Parallels is easily the best virtualization software on the Mac, and earlier this year, they quietly added a new app called Parallels Desktop Lite to the Mac App Store—and unlike its cousin, it’s free to download. The catch: if you want to use Windows virtual machines, you’re going to have to pay for a $60 a year for a subscription.
But the program itself is completely free otherwise, meaning if you want to create Linux, Chromium OS, or even macOS virtual machines, you don’t need to pay a dime.
![Parallels For Mac Remove Virtual Machine Parallels For Mac Remove Virtual Machine](/uploads/1/2/6/0/126019755/661712827.png)
Should I Use Parallels Lite, or the “Full” Version of Parallels?
So how it Parallels Desktop Lite different than Parallels Desktop? Parallels outlines all of the differences here, if you’re curious—there are a few limitations related to Mac App Store sandboxing. Other than that, the main difference is that Lite is free for anything except Windows virtual machines. If you want to run a Windows virtual machine, you’ll need to pony up $60 annually.
To uninstall Parallels, follow the steps of the link that I put on my first reply. Dec 27, 2012 1:31 AM Reply Helpful (1) Thread reply - more options. Link to this Post. It happens when you've set up the virtual machine in Mac mode. First, erase the virtual machine and then, uninstall Parallels. Dec 27, 2012.
How does that compare to Parallels Desktop for Mac, the “full” version of this software? Well that product currently costs $70, and is yours as long as you can keep it running. Parallels versions typically stop running every couple of macOS releases, after which you’ll need to either stick to an older host operating system or pony up $50 for an upgrade license. Assuming you need to upgrade every two years, which is roughly consistent with our experience, the two pricing plans are about that same.
Now you can create a new virtual machine for Mac, including a Windows VM on Mac. Get Windows from Microsoft or install freely available operating systems such as Ubuntu, Fedora, or other Linux systems supported by Parallels Desktop. Uninstalling Parallels and Virtual Machine? Discussion in 'Windows, Linux & Others on the Mac. Mar 29, 2008 #1. I had Parallels installed on my Mac and a Virtual Machine set up. I then installed Fusion and made a Virtual Machine with it. I am MUCH happier with Fusion!!! How do I uninstall Parallels AND the Virtual Machine associated with it?
But that’s only if you want to run Windows. If your interest in virtual machines lies entirely on the Linux and macOS side of things, Lite is without question the better deal, because you can’t beat free.
Getting Started With Parallels Desktop Lite
Start up Parallels Lite for the first time and you’ll see the Parallels Wizard, which makes setting up or adding virtual machines simple.
There are three main options here. The most prominent points you to download Windows 10 from Microsoft, which will cost you around $120 for Windows itself on top of the Parallels subscription. To the right, you’ll find the option to browse your computer for any installation images on your computer. Below these two prominent options, you’ll see quick tools for downloading several other operating systems, including:
- Chromium OS (the open source version of Chrome OS)
- Ubuntu 16.04
- Fedora 23
- CentOS 7
- Debian 8
Let’s get started with setting up a couple of these installers, then move on to setting up macOS in a virtual machine.
Installing Linux or Chromium OS in Parallels Desktop Lite
Click any of the operating systems at the bottom of the wizard and you’ll see more information about them.
Click the “Download” button and Parallels will begin the downloading process.
How long this takes will depend on the speed of your internet connection, but for me downloading Chromium OS only took a few minutes. When it’s done, you can log into your Google account and start using Chromium OS right away.
It seems like Chromium OS doesn’t sync over settings from a Chromebook, which is disappointing, but it’s still nice to have access to this system for the occasional test.
I repeated the process for Ubuntu, just for good measure. It was just as simple, and I was using the operating system in no time.
The version of Ubuntu offered is 16.04, which is the most recent Long Term Support version of that Linux distribution. I tried manually installing the more recent 17.04, but had trouble getting Parallels Tools up and running. Your mileage may vary, but in my humble opinion life is a lot easier if you stick to the built-in wizard installers.
Install macOS in Parallels Desktop Lite
If you want a Mac inside your Mac, you’ll first need to head to the Mac App Store. Search for the macOS version you want to install, then click the “Download” button.
A caveat: the Mac App Store will not download a version of the OS older than what you’re currently running. This means that you cannot create a virtual machine for older versions of macOS unless you have some other means of finding the installers. You can, however, easily download newer versions of macOS in order to test them without installing, which is nice.
