Introduction

This guide is intended for users of Parallels® Desktop for Mac Business and Pro Editions. It documents the command-line interface that can be used to manage Parallels Desktop and virtual machines. The interface supports the majority of Parallels Desktop management tasks that can be performed using the Parallels Desktop graphical user interface.

The command-line interface includes the following utilities:

• prlsrvctl — the utility is used to manage Parallels Desktop. The tasks include getting general information about Parallels Desktop, modifying Parallels Desktop preferences, getting a list of users, obtaining statistics, installing a license, and others.
• prlctl — the utility is used to manage virtual machines. The tasks include creating and configuring virtual machines, snapshot management, cloning operations, installing Parallels Tools, obtaining statistics, generating problem reports, and many others.

The command-line utilities are installed on a Mac as part of Parallels Desktop installation. You can run the utilities in Terminal

Note that to get help about a particular command, you can type man <name_of_the_command> in Terminal. This will list the command attributes and additional help.