Parallels Workstation

Parallels Workstation 6 for Windows and Linux
	Parallels, Inc.
Stable release	6 / November 8, 2011; 12 years ago
x86-compatible
Type	Hypervisor
License	Commercial proprietary software
Website	parallels.com/en/products/workstation/

Parallels Workstation is the first commercial software product released by Parallels, Inc., a developer of desktop and server virtualization software. The Workstation software comprises a virtual machine suite for Intel x86-compatible computers (running Microsoft Windows or Linux) (for Mac version, see Parallels Desktop for Mac) which allows the simultaneous creation and execution of multiple x86 virtual computers. They distributed the product as a download package. Parallels Workstation has been discontinued for Windows and Linux as of 2013.

Implementation

Like other virtualization software, Parallels Workstation uses

AMD-V

.

Features

Parallels Workstation is a hardware emulation virtualization software, in which a virtual machine engine enables each virtual machine to work with its own

network adapter, and hard disk adapters. It also provides pass-through drivers for parallel port and USB

devices.

Because all guest virtual machines use the same hardware drivers irrespective of the actual hardware on the host computer, virtual machine instances are highly portable between computers. For example, a running virtual machine can be stopped, copied to another physical computer, and restarted.

Parallels Workstation can virtualize a full set of standard PC hardware, including:[2]

A 64-bit processor with NX and AES-NI instructions.
A generic motherboard compatible with Intel P965 chipset.
Up to 64 GB of
RAM
.
VESA VBE
3.0 support and up to 256 MB of VRAM.

A 1.44 MB

floppy drive

, which can be mapped to a physical drive or to an image file.

Up to four

IDE

devices. This includes virtual hard drives that range in size from 20 MB to 128 GB each and CD/DVD-ROM drives. IDE devices can be mapped to physical drive or to an image file.

Up to 16 SATA devices including hard disks and CD/DVD drives.
Up to four serial ports that can be mapped to a real port, to a pipe or to an output file.
Up to three bi-directional parallel ports, each of which can be mapped to a real port, to a real printer or to an output file.
An Ethernet virtual network card compatible with Realtek RTL8029(AS) with full IPv6 support.
USB 2.0 controller.
An AC'97 compatible sound card.
A 104-key Windows enhanced keyboard and a PS/2 wheel mouse.

Officially supported guest operating systems

Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP
Linux distributions: Debian 6.0, Fedora 14 & 15, OpenSuse 11.1, RHEL 6, SLED 11 SP1, Ubuntu 10.10, 11.04 and 11.10
OS X

System requirements

The last version of Parallels Workstation (version 6) requires:

CPU: Minimum 1.66 GHz,
Intel VT-x
hardware virtualization technology is recommended.
RAM: at least 2GB is required, but 4GB and above are recommended.

References

^ "Workstation 6 Gives Web Designers and IT Professionals Seamless Capabilities for Running Multiple Operating Systems – Including Windows 8 – on a Single PC". Parallels. 2011-11-08. Retrieved 2012-11-28.
^ "Workstation". Parallels. Retrieved 2012-11-28.

External links

Official website

[TKMaI-1] "Workstation 6 Gives Web Designers and IT Professionals Seamless Capabilities for Running Multiple Operating Systems – Including Windows 8 – on a Single PC". Parallels. 2011-11-08. Retrieved 2012-11-28.

[UBvai-2] "Workstation". Parallels. Retrieved 2012-11-28.

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