Memory Allocation Failure

[loantaka]

I am using 3.0 via an upgrade. When i start Parallels, I get a message that

"Parallels Desktop failed to allocate the specified amount of memory. Please restart Parallels and try again. To avoid this problem in the future choose from the Menu: Parallels: Preferences: Memory: Enable virtual preallocation."

I did both and still cannot run Parallels. I also rebooted with the same error message.

Any ideas?

Thanks.

[slimemold]

It might help if we knew more about your hardware configuration.

[loantaka]

Macbook Core Duo, 2 gig RAM, 120 Gig HD

[slimemold]

Are you running out of HD space at all? It seems that Parallels creates a file the size of the amount of RAM you've allocated to Parallels. Perhaps it can't find the space to create this file?

[loantaka]

No, I have enough HD. In fact, I have successfully created another VM. However, I really need my original VM because I have a lot of important files on it that I need desperately.

Can anyone help?

[gattacag]

Been running Parallels 2 with a Windows XP image fine for a while, just upgraded to 3, and try to start up the image - Same Memory Allocation Error - same Hardware too (except for the mem).

I noticed that I can dial down the memory to exactly 1000 MB or less (not a single meg more) and the image runs, anything more and I get the error.

I was running the image with 1500MB just fine in Parallels 2. I have enough HD and I have 3GB physical memory.

Any ideas?

Gattaca

[davidaf]

I resolved the issue by deleting the *.mem file associated with the VM.

[gattacag]

When the image is not running, there is no mem file. Oh well, I guess I have to wait for the next build.

Thanks,

Gattaca:confused:

[rjenson]

I was running Parallels with the Image being on another drive. It only had 1.2G of free space on it. When I made more space available on that drive (2.1GB) this error message went away. This was for an XP virtual machine with 768M of memory. Running on my MacBook Pro with 2GB of memory. (And the startup disk had plenty of space)

[bahman]

Exact same problem. Just upgraded from P2 to P3 build 4128. Getting the exact same error. Macbook pro 3gb memory, and 40gb of free space.

[spucci]

I got exactly the same failure both on my MacBook Pro Core 2 Duo 17" and my MacPro 8-way with 8G of RAM, and again for me it goes away if I reduce the memory to 1000Meg. My system virtual disk is allocated at 32Meg and is using about 4.5Meg. The file system is a software RAID with over 2TB available. Setting the preference to preallocate VM as the message suggested had no effect.

For me it was also happening with Parallels 2.0 Build 3188, the only other build I've tried.

Is anyone actually able to run XP with more than 1000Meg of RAM assigned to the VM?

[friendship7]

I had the same problem on on this second generation MBP 17".

Bringing memory below 1000mb helped... for a time. Now the problem is back.

[drewfreyman]

This problem can be solved. If you'd like the short story, please proceed to the end of this entry in blue. If you'd like to hear the saga, please read on. :rolleyes: It's a long story. But, for some reason I need to vent so I'll try to do it here and help somebody out at the same time.

I experienced this problem for the first time last night. To solve it, I tried uninstalling Parallels 2.0 and reinstalling from CD-ROM. I could not proceed because the installer kept recognizing a newer version of the software on my Mac than was on my CD-ROM. So, since I'm already on backorder for a copy of 3.0 (and hope it arrives within 15-days) I decided to try to reinstall 3.0 using the free 15-day trialware. Same problem. Failure to allocate memory.

At this point I tried contacting Parallels for help. It's weekend so all I could do was submit a trouble ticket by e-mail. Also, I found this bulletin board. Three conversation strings seem to indicate that others are experiencing the problem and Parallels may be trying to solve it.

Unfortunately, I can't wait. The reason I discovered the problem was because I was trying to start Parallels. The reason I was starting Parallels was because I was trying to use an application that only runs on Windows. Being a recent convert back to Mac (I went to Windows in '98) the last 9 years of life have been Windows-based. So, I need to solve the problem immediately.

I began thinking about it and trying to isolate what could have caused such a problem. Like most problems like these, it probably originated in a fundamental change to the computer. However, I haven't made any such changes (new application or hardware installations, changes in settings, etc.) in quite some time. HOWEVER, there have been automatic updates of the Parallels software recently. Also, there have been automatic updates of the Apple OS software.

So, I deduced that an update in the Parallels software and/or an update in the Apple software were the most likely sources of the problem.

As I had already tried to fix the problem by uninstalling/reinstalling the Parallels software but the problem persisted I felt confident a Parallels update was not the root cause of the problem. I needed to work the Apple side of the problem.

It seemed the logical places to start my investigation were the Parallels website and the Apple website. All I found on the Parallels site were a few forum threads--no explanations or resolutions. Next I started fishing around the Apple support website.

After almost a decade of dealing with Windows upgrades and updates, I was used to finding quite a bit of info about how to deal with integration issues online. Microsoft might not always have a complete solution but it at least usually acknowledges the problem and suggests a way to deal with it. This alone would allow me to start down the path to solution. I didn't need to waste my time doubting myself. I couldn't find anything about this problem on the Apple website. In fact, I could not find any mention of any 3rd party software vendors at all. Since Apple is supposed to be this hip company with totally chill people to help me out and since I had paid for two years customer service I figured I'd try giving Apple a call.

After waiting about 5 minutes the Apple rep came on the line. I explained to him what was happening: I was experiencing a problem with my Parallels software and that I believed it was caused by an Apple OS update. He explained Apple did not help with 3rd party software and in a very incredulous tone he let me know he doubted that my problem could be attributed to Apple's update. I explained how I had isolated the problem and why I thought it was probably caused by the Apple update of 7/4/07. As incredulous as ever, he told me I could roll back the updates by reinstalling OS X and to be sure to choose the "archive" type of installation. Somehow I felt he doubted whether it could help.

