Windows 10 VM pauses periodically, ignores mouse/keyboard

Periodically, my Windows 10 VM pauses and becomes unresponsive to mouse and/or keyboard input. This lasts for about 5-10 seconds and then everything is fine. I've found no particular pattern associated with the occurrence. This is the second Windows 10 VM I've created (thinking it may've been tied to that instance) but the problem continues. I have a Windows 7 VM that never experiences this behavior; it is definitely just the Windows 10 VM.

A particular difference between the two VMs (possibly significant) is I'm running HyperV on the Win10 because it is for Xamarin mobile development and it runs the Android emulator on HyperV. However, the pausing happens regardless of what is running. It does seem to be more likely to happen with VS 2015 and SSMS 2016, but it may seem that way because those are the apps I'm using a lot right now.

Parallels Desktop 12 for Mac; Business Edition; Version 12.1.3 (41532)
Host: MacBook Pro; OS X El Capitan; Version 10.11.6
Guest: Windows 10 Enterprise; Version 1511 (OS Build 10586.318)

 

Hi Rod,
Parallels pause the virtual machine automatically if it's inactive over a period of time. You can stop virtual machine pausing automatically by referring this article

 

This is not while it is inactive, it is while it is in use -- I'm actively working on it. The indicated article refers to "when no windows are open". I have several active applications open and working; i.e., MS SSMS, MS VS2015, dbForgeExpress, Notepad++, etc.

Even so, I checked that option on my VMs and it is already disabled for both of them.

 

You might experience this issue due to incorrect configuration. Go to virtual machine's configuration > Hardware tab > Mouse and Keyboard and make sure Don't optimized for games is chosen for both Keyboard and Mouse.

 

Interesting, I found that the mouse was set for "Auto-detect optimize for games". That must be a new change to the defaults because I don't remember ever consciously having to change this with any VM I've created before. Not sure that this will make a difference but I set it to "Don't optimize for games", nonetheless. I'll monitor and see if this makes a difference.

 

Nope, that didn't cure it. I'm beginning to think this is related to VS2015. I'm doing a lot of work in it right now and it seems like it happens most often when I switch to that app after loading a solution. Will monitor...

 

UPDATE: I had experienced these issues while running Full-screen. I've since been running in Coherence mode and I still continue to see occasional pauses. For example, while viewing Chrome on the Mac, I then tried to switch to SSMS or dbForge (each in separate coherence windows) and neither would respond. Again, it took about 5 seconds before they would respond and I could bring them to the foreground. As a side note: Visual Studio was open in its own window on another monitor but I wasn't actively using it.

 

I have this problem as well, but I hesitated in reporting it because I have been unable to find a consistent way to reproduce it. It seems to happen at random.
Interestingly enough, I also notice it most often when Visual Studio 2013 is running under Parallels running Win10. I am not running under HyperV, however.

It's quite strange; I'm not yet 100% sure (I rarely have Task Manager open at the same time it happens) but it seems as if the underlying O/S is still running, but mouse/keyboard input is being ignored (even though the mouse cursor moves).

Everything always returns to normal within around 5-10 seconds, as the original poster noted.

I know there are other input capture issues with Parallels (see https://forum.parallels.com/threads...-10-au-parallels-12.338065/page-2#post-818631), so perhaps this is related, or perhaps not.

 

I have the same impression -- that the OS is still running, just not responding to input -- though I can't specify what gives me that impression. It's good to know you're not using Hyper-V so that, hopefully, eliminates that as a factor. But the Visual Studio is an interesting correlation.

BTW: I read the response in the other thread to which you provided a link: I've noticed that issue as well though it was less an annoyance than this pausing issue. Good to know they are at least looking into that one. Hopefully, we'll see some action on this one.

 

I've updated Dmitry@Parallels (who I worked with on the other issue) about this one, in case they are somehow both related.

In the meantime I'll try to keep Task Manager running in the background and, if the freeze happens again, I'll watch to see if tasks are still updating (which would indicate that it's just an input issue).

 

Hi guys,

Please send us technical data report via Help menu next time this behavior happens. Please comment in the report description exact time when the freeze occurred, this will help us to analyze the logs.

 

@Dmitry@Parallels: I just had this happen again and sent the technical data -- problem report ID is 161736362. I was working in Coherence mode. I had a Notepad++ windows open on external monitor #1, Visual Studio open on external monitor #2, and File Explorer open in the laptop display. I was actively working in Notepad++ and it paused. I had moved the mouse to place the cursor in a new position and though the mouse cursor moved, when I clicked in the document, the text cursor did not follow it. This lasted for about 5 seconds as I clicked again a few times in Notepad++, clicked over on the Visual Studio window, and then back on the Notepad++ window a couple more times before it "woke up".

 

Thank you very much, RodB. We will diagnose the problem report shortly.

 

I just had another occurrence so decided it might be helpful to send a second set of technical data for comparison -- problem report is 162045747. I was working in Visual Studio, had just clicked to run the solution. The program's main window appeared but was unresponsive to mouse input. I tried dragging the window and no response. I clicked several times on it but it didn't recognize input. I then clicked on Visual Studio and then back on the program main window and it responded. However, I don't know if the click back to Visual Studio was a factor or if the pause had "expired" and just "woke up".

 

Thank you, RodB.

