Bug with new macbook pro 2012.

S

SchifanoT

Bit poster
It will appear that the parallels desktop don't work correctly with the new macbook pro 2012:
Me i have a Macbook Pro 13" 2012 and i can't install:
Ubuntu 12.04 LTS-reboot loop (PANIC 10 ...)
Archlinux:reboot loop

I post tomorrow some screen.
 
I have the same issue, new MBA 13".

Tried:
Existing Ubuntu 11.10, kernel panic & boot loop
Install Linux Mint 13, kernel panic
Install Windows 8 RP, kernel panic & boot loop
 
I have the same issue on the new Retina Macbook. All my existing Fedora VMs crash when booting. When I try to install a fresh VM, the kernel in the installer also crashes.
 
I have the same problem with CentOS 6.2 64bit and Fedora 16 64-bit. Parallels support response was that neither were "officially supported". Both VMs worked great on my 2011 MBP.
 
Quick fix

My CentOS 6 VM would boot however all but the first CPU core would come up. dmesg showed the offending call to be setup_smep() in the stack trace. SMEP is a new feature in Ivy bridge processors, see here for more info:

http://lenzfire.com/2011/09/intel-introduces-smep-for-ivy-bridge-a-new-security-feature-80649/

At least for the 2.6.32 kernel in CentOS 6.2, someone added a "nosmep" kernel command line option which you can use to disable initialization of this feature. You can add this to the command line options via grub at boot time or permanently by editing /etc/grub.conf.

Not sure if this will help in other cases but it made a difference for me.
 
ChadM said:
My CentOS 6 VM would boot however all but the first CPU core would come up. dmesg showed the offending call to be setup_smep() in the stack trace. SMEP is a new feature in Ivy bridge processors, ...
Click to expand...

Interesting observation! I did a quick search and see that some variants of Linux may have a similar option. I wonder if this means that any Ivy Bridge -based machine (not just the new MBPs and Airs) would have the same failure without a patch. If that's the case, then I'm a bit surprised that this hasn't been resolved already, though perhaps there aren't many Ivy Bridge CPUs out in the wild at this point.

Indeed, these are the first Ivy Bridge products from Apple, so it makes sense that we're only seeing this now.

Hmm, I wonder if the hackintosh crowd has already resolved this.
 
I'm having this issue too with Arch, Ubuntu, LinuxMint and Gentoo guest OSes (and even the LiveCDs!). Retina MBP (woohoo!) 2.6Ghz. Submitted a problem report through the program.
 
I've been working on this for the last few days. I've found a fix for this in linux (sorry, windows 8 is closed source). If you're feeling adventurous, you can edit the following linux kernel source file: arch/x86/kernel/cpu/common.c
find the function setup_smep().
comment out the body of the function and insert return; at the bottom (so you don't have any empty function).

compile and set up your bootloader. It worked for me.

Now getting parallels tools to install might be a different story... I'm having a ton of trouble getting parallels tools to work on kernel 3.4.3 (even after modifying the parallels tools source to get it to compile). I think I'll try an older version, maybe 3.2 something.

OR
you could wait for the parallels team to fix it on their own.

edit:
you can use ubuntu 11.04 because the kernel is old enough that it didn't implement SMEP. That is what I used to build the newer versions of the kernel.

edit 2:
recompiled with 3.2.21 and removing smep. Parallells tools installed just fine. Enjoy!
 
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ksmacneill said:
I've been working on this for the last few days. I've found a fix for this in linux (sorry, windows 8 is closed source). If you're feeling adventurous, you can edit the following linux kernel source file:
...
Click to expand...

Wow, thanks! That's really helpful, and gives a good (albeit complex) workaround for the moment.

I'm still hoping for some initial acknowledgement of this issue by the Parallels team, as it's a major problem for those of us who've upgraded. Anything official, Parallels team?
 
ksmacneill said:
I've been working on this for the last few days. I've found a fix for this in linux (sorry, windows 8 is closed source). If you're feeling adventurous, you can edit the following linux kernel source file: arch/x86/kernel/cpu/common.c
find the function setup_smep().
comment out the body of the function and insert return; at the bottom (so you don't have any empty function).

compile and set up your bootloader. It worked for me.

Now getting parallels tools to install might be a different story... I'm having a ton of trouble getting parallels tools to work on kernel 3.4.3 (even after modifying the parallels tools source to get it to compile). I think I'll try an older version, maybe 3.2 something.

OR
you could wait for the parallels team to fix it on their own.

edit:
you can use ubuntu 11.04 because the kernel is old enough that it didn't implement SMEP. That is what I used to build the newer versions of the kernel.

edit 2:
recompiled with 3.2.21 and removing smep. Parallells tools installed just fine. Enjoy!
Click to expand...

Setting the "nosmep" kernel command line option that I mentioned above does essentially the same thing without having to re-compile anything. Most live CDs/installers let you modify the kernel command line options before launching.
 
Like everyone else, I'm experiencing the same problem with my Retina MBP. Today's "Retina" update to Parallels (ParallelsDesktop-7-1.0.15098.770637.dmg) didn't solve the problem.

VirtualBox, however, works just fine.
 
Just here to say having the same problem. Todays update... nothing.

As for Virtualbox, it works for me but performance is really bad. Tried various options with no luck.
 
Nice work ksmacneill.
SMEP (Supervisor Mode Execution Protection) was introduced in Ivy Bridge processors/architecture, and is likely the cause of these issues. Hopefully the Parallels team can get it fixed quickly!
 
I went through this same grief.
Ubuntu 11.10-server-amd64 provided no joy.
Ubuntu 11.04-server-amd64 installed first try.
 
Has anyone had luck using the nosmep kernel parameter? I've been away from Linux for about 7 years or so and am a bit rusty, so I may be doing this wrong--but I've been trying it by editing the grub entry on the latest kernel and adding it manually, with no luck.
 
robkore said:
Has anyone had luck using the nosmep kernel parameter? I've been away from Linux for about 7 years or so and am a bit rusty, so I may be doing this wrong--but I've been trying it by editing the grub entry on the latest kernel and adding it manually, with no luck.
Click to expand...

One thing that's a bit unintuitive is you need to boot from the modified line. When I started testing I would modify the line, then escape back out to the kernel selection menu and choose the kernel I wanted to boot (which I thought I'd modified). After you edit the kernel command line, hit escape once (to take you back to the entry you are working with), then hit "b" there to boot. If you escape out one menu further the changes are tossed.
 
I'm having the same problem with a 2012 Macbook Air and Parallels with Ubuntu 12.04 Server. I tried adding "nosmep" as a boot parameter on the install DVD (pressing F6, then adding it after the "--" - think that's correct?), but it had no effect. Ubuntu 11.10 Server doesn't seem to work either. I'll try 11.04.

Updated: 11.04 works fine.
 
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I'm on the new Retina MacBook Pro.

Fedora - nope.
Ubuntu 11 installed and ran, I didn't know what I was doing and upgraded to 12lts. - also nope.
Windows 8 also just leads to a reboot loop.
 
I tried the nosmep option with Fedora 17 x86_64 and no luck. Seems like I got lucky that that solved my problem for my CentOS 6 VM. Either way I suspect these issues are all related to the new functionality in the Intel processors and likely caused by the Parallels BIOS as these distros run fine directly on machines with Ive Bridge processors.
 
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