Archlinux graphics glitch

[BlueDeviL]

Hello folks
I am using iMac with intel
Parallels 18.0.1
I have a guest machine: Archlinux (updated), parallel tools(added)
I dont know why but I have a graphics problem. The xf86 drivers I have installed are:

• extra/libxxf86vm 1.1.5-1 [installed]
• extra/xf86-input-libinput 1.2.1-1 (xorg-drivers) [installed]
• extra/xf86-video-vesa 2.5.0-3 (xorg-drivers xorg) [installed]

Please check the image below:

 

[(GalaxyMaster)]

I am in the same boat as yourself. I believe it is attributed to that XSAVEC issue (a change has been introduced in kernels 5.19+, see https://forum.parallels.com/threads/linux-5-19-issue-with-cpu-capabilities.358140/). This results in many applications crashing -- the most noticeable on Arch are Chromium and anything that uses its rendering capabilities under the hood, e.g. any Electron app. I am currently surviving by using Firefox with hardware acceleration disabled.

I think you can combat the majority of the graphics issues if you revert back to the prl graphics drivers from the recently introduced virtio-gpu, but I think the proper fix should come from Parallels by addressing XSAVEC issue (which all the competitor fixed like an year ago) and also reviewing how their virtio-gpu is exposing its interfaces (there are some issues with the selected IDs for that device, so some libraries cannot recognise it as a virtio-gpu:

[galaxy@archlinux ~]$ lspci | grep -i virtio
00:05.0 Ethernet controller: Red Hat, Inc. Virtio network device
00:0e.0 RAM memory: Red Hat, Inc. Virtio memory balloon
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: Red Hat, Inc. Virtio GPU (rev 01)
[galaxy@archlinux ~]$ cat /sys/devices/pci0000\:00/0000\:00\:01.0/vendor
0x8086
[galaxy@archlinux ~]$ cat /sys/devices/pci0000\:00/0000\:00\:01.0/device
0x2981
[galaxy@archlinux ~]$

The device, IMO, is supposed to be 0x1050 for the device if it tries to mimic Red Hat's virtio-gpu, but I am not that knowledgeable in the virtio space, so I may be wrong here.

 

[BlueDeviL]

Hello again. The issue is still goes on, unfortunately. Do parallels team any plans to fix this in near future guys?

 

[(GalaxyMaster)]

Unfortunately for members of this forum, I think, but fortunately for me, I ditched my subscription to Parallels in favour of running my VMs under UTM (not something for the light-hearten and lots of missing features, but the speed and stability of running VMs are amazing and I forgot patching kernels as a distant nightmare). I also switched from Intel to ARM64 (M2) and needed something that could run my x86_64 on ARM. With some trickery using Rosetta, I am able to do it with UTM while Parallels Desktop still can't do it.

Anyway, locate the mentioned XSAVEC thread and try the "kernel.xsavec=0" boot option for the VM in question. It helped me and I did not revert to the prl drivers (so it was working fine with the virtio-gpu).

 

[BlueDeviL]

Dear GalaxyMaster thanks a lot for your directions. I also have disabled hardware acceleration. And I did not encounter the glitched that I have attached above. Unfortunately my arch vm is way more slower now.

 

[Eugen]

Parallels 19.1.0. The problem is still presented. The boot option "kernel.xsavec=0" doesn't fix it. The disabling hardware acceleration works but makes scrolling notably laggy.

 

[IliyaL1]

Hi all! I'm having the same issue with latest version of Parallels 19.2.1, on Intel, and Linux Mint 21.3. If I disable 3D acceleration the issue is gone, but the VM is barely usable.

 

[MatteoB8]

Same here, parallels 19.2.1 on Intel macBook pro 2020
I tried several distro
- ubuntu 20.04LTS
- ubuntu 23.10
- mint 21.3
- arch with gnome

I've the same kind of graphics glitch with 3d acceleration enabled. Without 3d acceleration VM are not usable.
On Windows11 VM I don't have any issue

 

[Avinash Bundhoo]

Same here, parallels 19.2.1 on Intel macBook pro 2020
I tried several distro
- ubuntu 20.04LTS
- ubuntu 23.10
- mint 21.3
- arch with gnome

I've the same kind of graphics glitch with 3d acceleration enabled. Without 3d acceleration VM are not usable.
On Windows11 VM I don't have any issue

Hello!
In order to proceed with further investigation, kindly provide us with the below information:
1. Reproduce the issue.
2. Collect a technical report (right-click Parallels icon in Dock > Help > Send technical data > check "Attach screenshots..." > press Send Report) and send the report's 9-digit ID in a reply.
Thank you!

