3.0 to 4.0 Experience.

I did the upgrade this week.
My experience is tolerable but the product has not proven it's worth to me. I'm not running games or anything like that on my macbook pro... When I use parallels it's just for Microsoft products and Business Software Gui's. I use the MAC OS for everything else.
Using 3.0 I had zero problems. No stupid Windows application failures or anything. Absolutely Zero problems.

With the new 4.0 upgrade everytime I shutdown i get a explorer.exe window pop up.
I can't seem to run the same amount of applications at the same time anymore.
My computer is like studdering when switching from one application to another.

When I get home next week I'll probably go back to 3.0 and ask for a refund for the upgrade.


My current setup.
Macbook Pro 2.4 ghz Intel Core 2 Duo
4GB ram
320 gb 7200 rpm WD Scorpio

 

milfin,

try to increase memory allocated to the virtual machine, also try setting amount of CPUs to another value(2<->1)

 

Thank you for your reply. I tried 2 and 1 CPU's and it still didn't work. They system just seems sluggish.
Virtual Memory is currently at 2000 / 4000. I guess the most annoying thing to me is when I shut down there is an explorer.exe error.

I reverted back to 3.0 and it meets all of my requirements.
I'll try to create another image before the weekend and try another image on 4.0 but if this doesn't help I'll probably ask for a refund.

 

As I can see from the dates you were trying ti run 3522 build. You mentioned you are going to give one more chance to Parallels Desktop 4.0, so please let it be the latest build 3540, that can be downloaded from www.parallels.com

And if it did not help, create a ticket please and our engineers will be glad to help you. The case is that Parallels Desktop 4.0 is much better than Parallels Desktop 3.0 and all its lacks are temporary.

 

Anna - I appreciate all the hard work and encouragement that you are providing but need to correct you slightly - the INTENT for Parallels Desktop 4 may be much better than Desktop 3.0 but the reality falls far short. Looks like it was issued (management pressure to deliver on time??) before it was ready.

 

With me it's also slow

I just downloaded the latest release and this does not help. I tried to change the memory and CPU settings without any result. Version 3.0 was at least 2 times faster than 4.0. I am also considering a refund.

Is Parallels planning to release a major fix for this since there are many people having this performance issue?

 

Questions - who & how do you request a refund?

I had the Mac freeze on installing XP -- was a new version of XP even required? The nothing seems to work- the uninstall and back to v3,0 and all is well --- repeat -- I will NOT install until I read the forum ( damm - missed that one )

Greg

 

Anna will you give me instructions in creating a ticket?

 

I tried 4.0 again and the my system is stable.
I'm still getting this annoying error when shutting down parallels 4.0. I've attached a screen shot of my error.
if I hit "ok" and "end now" they shutdown will proceed.
Can anyone help?
This error does not occur for me in 3.0


Thanks,

 

muffin, try to uninstall and install Parallels Tools again. Anyway the new build is coming, a lot of flaws will be fixed.

 

I upgraded two vm's on two different VM's on two different machines. One was a challenge, the other went very smoothly:

On machine 1, Took hours, a few not so nice thoughts but then......I learned to uninstall Kaspersky first, then success.

On machine 2, prior to installing PD 4.0, I uninstalled Kasperky and Parallels tools. The upgrade was VERY smooth and Very quick. No problems what so ever.

Just my experiences.

JB

 

Yes, it's strongly recommended to disable (at least) or uninstall (preferably) antivirus software before launching Parallels Desktop 4.0 installation. Considering slow performance in Parallels Desktop 4.0, the main reason is usually incorrerct Parallels Tools installation. Most of such issues are resolved by rebooting Mac -> reinstallation of Parallels tools -> Rebooting mac again.

 

I finally got a decent installation of 4.0 and, in very limited tests, is faster than version 3. I used build 3540 and, before installation, removed Parallel Tools from my version 3 VM. I was not using the internet security / anti virus protection provided by Parallels but would suggest removing that as well. A corporate version of Symantec antivirus was installed as I didn’t have the authorization to remove it in Windows.

Everything worked well with these changes.

 

control panel/system/advance tab/performance settings/advanced tab - you should see virtual memory and a change icon.

 

Thanks milfin...

Finally found this setting. My system (Vista) is set at 1322 MB in the automatic mode and seems to run fine. So I guess I won't mess with it. I also have my hard RAM set at 1024 MB. I just don't understand all the complaints here as I think PD4 is a great improvement on PD3 which I was just about ready to toss and go with the new Fusion.

 

I can't tell the difference in performance because i only use windows for work related activities (no games or anything). 3.0 I would only allocate around 640 mb of ram and would never suffer any consequences but with 4.0 I allocate 2 GB.


I really don't have any problems with 4.0 except for the nuances of that Iexplorer.exe error message when I shut down.

 

I FULLY understand that. ANY error message that comes up a lot, drives me insane trying to get rid of it. I assume you've tried reloading IE. Maybe the next version of IE will correct your error message problem.

 

The Good, The Bad and The Pretty

The good news is that the upgrade process went smoothly.
The bad news is that some Windows apps seem more sluggish now.
The pretty speaks for itself! Some nice cosmetic touchs, especially on pausing a system and relaunching (which also is actually much quicker now).

I've had my frustrations and mainly with getting an upgrade activation - God it was painful!
But on the whole I think Parallels has done a grand job although I'm eagerly awaiting for the "Fix" builds