Parallels Desktop 9 latest update eating up huge amount of CPU time while idle

Discussion in 'General Questions' started by KrazyKaycee, Oct 22, 2013.

  1. KrazyKaycee

    KrazyKaycee Bit poster

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    Since the latest update at I received yesterday Oct 21, 2013, PD9 while only loading the virtual machines list has been using a huge amount of processor time (80-129%) while being idle and no VM's are loaded. When a VM is loaded the performance of the VM is horrible as compared to prior performing the update. Any reason why this update is using way to much processor while only listing the VM's and remaining idle? running multiple instances of Safari can't even come close to the usage that this latest update has imposed on my computer.
     
  2. Seadoodude

    Seadoodude Bit poster

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    Same issue for me at times. I have a rMBP with 16 GB, after upgrading to Mavericks and PD9, the Win 7 VM with 8GB allocation. I am here searching for CPU usage issues because at the moment, Win7 Task Manager shows 98% idle, but the OSX Activity Monitor shows two Parallels related processes taking almost 200% CPU, those being pro_vm_app and Parallels Desktop. The main activity on the Win7 VM uploading a large 744MB file to a ftp site via Google Chrome.

    Now that that has finished, CPU usage is back to normal, so I conclude that some resource sharing processes, like internet and networking are taking a lot of CPU cycles. I never noticed that with PD8.
     
  3. Seadoodude

    Seadoodude Bit poster

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    well, now the Win7 VM is back to being unresponsive. I gave up transferring files from the VM, so I am using Remote Desktop to connect to our server. But with Remote Desktop open Win7 has become unresponsive even though it reports the system is using only 1-3 % CPU. OSX Activity has PD9 100+ and pro_vm_app 50+. I closed Remote Desktop but Parallels related processes are still at 85% and 40%, windows still unresponsive. Definitely a problem here. Looking more like some issues with PD9 and Mavericks. I may have to use Bootcamp until PD9 is fixed.
     
  4. zjgolf44

    zjgolf44 Bit poster

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    MBA 2012, 8gb of ram, mavericks, p9 upgrade. I'm seeing big issues as we'll. I'm loosing at least half if not more of my battery life. In OSX it shows my win 7 VM at 20% all the time, even though my windows shows 98% idle. I have 1 CPU assigned and 1GB memory. Win VM always says not responding in activity monitor.

    From the press I keep hearing about improved performance with mavericks and parallels 9, but I'm experiencing completely the opposite.
     
  5. Seadoodude

    Seadoodude Bit poster

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    Hum, after restarting Win7 and PD9, everything is working fine, even with heavy network traffic. I noticed now that in the OSX Activity monitor, the prl_vm_app is not there, replaced by Windows 7 (Not Responding) taking about 60-130% depending on usage, and PD 0.7%. OSX and Win7 VM remain responsive. All is good for the moment.

    I don't know how it compares to PD8 as I never had any issues before, but the PD9 overhead for an idle VM is about 58% of one core, or about 10% total on an 8 core CPU.

    I will keep using it and see if I can figure out a pattern. Hopefully the Parallels guys beat me to it.
     
  6. VilleN

    VilleN Bit poster

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    I have an issue where I haven't even started Parallels Desktop, but a prl_pm_service is still taking up 50% of one core all the time. My machine feels significantly warmer than it should be, when it's not doing anything. It's taken 25 hours of CPU time, compared to Safari, which has used 44 minutes and kernel_task that has taken nearly 3 hours.

    I can't even figure out what that service does, as google searches are turning up with pretty much nothing.
     
  7. Shankie

    Shankie Bit poster

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    I'm having the same problem as seedoodude. I'm on a 2012 13"MBP with 8GB of memory running a Windows 8.1 guest OS. The 'Windows 8 vm (not responding' thread consistently takes up 40-80% of the Mac CPU while Windows Task Monitor reports 1-2% CPU usage.

    I've tried re-mapping this virtual hard disk to another VM container, but that didn't make a difference.
     
  8. Seadoodude

    Seadoodude Bit poster

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    It is looking like at 50% of one core is normal overhead for PD9. Its 5 days later, with heavy use and everything is working good and both OSX and Win7 VM are responsive. No more issues and I have not been able to reproduce the initial problem. It is looking like it's normal to see the Windows 7 (not responding) process in the Activity Monitor taking 40-60% of one core as overhead when Win7 VM is sitting idle (1-2% CPU). Unfortunately, I don't know what it was before upgrading to Mavericks and PD9. That would be good to know for comparison.

    I can say that the Windows Experience Index has improved slightly: PD8: 7.0, PD9: 7.1, with the graphics being the lowest score as compared to running Windows native in BootCamp where the score is 7.2. I would say that PD9 is a very efficient VM.
     
