Parallels Desktop freeze

J

johnnyn1

Bit poster
Gents,
I am running parallels (latest version) on my macpro (late 2013, latest OSX updated), 32 gb ram and quadcore cpu. Parallels run alone, no other sw than the OS is running.

Every now and then; once a day or more, Parallels desktop UI hangs and I get the spinning ball. The normal OSX interface is responding and I can start Activity Monitor etc, but Parallels is not responding - sometimes it comes back and I can gracefully shut it down and reboot. Thats the only thing that clears this issue.

I can see that the guest OS (windows 7) is running and doing what I set it to do, but I cant access it. Sometimes when I click on the desktop, activity monitor or the console the Parallels UI returns. In the logs I see that screen display updates (osx WindowServer) are having issues with Parallels UI updates; the logs contains messages like: "UI updates were finally reenabled/disabled" and so on.

Any good ideas ? I can shoot up a clip of the actual messages in the logs if needed.


/johnny
 
Hi Johny,
Please set the boot argument on the Mac to workaround the issue:
1. Run Terminal (/Finder/Applications/Utilities/Terminal.app) and execute the command:
sudo nvram boot-args="debug=0x10"
You will need to type Mac Administrator password and hit Enter (return) (you will not see the symbols you type. It's OK.)
This command enables the debugging mode. It means that if Mac crashes it will attempt to collect the kernel dump. It will not affect the Mac performance.
2. Reboot your Mac and let us know how it works. Thanks!
 
Hi Paul Chris, I enabled it - no issues :) The mac does not crash, but I think the WindowServer does. What do I do when I experience the above mentioned Parallels UI hang ?

/johnny
 
Hi Johnnyn1,
Go to Actions > Configure > Options > Optimization > disable Free Space: Real-time Virtual Disk Optimization.
If the "Real-time Virtual Disk Optimization" option is enabled, it may slow disk performance up to 30% (at the moment of compaction, not constantly). If the host has an SSD disk, the feature will be enabled by default for all virtual machines but will work only if it is compatible with the guest OS.
Open virtual machine configuration > switch to Options tab > Optimization tab > Set performance to Faster virtual machine; check Enable adaptive hypervisor and Tune Windows for speed. If you're not running on battery power, you can also turn on the Better performance option.
 
Hi Paul
My MacPro does not have any battery - and only comes with a SSD... and better performance is selected. It is not the performance I am chasing here, it is the fact that Parallels kills the OS or vice versa. So, I enabled the debug settings, removed the disk optimisation from the VM's.

I've had several occasions where my MacPro crashes when Parallels is starting up. Parallels starts when logging on and on a number of logins the whole OS freezes when Parallels powers up the VM's. The mouse is active, but thats it - the OS and Parallels is frozen. Power cycle is the only thing that can resolve it.

Now, what can I get you from the Mac ?


/johnny
 
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