With the announcement of the new macOS Sequoia 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 Sonoma.
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 Sonoma host.
To successfully run Sequoia virtual machine on a Mac running Sonoma, please follow the procedure below:
1. Check that your host Mac is updated to Sonoma 14.5, if it is below 14.5 please update it, as Xcode 16 beta may not allow installation.
2. Download a macOS Sequoia image from the Developer program page.
3. Download and install Xcode 16 beta
Note: You will need to sign in to the Apple Developer website in order to access the beta software with your Apple ID 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:
For Intel-based machine: Click on "Actions" > Install Parallels Tools.
For Apple silicon based machine: Click on virtual machine name > Install Parallels Tools.
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