave guest after the Parallels Tools installation. The macOS Mojave virtual machine will be unusable.
- Known issues of running macOS Mojave in a virtual machine:
- 3D acceleration is not available, so some applications may not work correctly and some graphics artefacts may appear.
- The Parallels Shared Folders icon on the VM desktop may be missing.
- When macOS goes to sleep, the virtual machine gets paused. When you return from pause, there is no mouse cursor. To get the cursor back, just resize the VM window.
- The macOS VM can be switched to Coherence view mode. In Coherence, some application windows may not want to go on top at their selection.
Let us know in the comments about any other issues you experience with the macOS Mojave virtual machine, and let Apple know about your experience with macOS Mojave using its built-in Feedback Assistant (see Figure 4).
If you’re looking to update to the highly anticipated macOS Mojave on your Mac®, never fear—our entire team has been hard at work to make sure Parallels Desktop 14 is release-ready.
Apple® has new updates for you and we’ve brought some of those REALLY cool macOS Mojave® features to Windows programs with Parallels Desktop.
We’re going to dive in and explore what it will look like with macOS Mojave and Parallels Desktop. At the end of this post, we’ll also cover the compatibility of macOS Mojave and older Parallels Desktop versions.
Dark Mode
Mojave Parallels 13
Parallels Desktop 14 offers full support for the new Dark Mode UI. We’re really happy with the look and feel of both macOS and Windows in Dark Mode in macOS Mojave.
Parallels Mojave Slow
Native macOS Screenshots in a Windows VM
Parallels Desktop 14 now supports the enhanced screenshot functionality when using Command + Shift + 5. Once your screenshot is taken, you can see an actionable preview in the right bottom corner. Clicking on this preview will start up the Mojave screenshot editing tools, as you can see here.
Full Support for Continuity Camera in macOS and Windows
Use the “Insert From iPhone or iPad” feature in your favorite Windows programs, such as Microsoft Office. Your iOS device should have iOS 12 installed, Handsoff enabled, and the same Apple ID on your Mac that you use on your iOS device.
macOS Security Restrictions for Your Camera and Microphone
Similar to iOS, macOS Mojave introduces new security measures to protect your privacy with respect to the camera, microphone, and access to your Photos library. The system now asks for the user’s permission before giving app access to a device. If you’re looking to utilize some of the (really cool) continuity features that macOS Mojave offers, you’ll need to provide Parallels Desktop with access.
Privacy Enhancements
Because of the privacy and security changes to macOS Mojave, we’ve improved both reporting and protection with Apple Notarization, and we’ve implemented additional functionality for our licensing servers.
macOS Mojave and Parallels Desktop Compatibility
Applies to:
- Parallels Desktop® for Mac Home Edition
- Parallels Desktop® for Mac Business Edition
- Parallels Desktop® for Mac Pro Edition
While Parallels Desktop 12 and 13 will run your virtual machine on macOS Mojave, you will experience performance issues, including:
- macOS Mojave guest install from recovery option unavailable
- No mouse visible in macOS guests after suspending or pausing the virtual machine
- User interface glitches
- The function “Open in IE” safari plugin will stop working due to macOS Mojave privacy and security changes.
- If you’re using a VM created from Boot Camp®, you will NOT be able to boot that virtual machine on macOS Mojave.
Our team has been hard at work to try and resolve these, but the issues above come from the nature of macOS Mojave, not Parallels Desktop.
Mojave Parallels Mac
Conclusion
The Parallels team has integrated the best features from both macOS and Windows for the last 10 + plus years to over 6 million users.
Friendly reminder: now that macOS Mojave is out, feel free to download our free 14-day trial and try out Parallels Desktop for yourself. If you’re an existing user of Parallels Desktop 14, check for updates to make sure you’re on the latest release and download future updates.
Mojave Parallels Download
Happy virtualizing!