Last night I brought up an older XP system for the first time. I had migrated it from an old computer. Windows immediately started the Genuine Windows program and shortly there after, Parallels re-installed Parallels Tools. Both jobs ran simultaneously and took forever to complete. My guess is that this is the root of the problem. Since then, I have had really poor performance on the main XP VM and have not tried the other one. I have limited access to My Computer to see the C: drive and files stored there. The flashlight appears and goes on forever before returning the normal screen. If I select the C: drive, the same thing occurs with the flashlight. I get numerous failures that MY Computer is not responding. Once I got an error that \\.PSF\Home\Desktop is not accessible and I might not have permission to use this network resource. I have not seen this error since, but performance is really slow and it takes forever to get to the C: drive if at all. I did a control alt delete and saw that CPU utilization is very high, especially for Prlcc.exe and System. To top this off, I started getting an error with Symantec when shutting down. The error says that there is a disk in the floppy drive. Then SMCGUI.exe comes up as not responding, followed by Explore.exe not responding as well. I have re-booted the MAC, but it did not change anything. On boot of the VM, XP takes a real long time to come up and load personal settings. If I do a control alt delete at that point, I see that Prlcc.exe and system again have very high utilization and the Searchfilterhost.exe has zero utilization, but it is always way up on the list of processes. Any ideas as to how to fix this? Before last night, perofrmance was near native for XP. thank you
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Poor performance and problems with My Computer
- Thread starter PatrickP
- Start date
First of all, try uninstalling Symantec anti-virus and see if that helps. This is especially true if you have more than one anti-virus installed in Windows currently. There should always be no more than one and for the test purposes it would be even better if no anti-virus is installed.
Also, check that there is enough free space on a C:\ drive.
Increase the virtual memory, if needed.
Try switching to one CPU in Parallels Configure -> Hardware -> CPU. (if you had 2). For some people, setting this number to 2 has helped as well.
Also, check that there is enough free space on a C:\ drive.
Increase the virtual memory, if needed.
Try switching to one CPU in Parallels Configure -> Hardware -> CPU. (if you had 2). For some people, setting this number to 2 has helped as well.
Still having a problem
I removed Symantec and that only seemed to cure the disk in floppy drive issue.
It took 15 minutes for the My Computer application to open and show the C: drive. It found the D; drive and the other options after about 10 minutes. CPU Utilization was between 55 and 75% for Prl_cc.exe during this time and System took up the rest so that overall CPU Utilization was pegged at 100%.
I then removed Parallels Tools by going to Add/delete programs in XP.
I rebooted into the XP VM without Parallels Tools. I could open My Computer and find the C: drive instantaneously, but had to live with the mouse limitations of not having Parallels Tools.
I then shut down and rebooted and opened the option to install Parallels Tools before I lost the Mouse. Parallels installed. I gave up after 10 minutes on opening My Computer and seeing any icons. CPU Utilization was between 55 and 75% for Prl_cc.exe during this time and overall pegged at 100%, but I still had a mouse. I opened up Internet Explorer with both Shared and Bridged connections and both worked, but it took at least 2 minutes for a Window to open, probably due to the 100% CPU Utilization.
It appears that Parallels Tools is corrupted. Any ideas as to how to fix this and get the system performing again? Is there a better way to install it? I did check the other VM I have and it worked very well, so it appears that the problem is limited to this XP VM. I would like to get this fixed before I send my son off to college this weekend. One last thing, the original corruption could have been caused when I inserted a Sandisk USB flash drive into the system the other night. I chose Guest on the popup, but the system seemed to hang on the U3 Sandisk software. I tried to open My Computer and the system crashed. I believe that is where Parallels Tools got hosed. Any ideas as to how to fix Parallels Tools?
I removed Symantec and that only seemed to cure the disk in floppy drive issue.
It took 15 minutes for the My Computer application to open and show the C: drive. It found the D; drive and the other options after about 10 minutes. CPU Utilization was between 55 and 75% for Prl_cc.exe during this time and System took up the rest so that overall CPU Utilization was pegged at 100%.
I then removed Parallels Tools by going to Add/delete programs in XP.
I rebooted into the XP VM without Parallels Tools. I could open My Computer and find the C: drive instantaneously, but had to live with the mouse limitations of not having Parallels Tools.
I then shut down and rebooted and opened the option to install Parallels Tools before I lost the Mouse. Parallels installed. I gave up after 10 minutes on opening My Computer and seeing any icons. CPU Utilization was between 55 and 75% for Prl_cc.exe during this time and overall pegged at 100%, but I still had a mouse. I opened up Internet Explorer with both Shared and Bridged connections and both worked, but it took at least 2 minutes for a Window to open, probably due to the 100% CPU Utilization.
