High CPU Usage Version 7 and 8

I had the same issue on my MBP 2.3 GHz i7 quad-core 10GB 1600MHz DDR3 Running OSx Mountain Lion v.10.8.4.
I changed the VM CPUs from 1 to 2 and bumped the RAM from 1GB to 2GB. I also changed the Optimization Performance from "faster virtual machine" to "faster Mac". I've been running this way for about 3 hours and my CPU usage has gone from 100% all the time down to about 8-12%. I still have spikes up to 100% when I open a new program, but I've been using Visual Studio for the last few hours and my machine is running better and staying cool. I'll update this if it changes, but is seems to be running well for now.
 
Just want to add my own input I've been working on the computer with this issue probably from day one. The performance of the computer isn't that bad, but the CPU utilization seem abnormally high for the little activity happening on the VM ( editing Word documents ). Also what really bugs me is the fact that the MBP fan runs full speed 100% of the within a few minutes starting the VM.

Recently I got the feeling it was relating maybe with the use of a secondary screen ( which I am using 90% of the time ) I might have seen someone saying similar on the forum.

Same happens on my MBP 2008 and this MBP 2011. I'm still using PD7
 
Same problem

When Paralles 8 running Win7 with Office 2010 on MBA ,the CPU Usage is very high .
I Just open it and don't do anything.

Please Help.

My Report ID is 28185950
 
Just upgraded to Parallels v9 and now my Win7 VM CPU utilization is over 100%. The fans on my MacBook Air are at max RPM and processor temperature goes up. This occurs by just opening the VM -- this did not occur for me under Parallels v8.
 
racerx1 said:
Just upgraded to Parallels v9 and now my Win7 VM CPU utilization is over 100%. The fans on my MacBook Air are at max RPM and processor temperature goes up. This occurs by just opening the VM -- this did not occur for me under Parallels v8.
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Could you please add 'vm.assert=1' boot flag to your VM (Virtual Machine -> Configure -> Hardware -> Boot Order). Boot the VM and open "Task Manager" in Windows.
Make sure you have high CPU usage, wait for a couple of minutes and generate problem report (Help -> Report a Problem). Please post its ID here.

Thanks in advance.
 
Alright, same problem here, 110 degress and 5500rpm fan speed, unacceptable. I am just downloading VMware Fusion. If it is not fixed withing 30 days, I will switch, permanently.
 
crusy79 said:
Same here: more than 100% CPU usage, see attached details

Any fix yet? Or do I have to go for vagrant finally?
Click to expand...

Please create a Problem Report (Help -> Report a Problem) when you're experiencing high CPU usage and post its ID here.
Please make sure both Mac's Activity Monitor and Windows' Task Manager are visible on the screen.
 
doonot said:
Alright, same problem here, 110 degress and 5500rpm fan speed, unacceptable. I am just downloading VMware Fusion. If it is not fixed withing 30 days, I will switch, permanently.
Click to expand...

Please create a Problem Report (Help -> Report a Problem) when you're experiencing high CPU usage and post its ID here.
Please make sure both Mac's Activity Monitor and Windows' Task Manager are visible on the screen.
 
pborzenkov said:
Please create a Problem Report (Help -> Report a Problem) when you're experiencing high CPU usage and post its ID here.
Please make sure both Mac's Activity Monitor and Windows' Task Manager are visible on the screen.
Click to expand...

My problem ID is 29947333.

Activity Monitor on Mac:

activity monitor mac.jpg

Windows Taskmanager:

Processes Windows.jpg

Windows CPU.jpg
 

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doonot said:
My problem ID is 29947333.
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The msmpeng.exe (Microsoft Malware Protection) process inside Windows consumes 100% of the CPU. That's what you see in Activity Monitor in Mac (100% consumed by PD due to this).

The problem has nothing to do with Parallels Desktop and is observed without PD (on real hardware):

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/...e/4b079063-e93a-4e80-935b-c1d7ee02a672?page=1
http://social.technet.microsoft.com...sing-so-much-cpu?forum=Forefrontclientgeneral

You need to contact Microsoft support to resolve it.
 
pborzenkov said:
Could you please add 'vm.assert=1' boot flag to your VM (Virtual Machine -> Configure -> Hardware -> Boot Order). Boot the VM and open "Task Manager" in Windows.
Make sure you have high CPU usage, wait for a couple of minutes and generate problem report (Help -> Report a Problem). Please post its ID here.

Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...

I had the same issue and wanted to give this a try and set the boot flag. When I started my Windows 7 the Parallels Tools were reinstalled and to my surprise the CPU usage on my Mac was now very low (average of 1% when Windows is idling in background and 7% when Windows is in foreground). Then I wanted to confirm that it had something to do with this boot flag and removed it again and the Parallels Tools were reinstalled again as well. But now CPU usage is still low even after doing some work. So maybe it was just something wrong with my previous installation of Parallels Tools?

Word of advice: During Parallels Tools installation Windows will ask you to reboot. Don't do that but wait until the installer finishes and then prompts you to reboot.

My setup:
  • MBPR 15" Mid 2012, 2,6GHz Core i7, 8GB RAM, Nvidia Geforce GT 650M 1024MB running OS X 10.8.5 (12F45)
  • Parallels Desktop 9.0.23136
  • Windows 7 Professional 64 bit (Build 7601) installed via Boot Camp and running from Boot Camp partition
  • 4 out of 8 cores assigned to VM
  • 2GB out of 8GB RAM assigned to VM
  • Hardware Video: 512MB out of 1024MB assigned to VM, DirectX 10 3D Acceleration, Vertical Synchronization enabled
  • Optimization Performance: Faster Mac, Adaptive Hypervisor enabled, Windows tuned for speed
  • Optimization Power: Better performance
  • using Window View

Hope this may help someone as this CPU usage thing was really annoying.

edit: Added screenshot of Activity Monitor showing my now nicely running PD.

Activity_Monitor.png
 
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Seeing something similar now myself.
New 2013 Macbook pro, 15", 16GB Ram, 512GB HD, Iris Pro & 750M GPUs.
Using Win8.1 in a VM with 8 cores dedicated and 2GB RAM.
Dont have Adapative Hypervisor enabled as I tend to leave the VM in the background converting audio recordings. I recently up'ed it to have access to 8 cores as processing speed is much improved however when idle, Im not seeing 20-25% Mac CPU utilisation even when the VM is completely idle.
 

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I'm also suspicious that something is going on with the kernel_task utilisation as well, not sure if thats related. I can run my mac for 24 hours and not see it rise above a few % but run the Windows VM and shortly afterwards it is at 5 then 10 then 20 then 25%. I'm going to test under some other combinations see if I can narrow it down or verify its linked.
 
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pborzenkov said:
The msmpeng.exe (Microsoft Malware Protection) process inside Windows consumes 100% of the CPU. That's what you see in Activity Monitor in Mac (100% consumed by PD due to this).

The problem has nothing to do with Parallels Desktop and is observed without PD (on real hardware):

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/...e/4b079063-e93a-4e80-935b-c1d7ee02a672?page=1
http://social.technet.microsoft.com...sing-so-much-cpu?forum=Forefrontclientgeneral

You need to contact Microsoft support to resolve it.
Click to expand...

FWIW, I have noticed super high CPU usage ever since I replaced Windows XP with Windows 8 and, recently, Windows 8.1. I have always traced this straightaway to either Microsoft's anti-malware activity or an update procedure of some sort running in the background. If one is having this, it seems to me that suspending the machine should reduce the CPU usage if it is a Windows issue; if not, then it would seem to likely be a Parallels issue.
 
Same issue for me on an iMac and a MacBookAir with Mavericks and Windows 8.1...
It's very annoying, but even more annoying the silence by Parallels...
If it doesn't get fixed soon, I will switch back to the competitor.
 
Specimen said:
I asked about Task Manager in Windows, the processes tab, to be more specific.

The threads that date back to 2007 are not necessarily related.
Click to expand...

In my case, the dwm.exe is the highest (over 80%) CPU user in the processes. Whatever I tried so far, it happens and really frustrating.
 
CengizT said:
In my case, the dwm.exe is the highest (over 80%) CPU user in the processes. Whatever I tried so far, it happens and really frustrating.
Click to expand...

Sorry to hear that, but that is a problem in Windows, unlikely related to Parallels.

To understand dwm.exe a bit better: http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-vista/what-is-dwmexe-and-why-is-it-running/

That problem is not specific to Parallels or VMs: http://social.technet.microsoft.com...of-cpu-when-machine-is-idle?forum=w8itproperf
 
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