Parallels 12 + Windows 10 = High CPU usage

P

PaulS16

Bit poster
After upgrading to Parallels 12, my Windows 10 VM is using around 110-220% CPU in macOS (Activity Monitor). It's roasting my CPU to 212-219F. Even with coolers running at 5940/5500RPM.
I'm running macOS Sierra 10.12.1 (16B2555) and Parallels 12.0.2 (41353) on a top end Retina Macbook Pro from 2013 (2.7GHz i7, 16GB DDR3, 500GB SSD, GF GT650M).

I have tried to reinstall Parallels Tools as described here: http://kb.parallels.com/en/123268
Tried to create a new VM and use the same image: http://kb.parallels.com/eu/116263
Adding boot flag to disable usb mouse: https://forum.parallels.com/threads...erformance-windows-10-au-parallels-12.338065/

Uinstalling Parallels Tools lowers the VM's CPU usage to 4-30%!
Obviously there's a problem with Parallels Tools for Parallels 12.

Thoughts, ideas?
 
Last edited:
Hi PaulS16,
Reinstall Parallels power plan:
1. Uninstall Parallels Tools:
Click Start > Control Panel > Programs and Features (Add or Remove programs in Windows XP).
Locate Parallels Tools and click Uninstall.
Reboot virtual machine.
2. Delete Parallels power plan:
Open Power Options by clicking Start > Control Panel > System and Security > Power Options.
Make a different plan the active plan, e.g. Power saver.
Under Parallels plan, click Change plan settings.
On the Change settings for the plan: Parallels page, click Delete this plan.
When prompted, click OK and then reinstall Parallels Tools and let us know how it works.
 
PaulChris@Parallels said:
Hi PaulS16,
Reinstall Parallels power plan:
1. Uninstall Parallels Tools:
Click Start > Control Panel > Programs and Features (Add or Remove programs in Windows XP).
Locate Parallels Tools and click Uninstall.
Reboot virtual machine.
2. Delete Parallels power plan:
Open Power Options by clicking Start > Control Panel > System and Security > Power Options.
Make a different plan the active plan, e.g. Power saver.
Under Parallels plan, click Change plan settings.
On the Change settings for the plan: Parallels page, click Delete this plan.
When prompted, click OK and then reinstall Parallels Tools and let us know how it works.
Click to expand...
Hi Paul,
I've already tried that (described here as well: http://kb.parallels.com/eu/123268) without any results.
 
After reading Edwards workaround on: https://forum.parallels.com/threads/100-disk-usage-parallels-11-for-mac-pro.331073/ i digged a bit deeper.
After booting Windows, Parallels Control Center is making a lot of disk i/o operations. It persists around 5min, to then drop, but rise again short after.

I found out if I disable Windows Share, the disk operations go down and the CPU usage drops dramatically - back to normal.
Looks like there is a problem here that needs to be addressed/worked on.

How to:
Go into Options > Sharing > Share Windows and uncheck "Access Windows folders from Mac"
OXl8lts.png
 
@PaulS16,

EXACTLY the same for me. New install of Parallels 12 on a MacBook Pro with a 260Gb Fusion VM converted (my main dev VM). The Win 10 CPU usage was pegged at 100%. The MacOS Sierra CPU at around 70% system and 16% user. This is all at idle. Got rid of Access Windows folder from Mac and Win 10 CPU usage 2% (yes two percent) at idle and MacOS Sierra CPU usage at 9.4%. That is a staggering difference.

There really is a MAJOR defect in parallels 12 with the access windows folder from mac option.

Kevin
 
Pierre-NicolasL said:
@Paul16 and @KevinB7 > Same trouble here.
MacBook Pro 2011 / 16 GB RAM / SSD. About 150% CPU used by my Windows 10 VM running nothing. Fan running full speed.
Click to expand...

@Pierre-NicolasL
The solution for me was quite simple (although parallels haven't recognised it as a defect yet). Do as in my previous post (I followed what Paul16 has suggested and his comprehensive 'how to', thanks Paul16):

Got rid of Access Windows folder from Mac and Win 10 CPU usage 2% (yes two percent) at idle and MacOS Sierra CPU usage at 9.4%. That is a staggering difference.
​
That is the culprit (or at least was in my case). The system seems to be thrashing constantly trying to see if anything has changed in the Windows world. Give that a try.

Cheers,
Kevin
 
KevinB7 said:
@PaulS16,

EXACTLY the same for me. New install of Parallels 12 on a MacBook Pro with a 260Gb Fusion VM converted (my main dev VM). The Win 10 CPU usage was pegged at 100%. The MacOS Sierra CPU at around 70% system and 16% user. This is all at idle. Got rid of Access Windows folder from Mac and Win 10 CPU usage 2% (yes two percent) at idle and MacOS Sierra CPU usage at 9.4%. That is a staggering difference.

There really is a MAJOR defect in parallels 12 with the access windows folder from mac option.

Kevin
Click to expand...
I agree. Sadly no one from Parallels is communicating back.
 
I'm using Parallels 11 on Sierra. I have done every suggested fix: disabling Windows sharing (my virtual Windows machine is now 'isolated'), deleting the power profile, reinstalling Parallels Tools, disabling all file indexing in Windows. After every reboot, without starting any Windows programs--soon it's back up to using 100% CPU on my Mac.

The only thing that makes a difference is to stop the Windows Update process (start Task Manager, go to Services tab, right-click on wuauserv and Stop Process). In the Processes tab the svchost.exe process goes from 50% CPU to zero and System Idle goes to 99%. The Windows machine process on the Mac goes from over 100% to a single digit, usually 3 or 4%.

Disabling Windows updates ("Never check for updates") seems to accomplish this. I had to reboot after setting.
 
