Since upgrading to Parallels 11, my Windows VMs (7 and 10) will not longer auto-pause themselves when all apps are closed. I've tried reinstalling Parallels Tools, and things seem to work for a bit. But, within a day, the VMs stay active and will not pause unless I manually trigger a pause. Anyone else seeing this? Any recommendations?
The pause only happens when you are in coherence mode. Another alternative that I use, is in windows power settings, set your VM to go to sleep after a set time. When it goes to sleep, it actually pauses the VM.
There is no relationship between auto-pause and coherence, though I generally prefer to work in that mode. I have often worked in a windowed mode and view the same auto-pause behavior. This still continues to work in Parallels 10 and even in Parallels 11 right after reinstalling Parallels Tools. But, after a period, it stops doing it. I have found that this may be more prevalent in Win10 VMs. I recently had both Win7 and Win10 up in windowed mode, and Win7 did eventually pause itself. Not nearly as quickly as before (usually it's 30 seconds after all apps closed; this time was at least 10 minutes). But, it worked. Win10 VM will stay awake forever. Thanks for the tip on the sleep settings for the VM, that may be a great workaround. I'll give it a try right away.
auto-pause behavior has been improved in version 11: - VM does not go paused if Windows updates are being installed - Some fixes for erroneous switch to auto-pause (apps background activity, like torrents) - Copy/Paste operations between host and VM keep VM awake as they should So, check that there are no activities in the background
Thanks for the input. I've been playing around more and even been able to make auto-pause work. In my opinion, Parallels 11 is WAY too sensitive about what's considered an open/running app. I've basically had to disable a lot of services that didn't previously register as activity to stop pausing. The GoToMeeting app allows for quick launching of a meeting. It's not a full app, does need to be launched, and doesn't appear as a running app. However, it prevents Parallels from pausing. Also, I use NetExtender for VPN access. When a connection is active, Parallels 11 will not pause (10 had no issue here). I used to like having the VPN connection there to always come back when needed, but now I have to either manually pause or disconnect for auto-pause to occur. These kinds of things shouldn't be considered "open apps" and should allow pausing.