Given that Apple frequently updates its s/w as do its s/w providers I wanted to prepare for the future. So, I asked him whether Apple had any support site pertaining to these kinds of issues. He repeated that Apple did not take responsibility for 3rd party applications and that I should consult their websites. I told him that it must be hard for 3rd party s/w providers to keep pace with Apple's updates and that there must be many Apple customers that experience problems as the result of the integration problems, so isn't there something that Apple would like to do to help us out? To speed the search for a solution? At this point, my chill, groovy Apple rep started getting worked up and talking over me, spouting out some corporate line about how difficult it would be for Apple to support the 1000s of 3rd party s/w packages made for Mac.

I'd had enough. After all, I was just trying to be a good customer and prepare for the future--a future when I did not need to call Apple and could solve the problem myself. I told him I didn't call to hear his lip but to get some help. I pointed out that Microsoft deals with the same sorts of issues and as many 3rd party s/w vendors and it manages to share info with its users about them as necessary. Isn't Apple's extreme policy causing excess grief for its users and s/w vendors? Although I'm sure the genius-that-is-Steve-Jobs thinks this support approach saves Apple money, doesn't it also cost more money by creating more phone enquiries? Doesn't it make it difficult for business users to count on Apple? Anyway, I digress... I asked to speak to a supervisor. After waiting about 5 minutes I decided my time would be better spent trying to solve the problem. So, I hung up.

The great thing for you all is that I think I have the solution to this problem. At least this method worked for me:
1. Reinstall OS X choosing the "archive" option of reinstallation.
2. Try Parallels. If the error message comes up again, try uninstalling Parallels, restarting OS X, and reinstalling Parallels.

This worked for me. Granted, I'm now without several months of Apple software updates. I'm weary because there are probably several critical security issues addressed by them. Without them I am probably at greater risk. However, my Parallels works.

Hopefully somebody at Parallels will read this, call Apple, and find out what the 7/4/07 OS X update included to cause the issue to come up. They'll hopefully work together to solve the problem. Hopefully somebody will let me know it's safe download the updates. I can't find out from Apple so I guess I'm relying on Parallels. I hope you guys pull through for me.

[wallywld]

I was also running my VM on a second hard drive, but never ran out of space there. I've tried every combination of moving the vm around, selecting less and more ram, etc. with no luck.

Here is one thing that worked. (And I'm not posting this to create any problems, just a fact). I converted the VM to Fusion and am now running it there, where it is running with no problems. I have not been able to run it any other way within Parallels and I really want to solve this problem because we have 5 machines here running Parallels and don't want to have to purchase other software.

Any news from the developer's side?

2.6Ghz MacBook Pro Core duo 500GB HD, 4GB RAM 10.5.2

Update- Reducing the RAM on the application to below 1000MB is running the image, but only with 888MB of RAM in the virtual machine settings. This is a little low as far as I'm concerned.

[hrodstein]

All of a sudden, I had the dreaded "failed to allocate memory" problem. I am using Parallels Desktop 3-5600.

I tried rebooting. No luck.

I tried the suggested setting the "Enable virtual memory preallocation" checkbox. No luck.

I tried increasing the amount of allocated RAM from 512MB to 768MB. No luck.

I tried setting the "Adjusted Memory Limit" preference to manual, 1024MB. No luck.

I tried rebooting again. No luck.

I tried emptying the trash. LUCK!

Now it starts up with no problem.

[John@Parallels]

To summarize

1. Make sure that you have at least 1 gb(or exactly amount of VM memory+512 mb) free space on mac OS Hard disk
and
2. Restart Mac, start Parallels Desktop and hold Apple key
3. Parallels Desktop -Preferences - Memory change Adjust memory limit from automatically to manual and set to less than 1 gb
4. Decrease VM memory to less than 1 gb

[gllark]

I had to rebuild my harddisk after a Microsoft database crash (I have to use Entourage for business) by recopying it with Carbon Copy Cloner. Since that, I can run Vista in Parallels only with 1024 MB memory which is quite less and makes it rather slow. Before I gave it 2 GB´s of my 2,4 GHz Macbooks memory of 4 GB. I don´t have anymore an older backup of 10.5.2, because I´m doing only incremental backups. So, I have to wait until the Parallels guys find a solution for this problem. I hope this will be soon.
Anything, I can do, to speed up Vista with just one GB?

[John@Parallels]

Step one, check that you have more than 2 gb space on Disk where VM is located

[gllark]

Thank you, John. I have enough HD-space and Vista takes 2,5 GB´s of virtual memory now. But I have still the impression, that the VM slowed down, since I can give it not more than 1024 MB of RAM anymore. So please work on that issue, to bring us a fix for that problem soon.

[daveg65]

I am encountering the same issue. I upgraded my hard drive to 320GB and used Carbon Copy Cloner and now none of my VM's can not be memory allocated to anything above 1024MB. I hope this is fixed soon I do not want to reconfigure anything as everything works great beyond this.

[John@Parallels]

Try to reinstall Parallels Desktop, perform permissions repair on Mac, install 10.5.4 update
and of course make sure that you have more then 2 gb on disk where VM is located

[daveg65]

So you are saying reinstall the 10.5.4 update again? It was already installed when I cloned the drive. I have plenty of hard drive space.

[daveg65]

Alright thanks John! Ran those steps including reinstalling the combo update 10.5.4 and that did the trick!!

[gllark]

Thanks John, your recommendation worked also for me. It was not to much work. Now everything is fine again.