It appears that Parallels Tools is corrupted. Any ideas as to how to fix this and get the system performing again? Is there a better way to install it? I did check the other VM I have and it worked very well, so it appears that the problem is limited to this XP VM. I would like to get this fixed before I send my son off to college this weekend. One last thing, the original corruption could have been caused when I inserted a Sandisk USB flash drive into the system the other night. I chose Guest on the popup, but the system seemed to hang on the U3 Sandisk software. I tried to open My Computer and the system crashed. I believe that is where Parallels Tools got hosed. Any ideas as to how to fix Parallels Tools?
Resolved the issue by changing the environment for installing Parallels Tools
I could see that the XP VM worked great as long as Parallels Tools were not installed. The minute they were, Prl_cc.exe and System.exe took 100% of CPU. After reading through a number of Posts, I got an idea that maybe the problem was the way Parallels Tools was being installed. I did the following and it seemed to clear up the problem:
1) Deleted Parallels Tools InXP Add Remove Programs.
2) Rebooted and checked that system performed well and that there was very low processor Utilization in Windows Task Manager
3) Removed check on shared disk from Devices on Parallels control bar (sorry, can't remember the exact name and my son took his MacBook to school, but ii is on the bar at the top of the screen).
4) Rebooted XP VM- I might have been able to skip this step, but over time, I have found XP reboots to clean things up
5) Reinstalled Parallels Tools
6) Checked that everything was working well and saw very low processor Utilization in Windows Task Manager
7) Rebooted XP VM and it has remained working great.
It appears to me that the Parallels Tools process should check to see if the Shared Disk option is checked and if so uncheck it before installing Parallels Tools, then run a process to re-check the option after the Tools are installed. I have seen this same type of issue before in XP, where the install process cannot handle re-installing an option if it is checked already. You can't use the shared disk without the Tools, so it seems that if they are installed with the option already checked from a prior install, the system does not know how to handle it.
I am also concerned that the Sandisk U3 software could corrupt a working Parallels Tools environment.
I could see that the XP VM worked great as long as Parallels Tools were not installed. The minute they were, Prl_cc.exe and System.exe took 100% of CPU. After reading through a number of Posts, I got an idea that maybe the problem was the way Parallels Tools was being installed. I did the following and it seemed to clear up the problem:
1) Deleted Parallels Tools InXP Add Remove Programs.
2) Rebooted and checked that system performed well and that there was very low processor Utilization in Windows Task Manager
3) Removed check on shared disk from Devices on Parallels control bar (sorry, can't remember the exact name and my son took his MacBook to school, but ii is on the bar at the top of the screen).
4) Rebooted XP VM- I might have been able to skip this step, but over time, I have found XP reboots to clean things up
5) Reinstalled Parallels Tools
6) Checked that everything was working well and saw very low processor Utilization in Windows Task Manager
7) Rebooted XP VM and it has remained working great.
It appears to me that the Parallels Tools process should check to see if the Shared Disk option is checked and if so uncheck it before installing Parallels Tools, then run a process to re-check the option after the Tools are installed. I have seen this same type of issue before in XP, where the install process cannot handle re-installing an option if it is checked already. You can't use the shared disk without the Tools, so it seems that if they are installed with the option already checked from a prior install, the system does not know how to handle it.
I am also concerned that the Sandisk U3 software could corrupt a working Parallels Tools environment.
Thanks for the list of steps. I tried them and it seems to have made windoze a little faster. I got a message from windoze that my hardware configuration changed substantially and it insisted I reregister. No problem , I guess.
I still get to look at the flashlight for an exceptionally long time each time I click on my computer in the open file dialogue box.
Any guesses on getting the program to remember there are files in there?
I still get to look at the flashlight for an exceptionally long time each time I click on my computer in the open file dialogue box.
Any guesses on getting the program to remember there are files in there?
Issues
Fromn your description, it sounds like there are still problems. Unfortunately, I no longer have access to the system as my son left for school, but I will try to describe some key steps from memory, so the names may not be quite right.
