Parent company Alludo has launched Parallels Desktop 19, which includes upgrades for both Windows and Linux VMs.

Parallels Desktop 19 was released this week. Alludo’s software for Mac promises a range of upgrades for both Windows and Linux VMs.

The most important innovations

The shared printing function had become unusable after adjustments in MacOS Sonoma. There is a solution for this: Printing under Windows is now done via the Internet Printing Protocol (IPP). According to Parallels, this is currently the most common way anyway. Engineers are also working on additional printing features.

Both logging into Windows and installing Parallels Desktop can now also be done with Touch ID. If you have protected Windows 10 or 11 with a password, it will be saved in the Mac Keychain after upgrading to Parallels Desktop 19. There, the password is secured with your fingerprint via Touch ID. If you wish, you can simply revert to the old login with the password.

Support for the OpenGL image generator has been extended to version 4.1. This is particularly good news for those creating technical drawings, as more CAD software for Windows can be run on the Mac. These include VariCAD, Deswik.CAD and Vectorworks Vision 2023.

For geography professionals, Parallels Desktop 19 also promises better performance for AcrGIS Pro. This is software for data analysis and with which you can create 2D maps and 3D scenes.

Installing a MacOS VM on an Apple chip should also be easier with Parallels Desktop 19. In addition, there are additional functions such as basic VM controls and a simple two-finger trackpad control.

Parallels Desktop 19 also sees a closer collaboration with software company HashiCorp, with improvements to its Parallels Provider for the Packer image generator. As an additional commitment to open source, Parallels also provides a number of free packer templates to simplify the onboarding of new customers. These templates can be found on GitHub and are compatible with Windows, Linux, and macOS.

For developers running x86 Docker containers or a Microsoft SQL Server on an Apple-powered Mac, there’s a new Ubuntu Linux Arm VM. It is configured to run x86 Docker containers using Apple’s Rosetta 2 technology. You can download this VM in the Free Systems section of the installation wizard.

This version not only looks to the present but also to the near future. For example, Parallels Desktop 19 will be compatible with the upcoming macOS Sonoma upgrade.