Major performance issues with PD9 / Mavericks / Windows 8.1 VM

[ozsmac]

I'm a new user of PD9, having recently moved over from years running Fusion. I'm now thinking this is a mistake, first I have the "Not Responding" bug, where the VM process shows in red as not responding in activity monitor. I logged a helpdesk call with Parallels, only to be asked to re-install Parallels several times and with different processes. They then told me the only way to fix the issue is for them to remote access my MacBook to fix, something that I'm not at all comfortable about. Support suggested that the issue is cosmetic, so I decided to see if I could live with it for a while.

Every since, I've seen inexplicable CPU usage by the core VM process, beyond what I would expect for my Virtual Machine that largely is idle (my main use is outlook, in full screen mode, also window mode from time to time). I've taken the liberty of grabbing a few screen shots, see PDF file attached. A re-boot of my MacBook Air (2012 SSD) clears the problem for an hour or so, then my fans start and I know that my VM is once again having issues.

I never once had this type of issue with Fusion.

Can anyone recommend some options, I've even built a fresh Windows VM and see the same thing on two different virtual machines. I've also tried the change boot device as per knowledge base, however didn't see the CPU issue during boot.

My only thought now is to submit a refund request and move back to Fusion.

PS - The attach file option is not working, just see the File Upload Manager in an additional Chrome window, can't click anything & have a progress wheel in the top right hand corner that repeats. Here are the images posted a separate objects instead:

 

[ozsmac]

I have tried to upload the file in OSX using Chrome, Safari and Firefox. Also in Windows using Chrome and Internet Explorer. All situations end up with the following window, with an ever circling wheel of trouble.

Seriously Parallels, what is going on.

At least I can upload an image, sadly not anything else.

 

[ozsmac]

Just one more picture to post, not sure if this might be relevant, however the number of "Recent Hangs" seems high? I've check some other processes and nothing else has any listed, they are incrementing quite frequently, about one every 10 seconds or so. It's now up to 247 just in the last minute I've written this post.

 

[ozsmac]

I've just had a reply from Parallels support on my trouble ticket, not sure if I can post the whole exchange here as I suspect I'd be breaking some rules, so here is a summary.

Support: I understand that you still have the issues which is VM Not responding showing up in Activity Monitor. In order to fix this issue, Kindly create new Virtual Machine with Windows and map the existing hard drive as secondary hard drive into newly created Virtual Machine. Note : kindly follow 'Version b' mentioned in the KB article : http://kb.parallels.com/en/7096

Me: So sorry, your suggestion is for me to re-install Windows into a newly created VM instance, then copy my data over? Do I need to stress once again that this is a fresh Windows install from ISO disk, not an import? If this is the only path of support you can provide, to just keep on removing and adding components until the problem is resolved, I would like to formally ask for a refund of my purchase, as this product is not fit for purpose and certainly not supportable in the field.

So just to confirm, after the typical un-install Parallels and re-install, following the process outlined below that I confirmed with them left no further avenue of approach, the only suggestion on trying to fix this is to create a brand new VM, install a brand new copy of Windows, then migrate my data back. I'm lost for words, if support for Parallels is re-install every time, this is not a product that is ready for any kind of real use in the real world where people rely on working systems for employment. I've asked for my money back unless they can suggest something else, I was looking forward to becoming a happy Parallels customer after many years of somewhat boring VMWare Fusion, but looks like this is not possible.





1 - Shutdown Parallels and shutdown laptop
2 - Power on laptop, allow it to boot, then un-install both Parallels Desktop (without letting it run at all)
3 - Clear trash
4 - Reboot machine
5 - Re-install Parallels Desktop
6 - Reboot machine
7 - Start Parallels and confirm issue still exists

So obviously it’s nothing to do with re-installation of the Parallels Desktop product.

Hoping that you can give me some further guidance.



PS - Just to confirm that even with the VM at a low CPU state, the issue still exists:

 

[ozsmac]

So I decided to do a test, I downloaded VMWare Fusion 6 (the 30 day trial) and imported the exact same VM from that I'm using in Parallels. I let it boot and stabilise for 10 minutes, I'm now seeing a very different situation with CPU utilisation. Perhaps I'm missing something, however this does seem to indicate that we have some kind of problem with Parallels, rather than my guest OS install?

Note that I'm seeing no "Recent Hangs" in the information page of the process in Activity Monitor, I'm certainly no expert at OSX process status information, however can't help but feel this is a big hint at a problem?

 

[ozsmac]

I've decided to no longer pursue this issue & sadly will be moving back to another virtualisation option for OSX. Hope that anyone else finding these issues has better luck with a fix than I did.

 

[RandallA]

Thanks for posting this. I was also having serious performance issues. Nice to hear the VMware works for you. I'll be going in that direction too. Sad that after being a customer for so many years that Parallels direction seems to have changed to the hosting side of software and left the rest of us to rot on the vine.... buh bye Parallels.