I just recently bought Parallels for Mac, and I have since upgraded to the 3170 and then 3186 versions. I mostly like it so far, but the behavior for startup and shutdown (both of Parallels itself and the VMs) is annoying. If I start Parallels Desktop application directly from the Finder, I always end up in the Install Wizard screen. If I cancel, Parallels always quits, no exceptions. I can start yet another VM and attach it to the HD image, but it gets tiresome doing this every time. The item from the preferences that controls starting a VM that is mentioned in the manual no longer appears to exist in the 3170 and 3186 builds. I can start my VM by double-clicking it instead of the application, but then I have a very hard time modifying it. If I stop the VM, Parallels quits, and of course, I can't modify it when the VM is either running or suspended. When I'm very lucky, I can select the Edit Virtual Machine menu item right after I shut down the VM, but before Parallels quits. I can't always do it, and the timing is crucial. When I do so, I can see that the checkbox for quitting Parallels when the VM stops is unchecked, but it doesn't seem to make any difference. Once I leave that dialog box, no matter which settings I change, Parallels immediately quits. Starting it restarts the VM so I can't modify it, and shutting the VM down quits Parallels again. Is there any way to stop either of these behaviors? Has anyone else seen this? I've seen a couple of short messages on the forums related to one of these problems, but it doesn't seem to be common. Could it have anything to do with the fact that because of disk space limitations, I have the HD image NOT in my User directory along with the other Parallels files? Dave Barnhart
i believe you can stop the shutdown problem by opening the .pvs file for your VM (located in /Users/<your username>/Library/Parallels/<your vm name> ) and setting the AutoShutdown parameter to 0
Well, it was a good suggestion, since I had never edited the .pvs file, but unfortunately, the AutoShutdown parameter was already 0. I guess there are still a few kinks that need to be worked out. Dave Barnhart
If this was a suggestion for getting around the InstallWizard dialog, it didn't help. If I start Parallels Desktop directly, it still goes directly to that dialog, and canceling it still quits. It's not that I can't use Parallels as it is, but it is a bit inconvenient to have to edit the VM by catching it at exactly the right time on exit. Dave Barnhart
I'm seeing the same bug and I'm just saw a note from a co-worker who also is experiencing the same bug. Due to a lack of space, my VMs are on an external firewire hard drive. If I start Parallels without the disk mounted, it launches the install Wizard (because it cannot find the VMs in the directory where it last knew them to reside). That in itself isn't so bad... what's bad is that if I cancel the wizard so I can just use the "Open" menu option to navigate to a VM the entire Parallels product will quit (you MUST use the Wizard to create a new VM or Parallels will exist -- this is a bug). The wizard only gives an option to create a new VM. Opening an existing VM is not an option. Next, I mount the external hard drive and double click the VMs ".pvs" file to launch Parallels with the VM already attached. Instead of opening Parallels to the settings menu (what it should do) it _starts_ the VM (note that this VM is NOT configured to auto-start under thhe 'booting' options menu for the VM). This is a bug. Finally, I figure I'll just tell the VM to shutdown so that I can return to the Parallels settings menu. When the os inside the VM finally completes it's shut-down, Parallels exists (rather than returning me to the menu.) The 'booting' options for the VM isn't configured to do the auto-exit Parallels on VM shutdown. This is a bug. Having gone through all of this, I relaunch Parallels, but note that THIS time, the last known filesystem location where the VMs are located IS available to Parallels at launch -- so instead of starting a VM I get the menu to choose a VM. If I choose a VM it behaves as expected (doesn't auto-start the VM).
builds 3170 & 3186 hang / freeze during shutdow Hello, Hopefully someone can help me out. The last to builds have caused me a few problems the first and most furstrating is the frozen state after/ during shutdown of Windows. I get the blue screen and it justs sits there. To get around this and I am not sure I am not doing more damage here.... is to force the shut down by stopping Parallels. The other problem as others have wittnessed is the memory leak that causes major performance slow down. Thanks for any help, Hans
Where is your .pvs file located? Mine is in the normal place under my user folder, but the VM HD is located at the root of that disk drive. I originally located it on an external USB 2.0 HD for space reasons, but I wanted to see if it would be faster loading from the internal drive. Either way, it doesn't seem to matter how often I start and shutdown the VM, starting it from the Parallels Desktop application icon always results in the Wizard you can't cancel without quitting. Even the behavior you are getting, where it finally figures it out would be better than what I am seeing. Dave Barnhart
Paralllels Quits when VM is stopped I am experiencing the same problem as Dave B's. Just about every possible way. AutoShutdown is 0. Thus there is a bug. Strangely, I have another computer which went through the same upgrade to 3186 and it seems to work fine.
