Starting Windows and VM takes twice as long

I have Parallels 4 and VMWare Fusion 2.0.1 installed on my MBP.

My Parallels appears to be working finally (a very painful upgrade). Frankly the only reason I have hung around is because VMWare Fusion has 1 issue that is not resolved yet: the internal Mic on the MBP does not work in Fusion (a feature I use all the time for some classes I take).

But the performance of Parallels is so slow (takes over 2 minutes to restart a VM and log back into it. I timed the same with Fusion and it is a whole 50 seconds faster).

How do I get Parallels performance to be as fast?

One final item - the thin print feature of Fusion is really awesome. Can we get the same in Parallels?

Thanks for your help.

 

Dear random77,

Let me answer your questions in order you asked them:
1. As for performance issue, try to do the following:
- Set memory preallocation (Parallels Desktop->Preferences->Memory)
to "Manually" and adjust to the same size as you virtual machine RAM
- Apply settings and go to configuration of your virtual machine ( "Configure" button)
- In the tab of "Optimization" set 'Adaptive Hypervisor' to 'Enabled'
- 'Optimize better performance for' --> 'virtual machine'
- restart the Mac and check if the issue still persists.

Also you should notice that one can not use two virtualization solutions on the single computer as there are conflicts between kernel extensions used by both applications.

2. As for Printer issue, you should try to set it up as 'Bonjour Printer':
http://download.parallels.com/desktop/v4/docs/en/Parallels_Desktop_Users_Guide/23533.htm

It will allow you to use a whole bunch of printer's features once it is set up as a Windows printer with native drivers.

 

Hi Max,

I set the VM up as you proposed and it still takes at least twice as long (too long) once you have the sign on screen. Prior to getting to the sign on screen the time taken to boot Windows is acceptable.

 

It seems that the load is caused by loading both Parallels Tools and Parallels Internet Security Services. You should also monitor the Task Manager under Windows and check what process "eats" most memory. You may press Ctrl+Shift+Esc to launch Windows Task Manager.
Please let us know what process takes the biggest amount of RAM, it will help much in investigating the issue.
Also we would like to know if you have the same slow performance after the Windows is fully loaded.

 

Hi - the performance after loading is acceptable.

This morning I have been trying to work through some network issues (not working well with VPN as my local intranet is not picked up - but I will play around some more first).

the slow loading is while signing on - takes a long time.

 

As for the intranet issue, you should do the following:
set up Shared Networking mode for your Network Adapter and adjust the following settings:
1. Obtain IP automatically
2. Use the following DNS servers:
- 1st: <your-intranet-DNS-IP>
- 2nd: 10.211.55.1
- 3rd: <your ISP's DNS IP>
- 4th: <your Mac's gateway IP>

 

Also, provide us with the following information

 

Max,

I am not running the Parallels Internet Security Services (Kaspersky).

I will try the CTRl + Shift Escape option in a few mins and let you know.

Thanks

 

Not resolving intranet names. I configured it as you suggested.

 

nothing jumps out. Svchost.exe.

I cannot see the task manager until it has finished signing me in (by that time the wait is over).