Problem with Windows 7 Bootcamp Shutdown

Discussion in 'Windows Virtual Machine' started by CusJ, Feb 8, 2011.

  1. CusJ

    CusJ Bit poster

    Messages:
    3
    Hi,

    Every time I shut down my Windows 7 bootcamp from parallels it also causes my Mac to reboot. Then the next time I start the Windows 7 bootcamp from parallels I get an error message saying that there was a serious error (yeah, I know!) and asking me to report it to Parallels (I have done so twice). Any help that could be given to me would be greatly appreciated -- this is very annoying and dangerous behavior -- I'm worried about losing work every time I have to shut down the Windows machine.

    Thanks so much!

    Marcus
     
  2. mH2

    mH2 Member

    Messages:
    33
    If you are using the Red button Stop to "shutdown" then you are just "turning the power off" on your VM...
    ie. Crash...
    I always use Microsoft's [Start]button->TurnOff to shutdown; and that, only if I'm shutting down my Mac. Otherwise, why not just Pause the VM and Sleep the Mac :)
    Much faster the next day and MSWindows stays more stable because it thinks it is continually running! =)
     
  3. CusJ

    CusJ Bit poster

    Messages:
    3
    Hi,

    Thanks for the input. I am not using the Red button Stop to shutdown. I am using the Start button -> Shutdown feature of Windows to shut it down. It was causing a reboot in Mac every time I shutdown earlier today. Then I did a reboot myself of the Mac and then shutdowns of Parallels Windows 7 seemed to stop causing reboots (maybe problem is solved?).

    In terms of the pause feature -- The issue for me is that I sometimes want to use Windows, but sometimes I want to shut it down -- I often have to run timing-critical software in Mac and I'd prefer to have as little going on in the background as possible. I'm worried that Pausing the VM will still cause it to use some system resources -- it's my understanding that pausing releases the resources used by the VM but does not release the resources used by the Parallels software itself -- is the Parallels software itself not something I should worry about (is it not much of a resource hog?).

    Thanks again,

    Marcus
     
  4. mH2

    mH2 Member

    Messages:
    33
    I just tried a couple of things, looking at Activity Monitor (Utilities folder under Applications).
    Pause: Drops CPU usage to about 0.7% (1% for 2 seconds, 0% or 1 second, repeat). Memory is still allocated, but can be swapped out.
    Suspend: Drops CPU usage to 0.0 and releases 99% of memory (about 90Meg real, 85Meg swapped)
    [Start->Off]from MSWin: Drops CPU and memory identical to Suspend. The only difference is that you can now Quit Parallels.

    If you don't need to actually Boot from BootCamp, then you would be safe in just Suspending; and get faster return to MSWin when you need it...

    Just an idea...and if it help avoid crashes, all the better :)

    Best Regards
     
  5. CusJ

    CusJ Bit poster

    Messages:
    3
    Thanks so much for doing those tests. It seems like suspending, and probably even pausing sometimes, will be the way to go for me. This is great news. Also, the reboot issue has not come back since my hard reboot (I'm actually thinking it was logging off of Mac now and logging right back in instead of rebooting entirely).

    Another piece of great news is that some software I use that had previously had graphics glitches in Windows 7/Parallels 5 doesn't have the same glitches in Windows 7/Parallels 6. I'm much more trusting of Parallels now :)

    Thanks again for all the input!

    Marcus
     

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