Coherence Issues in 5160

E

eon

Junior Member
I'm having real problems with Coherence in Build 5160. I've gone through several threads reporting these issues, and I've tried several of the remedies, none of which have worked. Here's my issue and sequence of events.

I updated to Build 5160 on Wednesday morning. WHen I launch Windows the first time after updating, the Parallels Tools installer runs, and I let it complete and then reboot immediately. Right away, I noticed that while in Coherence, I cannot get application windows to move to the foreground when I click on them after having a Mac app open. I can get the Windows taskbar to operate fine, but even opening new apps with new windows does not have the new windows come to the foreground. I skimmed the forum and fond a reference to uninstalling and reinstalling Parallels Tools, so I did. Since I'd also been having some issues with the shared clipboard before updating, I thought this wasn't a bad idea anyway. No change.

Next thread I found made mention of upping the memory allocation to the video in the VM settings, so I upped the RAM allocation to video from 32MB to 64MB. Again, no change. Next I found the thread that mentioned turning on the Group Windows settings in the Coherence settings. Tried that, no love.

I'm running Build 5160 on a Mac Mini with a 1.66GHz Core Duo processor and 2GB of RAM. Mac OS is running 10.4.10. Running Windows XP SP2 in the VM with 768MB of RAM allocated to the VM. XP is up to date with the latest security updates from MS. Same with the host Mac OS.

I've had to go back to running Parallels in single window mode to make the system usable again. I'm seriously tempted to drop back to the last build, but wanted to see if there were any other suggestions for getting Coherence back running as expected again.

Thanks.

-Eriq
 
I continue to have the same issue. My patience with Parallels is wearing thin. This is the sort of problem that should have been resolved in beta. Now that they pushed out a new version that has a fairly problematic bug that has at least three threads in the forums, where's the official response? A "we're working on it" would be nice, if they're not yet ready to release a fix.

I always roll my eyes when I see people play the "I'm switching over to your competitor" card, but here I am. I have several Windows applications that I depend on every day. Parallels jumped the gun and pushed out a version that is, as far as I'm concerned, broken. Browsing the forums, it's clear to me that customer service is not a priority.

Maybe it's time to give VMware Fusion a try.
 
Coherence Window Layering

Hello,

I have been having this problem as well. I have had this issue with every version of the Beta and the latest release.

I have tried the same fixes that were mentioned and had not luck. It does seem to be somewhat intermittent. Sometimes this issue will go away for short periods of time but will return in the same session.

Mike
 
Hi,

To fix the problem please enable "Group all Coherence windows" option ON in the VM Configuration->Coherence.

Alexander
 
Hi Alex,

I can't do that. I don't have that option...This is what I have:
coherence.png


I've reinstalled Parallels Tools, and this is still what I'm getting.
 
alexg said:
Hi,

To fix the problem please enable "Group all Coherence windows" option ON in the VM Configuration->Coherence.

Alexander
Click to expand...

Alexander -

As I mentioned in my initial post, I have already turned on that checkbox, and still have the issue. I have also gone back and unchecked, started Parallels, shut down, rechecked, and I still have the issue.

On a side note, the Windows application windows will *eventually* come to the foreground. I've put a timer to it a couple of times. Shortest time I've recorded thus far is 93 second. With all of the "improvements" to Coherence, this is a significant step backward.

I was fine working with Parallels in a windowed environment before Coherence was released. After I gained the performance benefits of Coherence, it's very hard to go back.

I have been looking at Fusion (http://msmvps.com/blogs/onq/archive/2007/08/19/on-bullheadedness.aspx) and I may have to give it another very serious look. Or just give up and go back to the previous build of Parallels, if I can track down that installer.

I'd much rather just figure out how to get the performance back to what it was without reverting to downgrading Parallels, but it's really, really becoming an issue. I'd greatly appreciate any other insight you can offer.

Thanks!

-Eriq
 
BrennanBones said:
Hi Alex,

I can't do that. I don't have that option...This is what I have:
coherence.png


I've reinstalled Parallels Tools, and this is still what I'm getting.
Click to expand...

Brennan -

You can only find the option for Group All Coherence Windows when you have the guest OS shut off and you're editing the Coherence settings. When you look at the Coherence settings under View with the VM powered on, you can't get to the option.

