In collaboration with Apple, Parallels engineers created the world's first prototype of a macOS Monterey virtual machine (VM) running on a Mac with Apple M1 chip. With Parallels Desktop 17 for Mac, you can now download and install a macOS VM on Apple M1 chip just with a few clicks. 

Requirements

To install a macOS Monterey 12 virtual machine on a Mac with Apple M1 chip, the computer must have macOS Monterey 12 beta 3 or newer installed as the main macOS.

Installation

To install the VM, start Parallels Desktop 17 and follow the steps below:

1. Click the Parallels Desktop icon on the top menubar (||) > Control Center.

2. Click + on the top right corner > Continue > scroll to the right under Free Systems > select Download macOS 12.

3. Click Download and proceed with the installation.

Known issues and limitations

To run a macOS Monterey VM on Mac computers with Apple M1 chip, Parallels Desktop 17 uses new technology introduced in macOS Monterey, that's why it is not possible to run earlier versions of macOS on a Mac with Apple M1 chip.

Productivity and integration features are not available to this VM yet. It is not possible to suspend and resume the VM, drag and drop between main macOS and the VM, shared clipboard and shared folders are not supported for now. Parallels Engineering Team is researching ways to expand the list of supported features in future product updates. 

Note: On Mac computers with Intel processors macOS Monterey 12 VM is featured with a full list of enhanced integration similar to what other Intel-based macOS virtual machines have.