Once the installer is downloaded, it will open.
Go ahead and close this with Command+Q—we don’t want to re-install our operating system. Head back to the Parallels Wizard, which you can find by clicking the Parallels button in the menu bar, then clicking “New.”
Click “Install Windows or another OS from a DVD or image file” and you should see macOS Sierra as an option (if not, click “locate manually” to give Parallels permission to see the rest of your file system.)
Click “Continue” and you’ll be asked about storage space.
Click “Continue” after checking that you have enough room, then give your virtual machine a name and choose a location.
Click “Continue” and eventually the installer will launch.
Exciting! Continue through the steps as prompted—you’ll install macOS on your newly created virtual hard drive, and the machine will re-boot a couple of times. You can leave this running in the background and work on something else. Eventually you’ll be prompted to choose a language and create an account, after which you’ll have full access to macOS in a virtual machine.
You can now use macOS in your virtual machine! There’s just one thing left to do: install Parallels Tools, so that the virtual machine’s resolution will change when you re-size the window, among other integrations. To get started, click the “!” icon at top-right, then click “Install Parallels Tools.”
This will connect a virtual disk with the installer to your virtual macOS machine.
Run the installer, then re-start your virtual Mac, and you’re all set up!
This is a lot easier than installing macOS Sierra in VirtualBox, isn’t it? And the price is the same. Enjoy!
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Deleting and Removing a Virtual Machine
If you do not need some of your virtual machines anymore, you can either delete or temporarily remove it from Parallels Management Console.
Deleting a virtual machine means permanently erasing its files from the host computer. Make sure you transferred all the necessary data from the virtual machine before deleting it: this operation is irreversible. All the virtual machine data will be lost.
When removing a virtual machine from the Parallels Management Console window, you do not remove the virtual machine files from the host computer. You can easily add the removed virtual machine back to the virtual machines list with the help of Add Virtual Machine Wizard. For more information about adding virtual machines that were removed from the list, see Adding an Existing Virtual Machine.
You can delete a virtual machine using Delete Virtual Machine Wizard (or Delete Virtual Machine Assistant if Parallels Management Console is installed on a Mac-based physical computer) that finds and deletes all the virtual machine files. Or you can delete a virtual machine manually. However, we recommend that you use Delete Virtual Machine Wizard.
By default, Delete Virtual Machine Wizard removes all files that are stored in the virtual machine folder, including:
- configuration file
- virtual hard disk file(s)
- floppy disk image file(s), if any
- output files of serial and parallel ports, if any
Parallels For Mac Remove Virtual Machine
To delete a virtual machine or remove it from the list:
Parallel Virtual Machine For Mac
- Launch Parallels Management Console.
- In the sidebar, select the virtual machine you want to delete or remove from the list.
- Start Delete Virtual Machine Wizard by doing one of the following:
- choosing Remove from the File menu
- right-clicking the virtual machine in the sidebar and choosing Remove form the shortcut menuBefore deleting a virtual machine, make sure that it is stopped.
- In the Delete Virtual Machine Wizard Introduction window, click Next. To skip this window next time you start the wizard, select Always skip introduction.
- In the Delete Options window, select the operation you would like to perform on the virtual machine.
- To delete the virtual machine, select Delete and click Next. Proceed to step 6.
- To remove the virtual machine from the sidebar, select Removefrom list and click Remove.If you remove the virtual machine from the list visible in Parallels Management Console, its files will not be removed from the host computer. You will be able to add this virtual machine back.
- In the File Selection window, choose the virtual machine files to be deleted from the host computer and click Delete.The wizard automatically selects the files that belong to the virtual machine, such as:
- VM Configuration File. The file has the
.pvs
extension and defines hardware and resources configuration of the virtual machine. - Hard Disk Image. The file has the
.hdd
extension and represents a virtual hard disk of the virtual machine. - Floppy Image. The file has the
.fdd
extension and is a floppy disk image file. - File. The file has the
.DS_Store
extension and is a hidden file created by the host OS to store custom attributes of a folder. - Logging File. The file has the
.log
extension and serves to record the data.
- VM Configuration File. The file has the
- When the operation is complete, click Done to exit the wizard.