-Eriq
 
Alex,

I also have this problem, and I also have tried the solution that has been proposed.

What I have observed is that, if I click that checkbox, parallels z order works properly in coherence mode *until* I sleep the laptop.

After I sleep the laptop and restart, clicking a windows app inside of coherence mode no longer brings it to the front, regardless of the status of that box.
 
When I press F11 in Coherence mode, all apps move away from the desktop as expected. When I press F11 again, they go back to where they were, with the selected and active Windows app window behind the Mac app windoes. Same thing when I press F9 - it arranges all the open windows in the tile view, but when I select the Windows app to bring to the foreground, all the apps return to their previous location, with the selected and active Windows app still living behind the most recently-used Mac app window.

I can definitely tell that Coherence has changed in this version, because I am seeing Windows app windows layered inbetween the Mac app Windows, whereas before all the Windows windows were in the same layer between Mac apps. Now if I could just get the active Windows app to actually display in the foreground.

Back to Single Window mode again... *sigh*

-Eriq
 
Hi Eriq,

Try do the following: Open some Windows applications in Coherence. Switch to any Mac application. Click on the Parallels Desktop icon in the Dock to bring all Coherence windows to front. Hide Parallels Desktop using Command+H key combination. Click on Parallels Desktop icon in Dock once again. Switch to Mac application and try to select any Windows application's window to bring it to front.

Thank you for your help
Alexander
 
Alex -

Followed the steps you outlined. Was able to bring all Parallels windows to the foreground by clicking on the Parallels icon in the Dock. Hid Parallels. Clicked on the Parallels icon in the dock, which brought all Windows apps to the foreground. Clicked on several Mac apps, then clicked on a Window (IE specifically) and IE came to teh foreground but was still hidden by the Mac app (terminal).

I went through the process again, only this time when I clicked on the Parallels icon in the Dock, the windows did not come to the front. Hiding Parallels and bring it forward again does not affect the display of the Windows apps.

If anything, switching between Windwos app windows only in Parallels/Coherence is actually slower in this build than it was in the previous build. Switching apps while in Single Window mode is much, much faster.

-Eriq
 
alexg said:
Hi Eriq,

Try do the following: Open some Windows applications in Coherence. Switch to any Mac application. Click on the Parallels Desktop icon in the Dock to bring all Coherence windows to front. Hide Parallels Desktop using Command+H key combination. Click on Parallels Desktop icon in Dock once again. Switch to Mac application and try to select any Windows application's window to bring it to front.

Thank you for your help
Alexander
Click to expand...

Alex,

I tried this proposed fix (even though I'm not named Eriq), and it seems to work. From what i can tell though, I have to go through the whole sequence any time I want to select a windows app e.g. it's not a one time thing.

So under previous parallel's build, to select a windows app I had to:

Step 1: Click on it.

Under 5160, I have to:

Step 1: Click on desktop
Step 2: CTRL-H
Step 3: Click on windows app

Is this something that's being treated as a bug and going to be fixed (which would be nice), or is the workaround you're describing the new desired behavior?
 
Hi,

Thank you very much. A have not desctibed the fix. It is a bug. I can not reproduce the issue on my computers thus I have asked you to help me to understand the problem.

Alexander
 
External display dependent?

Hi,

I'm also seeing the described coherence issues. I run a MacBook Pro with an external display. When running parallels without the external display connected coherence seems to work OK, however running parallels on the external display has all the issues described in this thread. Hope this helps.

- Chris
 
I also have the problem.
I'm also on a macbook pro if that helps. One other note is that the problem doesn't seem to occurr until after I sleep the laptop. That might be a red herring though e.g. maybe it just takes a while to occurr and I don't usually notice it until I sleep.
 
alexg said:
Hi,

Thank you very much. A have not desctibed the fix. It is a bug. I can not reproduce the issue on my computers thus I have asked you to help me to understand the problem.

Alexander
Click to expand...

Alex -

I will be more than happy to set up a remote session into my system so you can see the behavior and look at settings/specs/whatever. Please contact me off-line if you would be able/willing to do this.

-Eriq
 
I am also seeing this issue on my MacBook Pro. I do not know if putting my MBP to sleep is part of the cause or not. I have turned on "Group all windows" to see if this improves things.
 
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