In collaboration with Apple, Parallels engineers created the world's first prototype of a macOS virtual machine (VM) running on a Mac with Apple M silicon. With Parallels Desktop 18 for Mac, you can now download and install a macOS VM on Apple silicon chips just with a few clicks.

Note: Parallels Desktop doesn't support creating a macOS virtual machine from the .app installation image on Mac computers with Apple silicon.

If you want to create a macOS 14 Sonoma virtual machine, kindly visit KB 129770.

1. It's possible to create macOS Monterey 12 and newer virtual machines only.

2. To install a macOS Monterey 12 virtual machine on a Mac with Apple silicon (macOS ARM VM), the computer must have macOS Monterey 12 beta 3 or newer installed as the main macOS.

3. To install a macOS Ventura 13 virtual machine on a Mac with macOS Monterey, the only way is to upgrade your macOS Monterey virtual machine to macOS Ventura or upgrade your main macOS to macOS Ventura.

Note: Parallels Desktop will download and install the same version of macOS as your Mac is currently running.

To install a macOS VM, start Parallels Desktop and follow the steps below:

1. Click the Parallels Desktop icon on the top menubar > Control Center.

2. Click + in the top right corner > Continue > scroll to the right under Free Systems > select Download macOS.

3. Click Download and proceed with the installation.

Alternatively, you can download the required installation file manually, so that you can install multiple new virtual machines from a local file. 

If you want to create a macOS virtual machine manually, kindly follow the steps below:

/Applications/Parallels\ Desktop.app/Contents/MacOS/prl_macvm_create --disksize

e.g.

/Applications/Parallels\ Desktop.app/Contents/MacOS/prl_macvm_create ~/Downloads/UniversalMac_13.3_22E252_Restore.ipsw ~/Parallels/macOS.macvm --disksize 80000000000

It appears that it is currently possible to install a macOS virtual machine on Mac computer with Apple M-series Chip only of the same macOS version as that installed on the Mac.

Hence, if you wish to create a macOS virtual machine with a different macOS version, it is necessary to create it on a Mac running that version, and then transfer the resulting .macvm file to the destination Mac.

Please note that Parallels Tools functionalities in macOS virtual machines on Apple silicon Mac computers are very limited. Parallels Engineering Team is researching ways to expand the list of supported features in future product updates. Shared Clipboard has already been added. To enable this feature, please install Parallels Tools.

To run a macOS Monterey VM on Mac computers with Apple silicon, Parallels Desktop uses new technology introduced in macOS Monterey, that's why it is not possible to run earlier versions of macOS on a Mac with Apple silicon.

Most productivity and integration features are not available to this VM yet. It is not possible to suspend and resume the VM, shared folders and snapshots are not supported for now. Apart from that it is currently not possible to adjust guest macOS screen resolution in real-time mode when resizing ratio; to change virtual machine amount of CPU and RAM or its hardware parameters (Device UUID and Serial number) and to register with Apple ID. USB and camera sharing are also missing in macOS Monterey VM running on a Mac with Apple silicon so far.

To learn more about all limitations of macOS virtual machines on Mac computers with Apple silicon, please visit KB 128867. If you want to adjust some macOS VM settings, visit KB 128842.

Note: On Mac computers with Intel processors macOS Monterey 12 VM is featured with a full list of enhanced integration similar to what other Intel-based macOS virtual machines have.