Huge CPU usage on any VM in Sierra

Discussion in 'macOS Virtual Machine' started by AlexP8, Oct 17, 2016.

  1. AlexP8

    AlexP8 Bit poster

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    Hi all,

    As the title suggests, whenever I run any VM in Parallels 12 in Sierra, regardless of what I am doing in the VM, CPU usage spikes to 100%, and the whole macbook becomes extremely hot very shortly after (for obvious reasons). I'm using an early 2015 Macbook Pro 15" while trying to run parallels.

    I've tried everything I can think of, including:
    • Reinstalls or Parallels and OS X
    • Tinkering with more Parallels settings than I can count as well as settings in the guest VM
    • Modifying NVRAM settings
    I've tried all of these in an attempt to alleviate the crazy CPU usage, but as soon as I go into the VM, I can see the CPU spike to 100%, regardless of what I am doing, despite all the changes I've made.

    For instance, I had Ubuntu installed as a VM, and when looking through the file explorer in ubuntu and having the Mac activity monitor visible on the host, I could see the CPU spike as soon as I started moving around, and it remained at 100%+ while I did fairly menial tasks. The VM itself doesn't have a huge amount of resources assigned (2 CPU threads and 2GB RAM), so I can't see how the VM could be draining the host of resources (which I've seen mentioned).

    Is this just how Parallels performs? Or is there some magic thing I can do to fix issues such as this? Right now I consider it unusable as after around 5 minutes of usage the Macbook becomes molten and the fans may as well be jet engines.

    Cheers,

    Alex
     
    Last edited: Oct 17, 2016
  2. Hello AlexP8, please try this solution.
     
  3. AlexP8

    AlexP8 Bit poster

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    Thanks for the suggestion. I followed those steps all the way through, but still get huge CPU usage as soon as I start doing any task inside of the VM (even if it's something such as typing into a notepad).

    I'm beginning to think this is an issue with the Parallels software, as every time I've gone to support, they've given me fairly generic responses as to how to fix the problem, with none of their suggestions working.
     
  4. AlexP8

    AlexP8 Bit poster

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  5. PetterC1

    PetterC1 Bit poster

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    I had the same problem, tried the proposed solution and it worked for me. I.e. I created a new VM and used the old VM-file in it.

    Thank you.
     
  6. AlexP8

    AlexP8 Bit poster

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    Can you describe exactly what you did? I tried following the guide but still getting the same issue. Maybe I didn't do the right steps though...
     
  7. PaulChristopher@Parallels

    PaulChristopher@Parallels Product Expert Staff Member

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    Hello Alex, please create a new Windows virtual machine and check out this article to add an existing virtual machine into it. Thanks
     
  8. PetterC1

    PetterC1 Bit poster

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    One thing I did which was not in the guide was that I deleted all previous USB-devices set in the settings of the USB Connection Preferences under Parallels Desktop Control Center -> Configure -> Hardware -> USB & Bluetooth
     
  9. AlexP8

    AlexP8 Bit poster

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    I still don't think this will work, as I'm getting 100% CPU usage in the new 'test' machine while it's loading. See example attached to this post.
    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited: Nov 6, 2016
  10. AlexP8

    AlexP8 Bit poster

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    And I've just tried the steps again, replacing the new test machine's hard drive with the old one, and still the issue persists.

    Think this is probably it for me with Parallels unless someone can provide information as to why such ridiculous usage occurs for tasks that require little processing power.
     
  11. OlegK1

    OlegK1 Junior Member

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    The solution works fine on my Mac, thank you)
     
  12. Alex27

    Alex27 Bit poster

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    Hello, I'm having the same issue as well. I've tried creating a new VM and mapping it to the old VM file, but the usage shot up to 200% on average now, which made it even worse than before. Any suggestion is recommended.

    I'm currently using Parallels 11 on Mac OS Sierra 10.12.3
     
  13. AlexP8

    AlexP8 Bit poster

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    Yeah sort of gave up on this issue given the responses from Paralells were pretty useless...have a feeling this is due to the desktop environment inside the VM. I don't get high usage when running shell based OSs (well not the same extremes anyway), so it's got to be something to do with how it's rendering the desktop and other parts of the environment.
     
  14. Alex27

    Alex27 Bit poster

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    That's unfortunate. I use parallels because I'm studying to become a developer and my school uses Visual Studios, which so far only runs on windows (with a beta version for Macs). My professor has recommended I use the windows version, hence why I need it as I prefer I don't boot camp and remain in MacOS.

    I hope the developers will tackle this over time degrading of performance issue. I purchased parallels out of all options due to being known for how efficient it is with the system resources on a Mac. I'm more than happy to put out cash for a new upgrade if Parallels can improve its ability to handle windows without pushing the CPU over the top while giving great performance.
     

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