Since version 26.x upwards - Windows 11 blue screen - CRITICAL_STRUCTURE_CORRUPTION

Hi!

Since I upgraded Parallels Desktop for Mac (Intel) to a version higher than 20.4.1-55996 (beginning with the first public 26.x version) I get CRITICAL_STRUCTURE_CORRUPTION blue screens in my Windows 11 VM at least one time per day.

I read about problems with Norton 360, and as we are using Symantec Endpoint Protection (SEP) I assume, this might have something in common. But as the basic machine configuration and software is provided via our data center, I am unable to dive deeper into it, ie. uninstall the Symantec stuff or whatever - I am simply not allowed to. And as the Windows event log is really HUGE I am not exactly sure where to look for any information that might help.

A bit of history to this...
It all started with the first public version of 26 (before the Norton 360 fix) and I decided to downgrade back to the last 20.x version. That did the trick for some time. But when 26.x with the Norton fix came out, I thought it might be a good idea to try 26.x again. It was successful at first, but after our data center initiated our monthly system infrastructure update, problems came back. So I am tempted to step back to 20.x again now if I don't find a solution - but if I downgrade again, I am stuck with my current MacOS version, so I am biased...

Maybe someone has an idea what I can do about it, as a blue screen or two during a Teams meeting is rather annoying. If not, I will downgrade to Parallels 20.x and stay with my current MacOS version Sequoia 15.7.2 for now.

Regards,
Holger

 

I have also experienced this multiple times since upgrading.

 

Had several crashes with CRITICAL_STRUCTURE_CORRUPTION bluescreen as well.
I downgraded yesterday to v20 and the VMs run stable again

 

Same here. Several crashes with the CRITICAL_STRUCTURE_CORRUPTION notice since updating to v26 on Windows 10.
Event logs shows nothing specific. Tried running the dism and sfc, but it still no luck.
It is also really irregular. Sometimes I can work whole day without any issues, but yesterday it crashed three times.
Hope there will be a fix soon.

 

@Ashley Chumun As I am unable to answer your emails you sent to rechnung@... (it is only a incoming mailbox for invoices and official notices I cannot use for outgoing mails), here my answer to your last support mail - and sorry, I cannot always respond as fast as you might expect :

It was so kind that someone filed a ticket because of my forum post, but I am unable to reproduce the error atm.
History:
* After having posted my problem last week I downgraded to 20.x.
* Then, on last Tuesday, our data center pushed some regular updates to our client machines, including Symantec Endpoint Protection.
* After that, I thought it might be worth trying 26.x again, upgraded and did not experience any BSOD up to now.

But I wanted to test in different situations (working via VPN, from LAN, with different kind of external hardware attached and such) until I can say that it seems to be solved. This test will last at least up to next week until I can say anything further.

So I am sorry that I cannot provide a dump atm. What I can do is to promise that I will send some in case it happens again.

 

Man, that sounds rough, Holger. Daily BSODs are the worst, especially during Teams calls. If you can't touch the SEP setup yourself, going back to Parallels 20.x might be the most reliable option for now, at least until Parallels or your data center sorts out whatever's causing the conflict.

 

Yes, was a bit tough. Highscore holds a Saturday with 8 BSODs over the day. But for now everything seems ok. I did not have a single BSOD after the mentioned patch day. Fingers crossed! I think, if everything is fine until the end of the week I will call it done. Let's hope for the best

 

That's terrible Blue screens in a virtual machine are not enjoyable, especially during a Teams call. For the time being, it seems safest to stick with Parallels 20.x if you are unable to modify Symantec or go deeper. If not, look for the particular driver or module that is causing CRITICAL_STRUCTURE_CORRUPTION using Windows Event Viewer. This could indicate issues with security software or Parallels updates. I hope your virtual machine stabilizes soon, and good luck!

 

Any updates on this issue? I'm up to 2-5 BSOD a day now. (4 so far today and we're barely at lunch.)

 

FWIW, my final conclusion for this atm: I had to revert back to 20.x because the BSODs came back after another update of Parallels and the recent patch day. I am so sorry that I am not able to provide the requested dump, as our data center did disable dump creation for security reasons and I cannot reenable it inside Windows - I am simply not able and allowed to do so. So, I think I wait until I have to upgrade Mac OS for any reasons and will have a try again. Up to then I'll stay with 20.x, which is running flawlessly.

 

Same issue with Windows 10 and Windows 11. I have the last version of Parallels Desktop (26.2.0.57363) with MacOS 15.7.3 on iMac Intel 2019 (i9) :-/

 

I've had a ton of problems too, and I've identified a pattern.

For reference, my VMs are configured to ask me whether to save changes when I shut Windows down.

The first time it happened, I didn't realize I still had a Windows VM running in the background, and I started to shut down my Mac. As part of the shutdown, Parallels asked me if I wanted to save changes, and I answered no. The next time I started the VM it threw a Blue Screen. I tried to shut it again and once again answered no to saving the changes and from that point on, the VM was corrupted.

I was unable to fix the VM using any Windows tools, but thankfully I had a backup of the VM from a few months ago.

I made a similar mistake 2 other times, including just a few minutes ago. This time, I was not shutting Windows, but using Command-Q to close Apps one by one in the background, not realizing a VM was still running, and once again, even though I answered NO when asked if I wanted to apply changes, the VM was corrupted and I was forced to use an older backup.

I did notice one common thing. In each case, I was basically shutting down Parallels, and when I did get the prompt, I said I didn't want to save the changes... HOWEVER, when I looked at the VM list, the VM that was closing was designated as SUSPENDED, so it shouldn't have asked me about applying changes, and perhaps because I said NO, it didn't properly suspend the VM, so when I tried to resume the suspended VM, it realized something was missing (the changes I responded that I didn't want saved). Resuming the VM led to the Blue Screen, and when that session ended, the rollback didn't put things back the way it was before the initial session. It was still corrupted.

This frustrated me because it happened twice and after the last time, I told myself to check my VM status before shutting down the system or closing Parallels with Command-Q, and I did it again accidentally and immediately knew it would corrupt it, which it did. Thankfully I kept a backup.

 

To summarize the steps that led to my corrupt VMs:

1. Start a VM, then shut the Mac, or close it using Command-Q.
2. When prompted to apply the changes, answered NO.
3. The VM list showed it as suspended even though I didn't ask it to suspend it.
4. Resume the suspended VM.
5. Blue screen crash.
6. Shut down VM again.
7. When prompted to apply the changes, answered NO.
8. Restarted VM.
9. Blue screen crash.

I did not experiment with what would've happened if I allowed it to apply changes when asked, but presumably it would've applied the changes needed to do a correct suspend, but in reality it shouldn't ask if I should apply changes before suspending, it should just suspend it, then when it's eventually resumed, that session should continue the same snapshot and only ask when it's shut down (not suspended).