With the announcement of the new macOS Tahoe and its subsequent release into a beta channel, you might wish to test the new operating system in the virtual environment while keeping the host Mac on a stable release of Sequoia.
However, there are a few extra steps to be taken to accommodate for the changes between macOS's so that the virtual machine can run on a Sequoia host.
To successfully run Tahoe virtual machine on a Mac running Sequoia, please follow the procedure below:
1. Check that your host Mac is updated to Sequoia 15.5, if it is below 15.5 please update it, as Xcode 26 beta may not allow installation.
2. Download a macOS Tahoe image from the Developer program page.
3. Download and install Xcode 26 beta
Note: You will need to sign in to the Apple Developer website in order to access the beta software with your Apple Account that is enrolled in the program. Visit this link for details.
4. Start Parallels Desktop, open Control Center > select "+" in the top right corner to create a new virtual machine.
5. Choose the "Install Windows, Linux or macOS from an image" option and point it to the downloaded image file.
6. Wait for the installation process to complete.
7. Launch the virtual machine by double-clicking from the virtual machine folder or in the Control Center.
8. When started, in the Mac menu bar: Click on virtual machine name > Install Parallels Tools.
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