ScottOl said:
I'm using Parallels 11 on Sierra. I have done every suggested fix: disabling Windows sharing (my virtual Windows machine is now 'isolated'), deleting the power profile, reinstalling Parallels Tools, disabling all file indexing in Windows. After every reboot, without starting any Windows programs--soon it's back up to using 100% CPU on my Mac.

The only thing that makes a difference is to stop the Windows Update process (start Task Manager, go to Services tab, right-click on wuauserv and Stop Process). In the Processes tab the svchost.exe process goes from 50% CPU to zero and System Idle goes to 99%. The Windows machine process on the Mac goes from over 100% to a single digit, usually 3 or 4%.

Disabling Windows updates ("Never check for updates") seems to accomplish this. I had to reboot after setting.
Click to expand...
Hi ScottOl, please quit Parallels Desktop, launch Terminal.app on the Mac. and execute the commands in Terminal window separately (one by one):
Note: you will be asked to enter your Mac password and hit Enter to continue, it will not be seen in Terminal window due to security measures.
sudo rm -rf /Library/Preferences/Parallels/network.desktop.xml
sudo killall -9 prl_naptd
Start Parallels Desktop and check if the issue persists or not.
 
Just wanted to say that I'm having the same issues. Has anyone gotten any further?
MBP mid 2012 2.7 i7 16gb ram, Sierra 10.12.4
NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M 1024 MB
Parallels 12.2.0
I've turn off Windows folder Sharing, deleted the power plan and reinstalled Tools, run the terminal commands to delete the network.desktop.xml all as described above and so far nothing is working. Windows 10 process in Mac begins using about 20-40% CPU with nothing running and eventually spikes over 100%.
Help, Parallels support, my Mac is melting.
 
JoshuaW2 said:
Just wanted to say that I'm having the same issues. Has anyone gotten any further?
MBP mid 2012 2.7 i7 16gb ram, Sierra 10.12.4
NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M 1024 MB
Parallels 12.2.0
I've turn off Windows folder Sharing, deleted the power plan and reinstalled Tools, run the terminal commands to delete the network.desktop.xml all as described above and so far nothing is working. Windows 10 process in Mac begins using about 20-40% CPU with nothing running and eventually spikes over 100%.
Help, Parallels support, my Mac is melting.
Click to expand...
Hello JoshuaW2, please try the below steps and keep us posted:
1.Quit from Parallels Desktop
2. Open Terminal.app and

execute these commands:

cd /Users/username/Library/Logs/CrashReporter

tar czf ~/Desktop/MobileDevice.tgz MobileDevice

mv MobileDevice MobileDevice.old

where username is the name of your Mac user.

3. Open Parallels Desktop and check the issue
 
Swati@Parallels said:
Hello JoshuaW2, please try the below steps and keep us posted:
1.Quit from Parallels Desktop
2. Open Terminal.app and

execute these commands:

cd /Users/username/Library/Logs/CrashReporter

tar czf ~/Desktop/MobileDevice.tgz MobileDevice

mv MobileDevice MobileDevice.old

where username is the name of your Mac user.

3. Open Parallels Desktop and check the issue
Click to expand...

Done. No change.
 
PaulS16 said:
After reading Edwards workaround on: https://forum.parallels.com/threads/100-disk-usage-parallels-11-for-mac-pro.331073/ i digged a bit deeper.
After booting Windows, Parallels Control Center is making a lot of disk i/o operations. It persists around 5min, to then drop, but rise again short after.

I found out if I disable Windows Share, the disk operations go down and the CPU usage drops dramatically - back to normal.
Looks like there is a problem here that needs to be addressed/worked on.

How to:
Go into Options > Sharing > Share Windows and uncheck "Access Windows folders from Mac"
OXl8lts.png
Click to expand...

This is the first thing I tried, and it worked! Thanks for saving my sanity!

I'm running macOS Sierra 10.12.5, Parallels 11.2.3, Windows 10 VM on a MacBook Pro. The problem is fairly recent. I'm not sure what changed when the problem started because I only run it once or twice a month.
 
JoshuaW2 said:
Done. No change.
Click to expand...
Hi @JoshuaW2, please back up your virtual machine or create a snapshot before following the troubleshooting steps mentioned below:
please shut down your Windows virtual machine and open VM config (configure -> Hardware -> Boot Order -> Advanced Settings -> Boot flags):
devices.hdd.fsync=3
After setting the boot flag, please check to work with the VM for a while and to reply us back with your feedback: whether it helped or not, how it works.
 
LisaN2 said:
This is the first thing I tried, and it worked! Thanks for saving my sanity!

I'm running macOS Sierra 10.12.5, Parallels 11.2.3, Windows 10 VM on a MacBook Pro. The problem is fairly recent. I'm not sure what changed when the problem started because I only run it once or twice a month.
Click to expand...
Hi @LisaN2, that's awesome! Please let us know if you have any questions and we are here to help!
 
For the record, I had this problem. I saw the solution about disabling windows sharing with mac, and applied that. My problem was instantly fixed.
This is definitely a bad bug recently introduced into Parallels.
 
PaulS16 said:
After reading Edwards workaround on: https://forum.parallels.com/threads/100-disk-usage-parallels-11-for-mac-pro.331073/ i digged a bit deeper.
After booting Windows, Parallels Control Center is making a lot of disk i/o operations. It persists around 5min, to then drop, but rise again short after.

I found out if I disable Windows Share, the disk operations go down and the CPU usage drops dramatically - back to normal.
Looks like there is a problem here that needs to be addressed/worked on.
Click to expand...

This does also dose not work for me. MacBook Pro 15" (2014 mid) + Parallels 12.2.1 + Windows 10.
 
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