The key to seeing if this is fixed is to closely monitor Windows Task Manager. Not knowing exactly how an Apple keyboard maps to a Windows one, I used the Send Keys option which is located at the bottom of the Configuration drop down menu. I sent the control - alt - delete key sequence. If you do not have Parallels Tools installed, then you will have to unlock the keyboard. The sequence will be listed on the bottom of the VM as you boot. On the Windows Task Manager, the second tab, Processes is key to monitoring the situation. At the bottom is CPU Usage. If it is very high, then you have a problem. If it is, then look for the heading CPU at the top of the processes (Image Name). It will probably say 00. If that is the case, click on the CPU heading. I had to click twice to get the high utilization processes at the top. What do you see? In my case, Prl_cc.exe and System.exe betwen them took 100% of the CPU. My guess is that they were both fighting to see who owned the drives. When I deleted Parallels Tools from the Add / Del programs option of Control Panel, I checked again and CPU utilization was almost nil. That told me there was an issue with Prl_cc.exe which is Parallels Tools. Since Parallels Tools is gone, you have a keyboard that is limited to the VM machine so to do anything you will have to unlock it. At that point, try to go to Devices on the Parallels Menu bar and uncheck Shared Devices. Open up My Computer. Do you get the devices pretty quickly? This should be your guage as when Parallels Tools are working correctly, you should get this type of performance and have access tothe shared drive as well as a mouse that scrolls between all windows. Then reboot. If you cannot unlock the keyboard, then reboot and unlock it so that you can uncheck shared devices. Do the control - alt - delete again and look at performance in Windows Task Manager. Is cpu utilization still very low ( I saw a range of 4 to 15%. Remember, moving your mouse around can jack up cpu, so hands off the mouse and get a good reading). If CPU is low, then things are okay. If it is high, then you have a different problem. At that point, I would reboot again and check one more the CPU utilization. If it is still low, then re-install Parallels Tools. If you can, leave Windows Task Manager up. If you can't, then bring it up after teh install. What is CPU utilization? Is it low? Look at the running processes. What is taking up the CPU? What is the utilization for Prl_cc.exe? If it is low, then you are on the right track. Next test your My Computer. You may get the flashlight for a few seconds. Does it come up quickly? If so, then check internet explorer or whatever you use to access the internet. Did it perform ok? If so, reboot and see if everything is running quickly. Don't forget to bring up Windows Task Manager as a sanity check. My experience was that performance was almost identical between No Parallels Tools and Parallels Tools when the system was performing correctly.
Fromn your description, it sounds like there are still problems. Unfortunately, I no longer have access to the system as my son left for school, but I will try to describe some key steps from memory, so the names may not be quite right.
The key to seeing if this is fixed is to closely monitor Windows Task Manager. Not knowing exactly how an Apple keyboard maps to a Windows one, I used the Send Keys option which is located at the bottom of the Configuration drop down menu. I sent the control - alt - delete key sequence. If you do not have Parallels Tools installed, then you will have to unlock the keyboard. The sequence will be listed on the bottom of the VM as you boot. On the Windows Task Manager, the second tab, Processes is key to monitoring the situation. At the bottom is CPU Usage. If it is very high, then you have a problem. If it is, then look for the heading CPU at the top of the processes (Image Name). It will probably say 00. If that is the case, click on the CPU heading. I had to click twice to get the high utilization processes at the top. What do you see? In my case, Prl_cc.exe and System.exe betwen them took 100% of the CPU. My guess is that they were both fighting to see who owned the drives. When I deleted Parallels Tools from the Add / Del programs option of Control Panel, I checked again and CPU utilization was almost nil. That told me there was an issue with Prl_cc.exe which is Parallels Tools. Since Parallels Tools is gone, you have a keyboard that is limited to the VM machine so to do anything you will have to unlock it. At that point, try to go to Devices on the Parallels Menu bar and uncheck Shared Devices. Open up My Computer. Do you get the devices pretty quickly? This should be your guage as when Parallels Tools are working correctly, you should get this type of performance and have access tothe shared drive as well as a mouse that scrolls between all windows. Then reboot. If you cannot unlock the keyboard, then reboot and unlock it so that you can uncheck shared devices. Do the control - alt - delete again and look at performance in Windows Task Manager. Is cpu utilization still very low ( I saw a range of 4 to 15%. Remember, moving your mouse around can jack up cpu, so hands off the mouse and get a good reading). If CPU is low, then things are okay. If it is high, then you have a different problem. At that point, I would reboot again and check one more the CPU utilization. If it is still low, then re-install Parallels Tools. If you can, leave Windows Task Manager up. If you can't, then bring it up after teh install. What is CPU utilization? Is it low? Look at the running processes. What is taking up the CPU? What is the utilization for Prl_cc.exe? If it is low, then you are on the right track. Next test your My Computer. You may get the flashlight for a few seconds. Does it come up quickly? If so, then check internet explorer or whatever you use to access the internet. Did it perform ok? If so, reboot and see if everything is running quickly. Don't forget to bring up Windows Task Manager as a sanity check. My experience was that performance was almost identical between No Parallels Tools and Parallels Tools when the system was performing correctly.