OS X Yosemite Beta has recently been launched on a public beta by Apple. Usually, this privilege is for developers only – but this year Apple have decided to let anyone interested to be in with the testing.

Apple have recommended that Yosemite Beta should be installed on a secondary machine since it contains bugs and may be unstable. Many users have resorted to partitioning their hard drives and installing Yosemite as a secondary OS, but for those for whatever reason may want to run it within Mavericks can use Parallels Desktop virtualization software.

Parallels have stated that Yosemite has not been tested, and is not ready, for Parallels Desktop 9 – however, that doesn’t mean you cannot install it as a virtual OS. Here’s how:

How to install OS X 10.10 Yosemite Beta in Parallels Desktop 9

Before we start, you must understand that you are following the steps below at your own risk. The following tutorial has been tested on a Mac Mini 2013 running Mavericks. If you are running a different machine or operating system, some steps may vary. If you encounter any issues, feel free to tweet us!

Step 1: You need to install a virtual version of Mavericks into Parallels Desktop. If you have already done this, you may want to create a backup incase things go wrong. If you have not yet created a virtual Mavericks machine in Parallels, open the application and in the menu bar click File > New. A new window will appear, and you need to click the option to install Mavericks from a recovery.

Step 2: Follow the on-screen instructions to select your language and install Mavericks OS.

Step 3: Once the installation has completed, start the virtual Mavericks machine. Then head over to the Yosemite Public Beta page to obtain your AppStore redemption code.

Step 4: From within the virtual machine, launch the AppStore and search for Yosemite. Click to download and enter your redemption code.

Step 5: Once downloaded, launch the installer app from Launchpad and follow the instructions on-screen. This will replace the virtual Mavericks installation with Yosemite. Once the installation has completed, you’ll be able to access OS X Yosemite through Parallels Desktop 9 without the need to reboot!

If you have any issues following the steps above, tweet us or leave a message on our Facebook page.