Slow Virtual Machine Performance - Windows 10 AU + Parallels 12

Hello,
I was wondering if anyone had any issues with graphical display/slowness with the Windows 10 AU (anniversary update) and Parallels 12.

I am running on MacOS Sierra GM and I am just getting really bad performance. Any tips would be appreciated.

 

same here, and it is annoying!

tested enviroments:

mid2012 rMBP - macOS Sierra GM
2016 iMac 5k - macOS Sierra GM

 

I'm also running Windows 10 AU in OS X Sierra and Parallels 12.0.1 and it's now totally unusable.

 

Today I found out that this issue is only when I have attached an external display (4K Display)

when I start parallels without an external display, everything runs very fast and smooth. I did also a test with a second macbook, wich has the same specs, but with El Capitan running on it and the same external display attached, the same version of parallels and the result - no problems, all runs very smooth and fast.

So, I think it is not an hardware or driver issue from Apple's side. It is a issue with parallels.

In my bechmark tests Sierra runs a little bit faster then El Capitan on the same hardware. (Thats why I think drivers are not the problem)

 

I'm seeing the same thing.. this needs fixed ASAP.. it is totally unusable..

 

I have the same problem. Below is the message I've sent to the Parallels Manager team. The problems described are especially severe running Windows 10 Pro AU (anniversary update 2016); running Windows 8.1 in Parallels 12 works much better (almost as fast as with Parallels 10).

Subject: Parallels12 slower than Parallels10, please fix this.
Feedback:
Thank you for a good product and for great support. I bought and upgraded from Parallels10 to Parallels12 (using MacBook Air 2011, 4 GB RAM). My Windows10pro virtual machine (VM) is much slower in Parallels12 than in Parallels10. Parallels support tried to help, but the VM performance is still bad in Parallels12. Parallels10 performed much better. My MacBook Air has limited resources (4 GB RAM), but Parallels10's performance was ok on this machine. Increasing the VM RAM to 2GB (Parallels recommends maximum 1536 MB RAM) increased the performance somewhat, but it's still not as good as with Parallels10. PLEASE INCREASE THE PARALLELS12 PERFORMANCE ON MAC MACHINES WITH LIMITED RESOURCES (RAM etc). Parallels says that Parallels12 should perform better, even with limited RAM, and that's why I bought it. New functionality should not decrease performance and require more resources. (It's not possible to increase the RAM on my MacBook Air.)

Sending a message to Parallels Manager team can be done here:
At the bottom of http://www.parallels.com/about/contact/ click on: "Leave feedback to Parallels Management team".

 

Same here, please fix it ASAP.

 

I'm glad I've come across this post. Have exactly the same issue.
After upgrading to Parallels Desktop 12 from Parallels Desktop 11, and further updating my Windows 10 with Windows 10 Anniversary update - I really struggling with Windows 10 performance.
There are lags in window switching, explorer folder opening etc. Applications open much slower. It is a DISASTER.
I thought my 3-year-old Macbook Pro is no longer capable of running a copy of Windows 10. But hey, it just worked few days ago.

I am not 100% sure if this was cased by applying Anniversary update to Windows 10. Has anyone tried to roll back to prior-Windows 10 Anniversary update?

 

It is really slow to run Windows10pro (with Anniversary Update 2016, v. 1607) as guest in Parallels12. Parallels: Please fix this performance issue!

In my previous message complaint I wrote: "Parallels12 slower than Parallels10, please fix this". This is still an issue, but my experience is now as follows:
- The combination Windows10-AU VM in Parallels12 on a Mac with 4GB RAM gives a terrible performance, the VM is almost useless. A clean reinstall in Parallels12 of Window10pro from a newly downloaded Win10_1607 iso image does not help. Others with better Mac hardware also experience bad performance with Windows10-AU in Parallels12.
- Running Windows8.1 VM in Parallels12 on a Mac with 4GB RAM is ok, the performance is almost as good as in Parallels10, it runs well - even with less VM-memory than Win10.

So the main problem is running Windows10pro-AU in Parallels12 smoothly. This contradicts Parallels' promise that Parallels12 should support Windows10 and low memory usage. We really need Parallels12 to support Windows10!

 

I have the same issue since purchasing a 4K display and parallels 12, win 10 (not sure if it's AU - Version 1511 Build 10586.589). Excel 16 constantly crashing or locking up. Losing data. Very frustrating after investing in new monitor. May give Fusion another try.
2015 MBP, 8GM Memory, Sierra

 

Win 10 Version 1511 is not the AU. So, it is probably not the reason for this performance issue.
I believe that Parallels Desktop 12 + macOS Sierra + external monitor is most likely to be a deadly mix.

 

Any news from the admins?

 

Same here.

 

Hello All, let me talk about my experience:

When I unplug the usb mouse parallels run better again so I followed this threat: and all seems to be ok for now.
https://forum.parallels.com/threads/upodated-osx-sierra-windows-10-mouse-slowly.338478/

 

Parallels support says: For Parallels Desktop versions 11 and 12 it is recommended to use Macs with 8GB of RAM or more. Only Parallels Desktop 10 and the previous versions are recommended with 4GB of RAM. My MacBook Air has only 4GB RAM. So I uninstalled Parallels Desktop 12, and installed Parallels Desktop 10. After this the performance running a Windows10 virtual machine is much better (with 2048MB RAM allocated for the VM). Parallels says in the ads that Parallels Desktop 12 has better support for Windows10 and works better with less RAM, but this is obviously not true.
Here are some links:
- Parallels uninstaller: http://kb.parallels.com/Attachments/kcs-35959/PDremove.zip
- Download-link for the latest build of Parallels Desktop 10: http://www.parallels.com/directdownload/pd10
- Links about installing and activating Parallels Desktop 10: http://kb.parallels.com/122647 and http://kb.parallels.com/122649
The same virtual machine files can be used in Parallels Desktop 12 and 10. Remember to shutdown the VMs before reinstalling Parallels. Uninstalling Parallels Tools inside the VM before reinstalling Parallels might be a good idea.

 

Bullshit, I have 16 MB Ram i7 windows 10 etc etc... Parallels don't know what to do to fix the problem, i fixed the problem removing the USB mouse and following this instructions taken from this post:

 

Thanks so much. Was fighting for months with this performance issue. Now I just disconnected the second monitor, and it worked. But still this is a workaround that needs to be fixed.

 

@UdoK thank you for this workaround.

 

I can keep the second monitor after this workaround: link (devices.usb.mouse=0)

 

I have dual 4K displays... it seems to be a little better after the devices.usb.mouse=0 workaround, however when running in full screen mode with both displays, applications often take too long to "paint" on the screen and sometimes elements are missing from the applications... and mouse click response is often fairly laggy/slow.

I realize dual 4Ks using Windows 10 built in scaling is asking a lot in a VM, but this is a brand new 2016 MacBook Pro 15", dedicated GPU, 16GB RAM, etc. The VM is allocated 8GB with 2GB VRAM. I would expect better performance than this...