Preparing Windows image for installing and Configuring Parallels Desktop for Chrome OS Enterprise and Education Edition

Read this article to learn how to prepare a Parallels Desktop Windows image for further deployment and configure the Parallels Desktop in Google Admin console.

Export the Windows Image

Once you have created and configured a Parallels Desktop Windows image, you need to export it as an archive and then make the archive available for download to Chromebook users.

To export a Windows image, in the Chrome browser, press Ctrl+Alt+T to open the crosh terminal. In the terminal, type the following command:

vmc export -d PvmDefault <ArchiveName.zip>

where:

• PvmDefault is the default source image name (the name was used to create the image earlier using the vmc create command). It must be typed as is.;
•  <ArchiveName.zip> is a name of the target archive file.
• The -d option calculates the SHA-256 checksum of the archive and saves it as a text file in the same folder. You will need to specify the checksum later in the Google Admin console.
  Note: The -d option is important. Please make a note of it. The SHA-256 checksum is required when specifying the Windows image in the Google Admin console (described later in this article).

Example:

vmc export -d PvmDefault Windows.zip

When you execute the command above, the following will happen:

• The image is exported to the Downloads folder on the Chromebook. The image file is a ZIP archive with the ".pvm" bundle inside (.pvm is the extension that Parallels Desktop uses for its virtual machine bundles).
• The SHA-256 checksum file is also created in the same folder and is named PvmDefault.zip.sha256.txt. It's a text file containing the SHA256 hash string.

Upload the Windows Image

Copy the ".zip" archive that you created in the previous step to a server with HTTP or HTTPS download access. End users will be downloading the Windows image to their Chromebooks from a storage server via HTTP or HTTPS. CDN is recommended for very large deployments.

Configuring Parallels Desktop Settings

Parallels Desktop settings in the Google Admin console control whether users are allowed to use Parallels Desktop and specify the Parallels Desktop Windows image properties.

To specify Windows image properties:

1. Sign in to the Google Admin console.
2. On the home page, click Devices.
3. Click Chrome devices.
4. In the left pane, select the organizational unit containing Chromebook users.
5. In the navigation bar (at the top left), expand the drop-down menu and choose Settings.
   
   
    
6. On the User & Browser Settings tab, scroll down and locate the Parallels Desktop section. To quickly find it, type "Parallels" in "Search or add a filter" at the top.
   
   
   
   Specify the settings as described below.

Parallels Desktop

Select Allow users to use Parallels Desktop from the drop-down menu. This enables users to download this Windows image and run Windows on their Chromebooks.

Parallels Desktop Windows image

Specify the image download location and the checksum:

• URL: Enter the URL from which the Windows image can be downloaded. For example, http://storage.enterprise.net/VMs/PvmDefault.pvm.zip. Please note that the protocol (HTTP or HTTPS) and the Parallels Desktop Windows image file name and path must be included in the URL.
• SHA-256 hash: Specify the SHA-256 hash (checksum) of the Windows image file. The vmc export command (that we used to export an image) includes an option to generate the SHA256 hash for the exported image. The hash is exported to a file "name.sha256.txt" in the same destination folder. See Export the Windows Image.

Required disk space

Specify a free disk space limit (in gigabytes). The minimum recommendation is the size of the original Parallels Desktop Windows image (before it is exported as an archive) plus an additional 20 GB. You can specify more if you wish to make sure that users have enough disk space for Windows and application updates, documents, and other data.

Tip: To obtain the size of the original (not the exported) Parallels Desktop Windows image, execute the vmc list command in the crosh terminal. The command displays the virtual machine name and its size in bytes.​​​

After following the instructions above, users in your company with enrolled devices can install Windows on their Chromebooks.