    Last edited: Oct 30, 2013
  9. Mythias

    Mythias Bit poster

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    Parallels devs,
    I have been using your desktop product for almost a year now using OS X Mountain Lion. It has been literally flawless (as long as I don't overlap memory between more than one guest OS). I have never had any resource issues to date, until now. The following are my specs:

    Macbook Pro 2013 Retina 15" (Purchased from Apple website in January of 2013)
    CPU: 2.6 GHz Quad Core i7
    Mem: 16 GB 1600 MHz DDR3
    Parallels: Version 9 (Previously version 8 before my full reinstall of OS X Mountain Lion)
    ----------------------------------
    Software:
    Encrypted single partition
    Fresh install of Mountain Lion
    Fresh install of Parallels 9
    Upgraded to Mavericks
    Guest OS: Windows 7 Ultimate x64
    ----------------------------------
    What I am experiencing:
    1. With the laptop plugged in and charging, it takes over twice as long to charge.
    2. I would NEVER hear my fans before on my laptop. I was starting to wonder if the laptop even had any fans. Now, I can no longer run Parallels without the laptop's fans kicking in and staying on the entire time, loudly I might add. Those fans never stop from the time I start Parallels until I exit.
    3. While running Parallels 9 on Mavericks, my laptop is very hot to the touch. This is also a new experience. When I exit Parallels, the heat as well as the fans cooling that heat, go away.
    4. My resource monitor within Windows 7 reads normal low usage. My activity monitor however shows the laptop's CPU pegged between 200(MINIMUM) and 400 percent!!

    I've attached a before and after image to illustrate exactly what this is reading as in OS X. Keep in mind that when I took the 'after' screenshot, I had not started using Windows 7 yet. I had merely restored it from being suspended.

    Before:
    Before.jpg

    After:
    After.jpg

    This is definitive, in that it is most certainly the Parallels product causing this. I don't experience any of the above when not in my Windows 7 guest OS. I use this product to run Windows, where I do a lot of my corporate programming (day job), so this is a show-stopper. Please advise.

    Lastly, I would like to add that the Parallels desktop product has been the most amazing piece of software I've used to date in the virtualization arena, and I am a senior software developer who knows good software at the highest possible standard. I've used most other virtualization products, and this one is by far, hands down, the most powerful and sound virtualization product of its kind. I hope you fix this for OS X Mavericks quickly. :)

    Objectively,
    Jason

    UPDATE:
    I reinstalled Parallels tools. Interestingly enough, Parallels Desktop 9 seems to be back to its unapproachable amazingness again. I am having no issues whatsoever running Windows 7, just like when running under Mountain Lion pre-upgrade. I didn't think to do this originally because once I upgraded, there was an update that was pushed that automatically had me update Parallels Tools. In any case, doing it manually after that initial reinstall of the tools has worked it seems. Hope this proves helpful to another. Ciao!
     
    Last edited: Oct 31, 2013
  10. Mythias

    Mythias Bit poster

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    Parallels Devs:
    Jason here with an update...
    Apparently this is still an issue. I've given it days now, and each and every day, each time I open Visual Studio 2012 and start working in it, the problem comes back. Once I open Visual Studio and start working, the CPU is pegged at over 200%, and my laptop gets very hot. Of course when this occurs, everything comes to a crawl regarding system performance. This is a show-stopper, and I have grown to LOVE my Parallels environment and working in Windows 7 on my MacBook Pro. PLEASE, I implore the devs, look into this immediately!

    Sincerely,
    Jason
    Senior Software Developer and Business Owner
     
  11. Mythias

    Mythias Bit poster

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    Parallels Devs:
    Assuming you will be reading this, I have an update to the above open bug in your product. Apparently, when I close Visual Studio each time, the CPU utilization goes ALL the way back down again. I hope that helps. While it is open, and I have just run any application through the debugger, it skyrockets during its usage, and stays pegged even when nothing is being done in Visual Studio whatsoever. It only goes back down (and when it does, it is all the way back down) when closing Visual Studio entirely.

    Thank you,
    Jason
     
  12. Re:Designed

    Re:Designed Bit poster

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    Same here. Haven't even launched parallels in a few weeks and restarted several times since my last usage, yet prl_pm_service is using more cpu time then any other process on my mac by no small margin. This has only been happening since the last update but is quite frustrating.


    prl_pm_service.png
     
  13. Chris.

    Chris. Bit poster

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    'Me too' - same symptoms since upgrade to v9

    I've nothing to add in the way of additional evidence, the above pretty much says it all. I have very much the same situation here, developing with Visual Studio 2012 on Windows 7 under Parallels 9 - it was distinctly faster before the upgrade.

    Since v9, when I build and run up a development web server, I can read individual lines in the debug output window showing executables being generated etc. - it used to be a blur, now the lines scroll past one... by... one... by... one... to the extent that it's actually faster if I want to check something on the site I'm working on, to go to the live site and navigate rather than start up the local one - and my internet is terrible (I live on a tropical island on the end of a chain of wireless bridges hung off a dodgy microwave link to a bigger island where the internet is rubbish anyway !).

    I've rebuilt the project, tidied temp files, googled incessantly and everything else I can think of but it still drags along very slowly - the only thing I haven't done to try to fix it is completely rebuild the VM, but with the aforementioned internet speed, doing so would take days (MS updates etc etc etc) so I'm loath to do that unless absolutely necessary.

    Any help appreciated,

    Chris
     
  14. Re:Designed

    Re:Designed Bit poster

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    i've found that turning off Parallels Access helps quite a bit

    While things are still quite a bit slower for me as well, i've found that turning off Parallels Access helps quite a bit, i only turn this on if I plan on being away from the computer and accessing via my iPad. That and I use a script to kill the offending prl_pm_service process when i'm not using parallels, that process still gobbles cpu time like mad even when not using parallels.

    I'm hoping that they address these issues in the next update.
    Maybe open a support ticket and see if you can get some help?

    Best of luck.
     
  15. Chris.

    Chris. Bit poster

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    Ta, seems my pain is probbaly down to much the same as for others who have provided lots of diangostic detail, seems silly to start another thread on the same root problem (i.e. why is it so bloody resource hungry !!!)
     

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