What is the difference between Parallels Desktop App Store Edition and Standard Edition?

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Parallels Desktop® App Store Edition has the same basic features as Parallels Desktop® Standard Edition: it enables you to run Windows®, Linux and their applications on your Mac without rebooting. However, as App Store applications run in sandbox, there are some differences between App Store and Standard editions.

Note: existing Parallels Desktop for Mac users are not recommended to move to Parallels Desktop App Store Edition.

Difference between editions

The following Parallels Desktop features are not available in Parallels Desktop App Store Edition:

Feature App Store Edition Standard Edition*

Guest OS installation

One click Windows installation
Install macOS in a single click  
Download and run macOS in a virtual machine on a Mac with Apple silicon  

Working with VMs

Run thousands of Windows apps on your Mac
Use Writing Tools for Windows apps
Run VM in the background with no UI  
Coherence view mode  

Integration with macOS

Share Windows applications with Mac  
Share Windows files with Mac  
Share iCloud, OneDrive, Dropbox, Google Drive from macOS with Windows  
Allow Windows to see Mac applications  
Sync keyboard layouts between macOS and Windows  

Network

Share Mac VPN connection with Windows  

Other features

Clone Virtual Machine

 
VM icons in Dock  
Nested virtualization**   Pro and Business Editions only

* Standard Edition features are available in Pro and Business editions.

** These features are currently not supported on Mac computers with Apple M-series chips

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