We did not find anything suspicious in the report logs, except of McAfee rampaging in the system log:
Mar 8 10:26:38 --- last message repeated 1 time ---
Mar 8 10:26:38 por-barnesr-m3 kernel[0]: MFE_AV: ERROR"enqueue record(/System/Library/SystemProfiler/SPPrintersReporter.spreporter/Contents/Resources/English.lproj/InfoPlist.strings) failed. result: 55"
Mar 8 10:26:38 por-barnesr-m3 kernel[0]: MFE_AV: ERROR"enqueue record(/System/Library/SystemProfiler/SPDiagnosticsReporter.spreporter/Contents/Resources/English.lproj/InfoPlist.strings) failed. result: 55"
Mar 8 10:26:38 por-barnesr-m3 kernel[0]: MFE_AV: ERROR"enqueue record(/System/Library/SystemProfiler/SPSPIReporter.spreporter/Contents/Resources/en.lproj/InfoPlist.strings) failed. result: 55"

However, we are not sure if this event is somehow related to the freeze. To localize the situation we need to understand whether mouse inputs are actually being sent to guest system while the freeze happens. To find this out, you need to execute this command in Terminal.app which will start the performance counter:

prl_perf_ctl -s hidhook -l 1

You will get the following output which will be refreshed every second:

hidhook - 13:34:20 +1.06 sec
action.acted 0
action.delayed 0
action.ignored 0
keyboard.dropped 0
keyboard.grabbed 1
keyboard.hooked 0
keyboard.injected 0
keyboard.processed 0
keyboard.sent 0
mouse.grabbed 0
mouse.hooked 0
mouse.injected 21
mouse.processed 21
mouse.sent 21

You are interested in these strings, which indicate that mouse input was injected, processed and sent to guest operating system. When the mouse is idle, you will see zeros in these strings.

During the next freeze please start the counter, click inside the VM and move the mouse. If performance counter output shows numbers different from zero (it is not necessary will be 21) - then Parallels Desktop did its job and have sent the events to guest OS. It means that the freeze is caused by guest system or programs running in it, and that's going to be more complicated.

If you no input is being detected by the performance counter (zero number of processed and sent events) - we would need more information (process samples, guest memory dump).

Let me know if there are any questions and the results please.

 

Acknowledged. I will try this and report back. A couple other things, one that may be related, one may not be:

1. I have also noticed the mouse is generally lacking in response. Yesterday, I was working almost exclusively in Notepad++ and found that I had to click twice in almost every instance to get the text cursor to move to the location where I was placing the mouse cursor. In contrast, this morning (after a cold start of the Mac and clean-start of Windows 10 VM following some updates on the Mac), I am not experiencing that issue. The text cursor immediately moves to the mouse cursor upon the first click.
2. This morning, Parallels hung and had to be Force Quit and restarted. When it did, I got the "Parallels has recovered from a crash" (or something like that) and it submitted a report number 164013113.

 

UPDATE: I've been focusing on #1 of the previous update. At one point, I thought this might be just a thing with Notepad++ and working with a very large (1.5MB) file. So I copied the file to a Windows 10 (physical, not Parallels VM) for comparison. I worked with this copy of the document in Notepad++ (same version) for more than an hour and never once had the mouse input give any issues.

So, it doesn't look like it is localized to Notepad++. I recognize there can still be any number of factors that would be different; e.g., the desktop has much more RAM and horsepower than my Mac, the desktop isn't running a VM in Parallels, desktop is running Windows 10 Professional vs. Windows 10 Enterprise, desktop isn't working in the company domain, etc.

However, it remains that I have this issue on a Windows 10 VM in Parallels when I do not see it on a physical Windows 10 system.

 

I've been using the command you provided. I've left it running in a terminal window so I can quickly switch to view its output while attempting to interact with a window on the guest. However, because the duration of the pause is relatively short -- about five seconds -- it has been difficult to catch it and confirm before the pause ends.

Yet, from the times I was able to catch the pause, it definitely appeared that mouse activity was being recognized by Parallels (based upon the command output) but it is not being sent to/received by the guest OS. And this last time it was very clear -- I caught it just as the pause occurred: I was moving the mouse all over inside of the window and clicking to move the text cursor, and nothing was changing. However, the results from the command showed that mouse.processed and mouse.sent had values while mouse.injected remained constantly zero -- see below:

mouse.injected 0
mouse.processed 48
mouse.sent 48

For comparison, I tried the same thing on my Windows 7 VM. (NOTE: I shut down the Windows 10 VM, started the Windows 7 VM so there'd be no potential conflict.) I observed the same results with the Windows 7 VM; i.e., the mouse.injected value was always zero so I assume that is not a related factor.

 

Thanks a lot, RodB, for the detailed analysis.

Is there a Visual Studio project compilation/debugging running in a background, while you are working in Notepad++? If yes, please clarify if the project is stored on a shared location (Shared Folders) or within the VM (on a virtual disk)?

Also, we have a hunch that this issue might be caused by a real-time disk optimization feature. Please disable this feature at VM config - Hardware - Hard Disk - uncheck 'Real time virtual disk optimization' feature. Please note that you will need to shutdown the VM to do that.

 

No, Visual Studio was open but no activity was happening. I just had it open to a solution but not working in it. The open solution is on a share exposed from the Mac.
I have disabled the RT disk optimization. I will report back after sufficient testing to see if it makes a difference.