Several Bugs in Workstation 4.0 Extreme Build 4992 (Mouse capture and IO-performance)

Discussion in 'Parallels Workstation Extreme Discussion' started by ThomasT, Oct 31, 2009.

  1. ThomasT

    ThomasT Member

    Messages:
    22
    Dear Sirs,

    I installed Parallallels Workstation 4.0 Extreme on a HP Z800 (12GB RAM, XEON E5520) with two Quadro FX 3800s. The hardware virtualisation of the graphics card works as advertised!
    For all reported bugs the settings within the VMs are identical. Parallels Workstation is always configured to use one Quadro FX as directly assigned graphics card.


    But there are some bugs left that have to be fixed:

    - Sometimes the same keyboard-layout bug for foreign keyboards, that has been corrected in the "Desktop" version just some time ago, appears.
    My host (Z800, Vista SP1 64bit) and guest (Vista SP1 64bit) have german keyboard layouts but sometimes the keyboard layout in the VM is just "messed up" in the same way as it happend with the non-corrected Parallels desktop 4 version. The only workaround for this problem is to leave the guest and click on the Parallels Windows to force a new keyboard and mouse capture. This helps for some time until the focus is lost again.


    - Sometimes I cannot reenter the VM with the mouse!
    After I moved a VM from the Z800 to a almost identical computer with better hardware (two FX 4800s, faster Xeon X5550 CPU, 24GB RAM, same chipset) but different OS (Server 2008 R2) a strange new behaviour appeared: When the automatically capturing of the mouse pointer is enabled (Configure, Features, Services, "Automatically capture and release the mouse pointer") as it is by default, I can use the VM but on leaving the monitor with the directly assigned video card (SLI MultiOS) it happens every now and then that I cannot reenter the VM! Even clicking on the Parallels window to force a mouse capture does not work.
    When I move the mouse pointer to the edge of the screen towards the VM, I can sometimes see a flickering mouse cursor for tenth of a second on the VM-monitor but cannot enter or use the VM anymore.
    The only solution is to shutdown and restart the VM.
    I also tried to uninstall and reinstall "Parallels Tools" within this VM several times but it did not solve the problem.
    The best workaround is to deactivate "Automaticallz caputre and release the mouse pointer". In this case it is always possible to leave and reenter the VM by pressing the assigned keys (STRG+ALT).


    - Since I moved the VM to the other computer the IO- and especially read performance of the HDD is extremely low. To fix it the parallels tools have been reinstalled several times without effect. I also tried the "Parallels Compressor", rebooted both: Host and Guest, and ran "defrag" on the host (not on the guest) but nothing improved the performance to a normal level.
    Using Crystal Disk Mark the performance varies from really good 85MB/s to lousy 1.x MB/s on reads. Writes are much better and do not vary much. These performance drops during reads can be recognized on every application and render the VM almost unusable. If you simply monitor the HDD-LED of the host during reads you can see that it is lit for a short time and then stays off for a long time befor it is lit again. So even if there should be continous HDD access there are huge delays.
    Chipset of the Host: Intel 5520, HDD: Western Digital Velociraptor 300GB (10k rpm) connected to onboard Intel ICH-10R.

    There are no performance drops with Parallels Desktop 4 on the same system!


    - Intel 82576 Networking & VT-d:
    It is not possible to bind one port of the Intel 82576 network interface to the virtual machines. A message appears that the adapter combines many PCI functions and both adapters have to be routed to the virtual machines.
    This issue is a low priority issue because the bridged networking works just fine. Nevertheless it would be great to offer a way of the network hardware assignment to the VM that does not cause the host to be cut off the network completely.


    I look forward that these bugs will be ironed out quickly. The keyboard layout problem might be fixed the same way as it has already be done within the desktop version. The HDD performance issue is a complete show stopper and should be fixed at first.

    Let me know if you need any further testing to determine the root of the problems.



    Kind regards
    ThomasT
     
  2. ThomasT

    ThomasT Member

    Messages:
    22
    I solved the IO-Issue myself with a workaround:

    Configure... -> HardDisk1 -> Interface -> SCSI.

    The option "interface" is only visible if you enable "Show advanced options" in the lower left corner.

    But this is only an option if the performance is really bad. It may cause the VM to bluescreen on boot!
    On the original Host (HP Z800) that showed a good performance with the standard IDE-setting the VM cannot boot (Bluescreen on boot) when you change the setting to SCSI.
    On the other Host the same VM boots without any issues after I switched to "SCSI".

    The performance within the VM is much better now with this new setting.


    If someone from Parallels will read this posting, PLEASE inform someone about the keyboard-layout-bug! The desktop-workaround (switching to EN-US keyboard layout on the host) works here as well but is not acceptable. Parallels knows how to solve this issue. Please offer an update for Workstation 4.0 Extreme as well!
     
  3. ThomasT

    ThomasT Member

    Messages:
    22
    Solution for mouse-capture-problem

    Hello again!

    Today I installed the newest Parallels Desktop Trail Version within a Parallels Workstation VM just to get the "Parallels Tools" ISO that it contains.

    After that I copied this ISO to my HOST, assigned it as CD-ROM to a guest of Parallels Workstation and installed the "Parallels Tools".

    The automatic capturing of mouse and keyboard works great with this little trick - even on Windows Server 2008 r2 as Host-OS.

    It's just another "workaround" for the official 4992 realase but if Parallels will add the new Parallels Tools to an upcomming release of Parallels Workstation 4.0 Extreme, it should be fixed for everyone.


    The keyboard layout issue is not solved by this little trick! You still have to activate the EN-US keyboard layout on the host to get a correct keyboard mapping in your VM.
     
  4. ThomasT

    ThomasT Member

    Messages:
    22
    Important information for other customers

    Well, there are not that many replies to my questions....

    One important detail is the actual used version. My installation CD contained Build 4992.
    Using the build in update function, that is not called directly after the installation, the version of Parallels Workstation changed to Build 6402.
    That version fixes several performance issues but does not solve all problems.

    My advise to all owners of this software: Try to use the update option (Help -> Check for updates) directly after you have installed the software.
    It would have been nice if someone would have recognized that I mentioned the old build version. Well, this is just a forum, not an official support site.

    Nevertheless it would be nice if some officials would read these postings to fix the mentioned errors and improve the functionality.

    -> Keyboard layout problem (Host: Windows Server 2008 R2, German keyboard layout. Identical problem as it has been fixed on the Desktop version.)
    -> mouse focus is sometimes lost after the screensaver of the guest kicks in.
    -> VT-d / Intel 82576: Maybe it would be possible to virtualize just a single port OR route one of the virtualized ports back to the host.

    @Parallels: Please correct these problems!
     
  5. ThomasT

    ThomasT Member

    Messages:
    22
    Build 6698 fixes most Problems

    Hi!

    Most of the reported problems are solved with the Build 6698.
    - The keyboard layout problem has been completely fixed!
    - The problem of not being able to reenter a VM with a dedicated graphics card has been fixed!
    - The mouse focus is no longer lost.
     

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