Parallels Workstation is a hardware emulation virtualization software, in which a virtual machine engine enables each virtual machine to work with its own
processor,
RAM,
floppy drive,
CD drive,
I/O devices, and
hard disk – everything a physical computer contains. Parallels Workstation virtualizes all devices within the virtual environment, including the
video adapter,
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: • A 64-bit processor with
NX and
AES-NI instructions. • A generic
motherboard compatible with
Intel P965
chipset. • Up to 64 GB of
RAM. •
VGA and
SVGA video cards with
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 ==