Parallels 6 is it a 64 bit executable?

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EatingPie

Junior Member
I purchased PD6 upgrade under the impression it's a 64 bit application.

From the literature:

New! 64-bit Virtual Machine Performance
Fully utilize your Mac’s hardware to maximize speed and performance for Windows. Create powerful 32- and 64-bit VMs with up to 8 CPUs and 2TB virtual RAM.

But both the "file" command from the Terminal, and Activity Monitor report Parallels and prl_naptd as running in 32 bit mode.

Is this because I upgraded from PD5 to PD6? How do i get it to show as 64 bit?

-Pie
 
Parallels is running some pretty low level stuff, and prl_natpd if probably one of the low pieces. I would guess that it runs 32 bit when you're booted to a 32 bit kernel, and 64 bit when you're booted to a 64 bit kernel. Both versions happily run both 32 and 64 bit client OSes.
 
I always hate when I see these 'so is this false advertising?' posts.

Macs can run 64bit code inside a 32bit compiled app as long as the hardware supports x64. The reason the app is 32bit probably has more to do with older Intel-VT-capable macs only having 32bit EFI/firmware. The original Core (not Core 2) weren't 64bit capable though have have the hardware for VT. I expect there are a bunch of conditional statements* in the Parallels code that determines what hardware you are using and switches code branches based on that.

Also, the advertising doesn't say 64bit app, it says performance.. if you are running a 64bit VM under the 64bit kernel, you're getting 64bit performance. To be fair to you though, the bullet point was probably worded by someone in marketing rather than an engineer.

(parallels 5 ran 64bit VMs fine as long as your hardware supported them, but all the processing on Parallels side was probably 32bit)
 
chabig said:
Parallels is running some pretty low level stuff, and prl_natpd if probably one of the low pieces. I would guess that it runs 32 bit when you're booted to a 32 bit kernel, and 64 bit when you're booted to a 64 bit kernel. Both versions happily run both 32 and 64 bit client OSes.
Click to expand...
This can't be it.

I boot Mac OS X in full 64 bit mode. Yes, I made a change to permanently boot to 64 bit. But even if you boot Mac OS X as 32 bit, it still runs applications in 64 bit mode by default when there is a 64 bit binary.

All the daemons listed that I've seen (including prl_naptd) and the Parallels Desktop application have no 64 bit binary, and therefore run in 32 bit mode. Parallels clearly states the Virtual Machine is 64 bit, along with a claim that this improves speed later in the advertisement. I have not seen where this happens, and I'm trying to figure out what is going on.

-Pie
 
Most probably you are looking at "Parallels Desktop" process, which is just GUI. The real magic is done by "prl_vm_app" process, that is in fact your Virtual Machine. It should be 64 bit.

I have attached a screenshot from my Mac explaining what to look for.
 

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  • Activity Monitor.png
    Activity Monitor.png
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Great! That was the ticket. I checked the processes when Parallels was running the VM, but I didn't see it listed in the 64 bit section of the Activity Monitor listing. Glad to see someone was paying attention! :)

Thanks!

-Pie
 
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