 

[LucaZ]

I am in the same situation, I would say since I started to use Parallels Desktop version that introduced the Virtio GPU support and using Linux kernel higher or equal to 5.15. Also, with Linux Mint 20 and Linux kernel 5.4, no problem at all. I tried a lot of different GUI, without success. These artifacts continue to appear. This is the case for both Linux Mint and Ubuntu in my case. What should I do? In precedence, I had poor scrolling experience, sent a report as requested, and no more answer. Since I pay for such a product, I would expect some kind of response.

 

[MatteoB8]

Hello!
In order to proceed with further investigation, kindly provide us with the below information:
1. Reproduce the issue.
2. Collect a technical report (right-click Parallels icon in Dock > Help > Send technical data > check "Attach screenshots..." > press Send Report) and send the report's 9-digit ID in a reply.
Thank you!

I'm sorry but I don't have time to do your job, the internet is full of this post, you must install a distro linux inside a VM on a mac (with intel proc) and see the mess that result.

 

[Eugen]

Hello!
In order to proceed with further investigation, kindly provide us with the below information:
1. Reproduce the issue.
2. Collect a technical report (right-click Parallels icon in Dock > Help > Send technical data > check "Attach screenshots..." > press Send Report) and send the report's 9-digit ID in a reply.
Thank you!

Hi Avinash,
I've reproduced the issue and collected technical data on the last Parallels version (19.4.0), the last kernel (6.9.3), and the last mesa (24.1.1). Would you like for me to post this report's ID right in this thread?

 

[LucaZ]

No more info about that issue that persists, support said a while ago no ETA on such issue, but keeps to ask for report to be sent. Can we have a solution? Other VM softwares are not affected but such annoyance for Intel machines....

 

[LucaZ]

Any updates?

 

[DanielC41]

Hello!
In order to proceed with further investigation, kindly provide us with the below information:
1. Reproduce the issue.
2. Collect a technical report (right-click Parallels icon in Dock > Help > Send technical data > check "Attach screenshots..." > press Send Report) and send the report's 9-digit ID in a reply.
Thank you!

Technical report sent. 9 digits ID: 508488671. Hope you will take this matter seriously as I see multiple frustrated Parallels users over this issue around here. I just paid my yearly subscription. Hope it is not for nothing.

Thanks,

Daniel.

 

[DanielC41]

Ok, update here. I finally went on installing VMWare Fusion 12.2.4 (My machine is a MacBook Pro 2015 with MacOS Monterey still working like a charm) and at first glance, the video issues in Cursor aren't there anymore after an hour of usage. It is a free license for personal usage. So in a week or two if everything works well, I'll migrate my other VMs and uninstall Parallels.

 

[LucaZ]

Parallel support is totally absent and useless, and I am sorry to tell that.
Even with the latest version the problem persists on Linux Mint. That's really annoying.
Suggestion for all: avoid buying Parallel licenses and go for alternatives such as VMWare Fusion, which is now free, as also suggested by DanielC41.
@DanielC41 just out of curiosity: did you get any answers from Parallel support after providing your technical report?

I will gently move away my VMs from Parallel and then resign my subscription once done.
Really sad because it was a great product, some years ago...

 

[DanielC41]

Parallel support is totally absent and useless, and I am sorry to tell that.
Even with the latest version the problem persists on Linux Mint. That's really annoying.
Suggestion for all: avoid buying Parallel licenses and go for alternatives such as VMWare Fusion, which is now free, as also suggested by DanielC41.
@DanielC41 just out of curiosity: did you get any answers from Parallel support after providing your technical report?

I will gently move away my VMs from Parallel and then resign my subscription once done.
Really sad because it was a great product, some years ago...

I did not receive any reply from Parallels. So far in VMware Fusion, all works fine on the video side but performance is not as good as Parallels with approx the same system settings and without any further investigations. The performance hit is mostly in Cursor when scrolling a large source. I decided to move the editor in macOS. The result is very good, even better than when running in Debian/Parallels VM. So my Debian VM is to experiment/develop Python stuff before I deply in my Raspberry PIs. I should have done this a long time ago.

I cancelled my Parallels subscription and fully explain the reasons. No feedback, dead silence on their part. I'm not happy with this outcome after all these years.