Use OS X as a Guest OS

If you are using OS X Lion or Mountain Lion, you can install a copy of OS X in a virtual machine and use it as a guest operating system. This can be useful, for example, if you want to test software in a fresh version of OS X without having to log in and out of your main account.

By default, an installation of OS X is stored in a recovery partition on your Mac You can easily install OS X into a virtual machine from that partition without having to purchase or download another copy of OS X.

To install OS X in a virtual machine:

1. Open Parallels Desktop and choose File > New .
2. Select Install OS X Using the Recovery Partition , click Continue , and follow the onscreen instructions.

When using Lion or Mountain Lion as a guest OS, you can use it in Coherence mode , so that guest OS application windows appear on the host OS desktop alongside host OS applications.

You can also copy and paste text and drag and drop files between host and guest Mac OS X, just as you can when using Windows as a guest OS.

You can set whether function keys and other system shortcuts trigger actions in the host or guest version of OS X .