Parallels RAS 21.2 is expected by end of June 2026. Here’s what you actually need to know — no release notes marathon required.
Custom Provider Framework: open the door to any hypervisor
This is the most structurally significant addition in 21.2. Parallels RAS now lets you integrate any hypervisor or cloud platform via a standardized PowerShell script framework. VM listing, power control, template management, provisioning — the full lifecycle is driven by your own connector.
In practice: if your customer runs a hypervisor that RAS didn’t natively support, you write the connector, plug it in, and you’re done. Parallels ships sample scripts, a dedicated guide, and a PowerShell test kit to validate your scripts outside the console.
Nutanix Prism Central: a mandatory API migration
Nutanix support moves from the legacy API to Prism Central, the native control plane for modern Nutanix architectures. This isn’t a comfort feature — it’s a necessity driven by Nutanix’s API lifecycle changes. If you have clients running recent Nutanix AOS, this version is non-negotiable.
Local drive redirection in the Web Client
Until now, the Web Client supported file upload and download only. RAS 21.2 adds full local drive redirection directly from the browser — no client installation required. File transfers between the remote session and the local machine behave just like a native client.
For ChromeOS deployments or environments where client installation isn’t an option, this is a significant end-user experience upgrade.
Passthrough SSO on IGEL OS12 (GA only)
Domain-joined IGEL OS12 thin clients will be able to connect without re-entering credentials. AD authentication is passed through directly to the RAS session. Less friction for users, fewer tickets for support.
This feature is announced for GA and is not available in the Technical Preview.
Trusted Launch for Azure and AVD (GA only)
VMs deployed through Azure and AVD providers can now be configured with Secure Boot and vTPM enabled. The VM security type is selectable at template creation. Essential for Windows 11 deployments on Azure.
Also GA only.
Azure: Availability Zones and per-host-pool VM sizing
Two improvements for Azure infrastructures. First, you can now target a specific availability zone for your session hosts — useful for aligning with databases and reducing cross-zone latency. Second, a single template can feed multiple host pools with different VM sizes, OUs, and GPO assignments. Fewer templates to maintain, more operational flexibility.
Useful improvements that don’t redefine the product
A few additions worth knowing about:
Web + Credentials on all platforms — The hybrid authentication model (SAML via Entra ID / Okta + AD credentials) is now available on macOS, Linux, IGEL OS12, Android, and iOS. Previously Windows-only.
Configurable thresholds for Secure Gateway alerts — Failed tunneled session notifications no longer fire on the first failure. You set the threshold. Less noise, more signal.
Sessions in “Down” state — The console and APIs now surface sessions stuck in that state with better fidelity against the actual OS-level session state. Fewer manual investigations to track down zombie sessions.
Automatic logout independent of active sessions — The client can sign users out of the launcher on an inactivity timeout without touching ongoing remote sessions. Built for shared workstations and kiosk environments.
File save performance on redirected drives — An experimental file-content caching layer improves save performance on redirected drives, with improvements over 50% reported in some cases. Requires explicit enablement.
Granular Gateway access control — Administrators can now independently restrict access to standard RAS sessions, the User Portal, WebAPI session launches, and the Connection Broker API. MAC address filtering is also available for endpoint-level policy enforcement.
Enhanced clipboard on Mac — macOS clipboard redirection now handles images, formatted text, and embedded links. Copy-paste between macOS and published Windows applications finally works reliably across these formats.
Bottom line
The Custom Provider Framework is the feature that shifts RAS’s positioning the most: the solution is no longer limited to a fixed list of supported hypervisors. For Azure projects, the two GA features (Trusted Launch + Availability Zones) round out the cloud story significantly. And for IGEL thin client deployments, SSO passthrough was long overdue.
