High RAM usage for VM

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DennisJ3

Bit poster
I have a Windows 10 ARM VM set to use 4GB of RAM. Immediately upon starting the VM, it's using 8GB of system memory. Is this normal?

upload_2021-5-10_9-55-50.png
 
Hi, having exactly the same issue!
I have tried allocating different amounts of memory and number of CPUs to experiment and makes no difference.
Worth noting that in Windows I am only running MS Teams (due to some quirks I have with the Mac version) and Task manager is showing the full 4/5gbs of RAM being used, and yet in resources in Task Manager nothing is using more then 400mb!
 
It would be really good to get on answer on this - I'm seeing the same thing even with a fresh VM and no apps installed. The memory values in task manager just don't add up to anywhere near the memory in use which is always 90%+ of what I've allocated to the VM.
 
This is a driver bug and it makes me crazy. In the last few days I tried a lot of different options without any success. The end result is always the same. See my attachment. The system got 8GB memory and more than 6GB used by "Driver locked".
Please fix this problem asap. Your software is too expensive to just install it and not use it at all. Currently, PD is totally useless on my M1 macbook.
 

Attachments

  • RamMap.png
    RamMap.png
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Hi Maria,

I didn't give up yet, and I really want to use windows on my M1 macbook. So I investigated more in this topic.
As I said earlier, this is a bug in your driver. I attached a video, where you can see the problem and a temporary workaround.
I just uninstalled the "Parallels Memory Controller" device in the "Device Manager" and it immediatelly released all of the occupied memory.
I know this is not the final solution and I'm sure there is a good reason why this device installed by "Parallels Tools".
But I can use the windows without this driver, it remains fast and stable after the uninstall.
Anyway, I'm looking for the real solution from you.

 
Received answer on a support ticket from employee Aydaskhan Asochakov that it's a normal behavior. Well, I disagree.
 
RolandB11 said:
Hi Maria,

I didn't give up yet, and I really want to use windows on my M1 macbook. So I investigated more in this topic.
As I said earlier, this is a bug in your driver. I attached a video, where you can see the problem and a temporary workaround.
I just uninstalled the "Parallels Memory Controller" device in the "Device Manager" and it immediatelly released all of the occupied memory.
I know this is not the final solution and I'm sure there is a good reason why this device installed by "Parallels Tools".
But I can use the windows without this driver, it remains fast and stable after the uninstall.
Anyway, I'm looking for the real solution from you.

Click to expand...

Thanks for this workaround - I've just done the same thing and my memory usage dropped from 98% to below 30%. Processes now appear to be reporting the correct memory usage in Task Manager too.
 
I have the same issue and workaround worked... but this is a bit much... I get that windows for ARM is a preview, but Linux is not, and we still don't have sound in Linux VMS. Come on Parallels, you are not cheap....
 
I have noticed that the Memory Tool reinstalls itself every time I restart the VM, does anyone have a more permanent solution than uninstalling with attempting to delete driver until Parallels fixes the issue?
 
RichardT22 said:
I have noticed that the Memory Tool reinstalls itself every time I restart the VM, does anyone have a more permanent solution than uninstalling with attempting to delete driver until Parallels fixes the issue?
Click to expand...

Yes, you can do it permanently. When you uninstall the driver in the Device Manager, mark the "Attempt to remove the driver for this device" checkbox, like I did in the video. In this case the Windows will delete the driver file as well and not able to reinstall it again.

And don't worry, if you reinstall the Parallels Tools, you will get back the driver again. But it is not recommended until they won't fix this huge memory leak bug.
 
RolandB11 said:
Yes, you can do it permanently. When you uninstall the driver in the Device Manager, mark the "Attempt to remove the driver for this device" checkbox, like I did in the video. In this case the Windows will delete the driver file as well and not able to reinstall it again.

And don't worry, if you reinstall the Parallels Tools, you will get back the driver again. But it is not recommended until they won't fix this huge memory leak bug.
Click to expand...

Thank you Roland,
I've been ticking the box as you have demonstrated but every time I have performance issues it appears to have found it's way back. Perhaps there has been some updates from Parallels which reinstalls it?
 
RichardT22 said:
Thank you Roland,
I've been ticking the box as you have demonstrated but every time I have performance issues it appears to have found it's way back. Perhaps there has been some updates from Parallels which reinstalls it?
Click to expand...

No, they don't have any new updates, unfortunatelly.
You can try manually delete this file: "C:\Windows\System32\drivers\prl_memdev.sys", after uninstall device.
Without this file the Windows unable to reinstall the device.
 
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