Windows Explorer / disk access very slow

Discussion in 'Windows Virtual Machine' started by PhilR2, Mar 5, 2021.

  1. PhilR2

    PhilR2 Bit poster

    Messages:
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    I'm running Windows 10 () in parallels 16.1.3 on a macbook pro with Big Sur.

    The windows client runs fine - until there's a requirement for explorer. Any given app will be speedy enough, until I try "file, open" or "save" or whatever, at which point there's a 10 - 20 second wait while it thinks about giving me the explorer window.
    Likewise launching explorer directly will pause the machine for a similar length of time.

    Write access to the disk seems normal enough, but reading large files is very slow.

    Is this a known problem? How can I resolve it?
     
  2. johngrins

    johngrins Junior Member

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    18
    I have similar problem where Quick Access never completes after installing DT16. Also cannot launch Quicken, just hangs (no errors) like it can't find the file.
     
  3. Hi, do you have the same issue with any Windows applications?
     
  4. Hello, did you get any specific error message?
    Could you provide us with the screenshot of the issue please?
     
  5. johngrins

    johngrins Junior Member

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    18
    After two sessions with support, we thought the problem was solved with a system file check repair, but the instability of the imported vm reappeared. I've rolled back to dt15 and vm is stable. I might retry to install dt16 when there is an update. I see no advantage to dt16 if I can't depend on it. There are no error messages, just hung File Explorer Quick Access that never completes, of Quicken splash screen, requiring forced quits of everything and a Mac OS reboot.
     
  6. dhjaffe

    dhjaffe Junior Member

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    10
    Same problem with Quicken. It takes forever to start up. I am running Parallels Desktop 16.1.3 on my MacBook Pro running Mac OS 11.2.3. Quicken does eventually start, however, if I wait long enough. Once it has started, though, it seems to run normally. Does anyone have a solution to this?
     
  7. Brett_Parkhurst

    Brett_Parkhurst Bit poster

    Messages:
    1
    Ever since I upgraded to Mac Big Sur, I have been faced with the exact same issue with disk access with Parallells. You can see it clearly enough when opening Windows Explorer and it takes 15-20 secs to open. Copying files is crazy slow. Anytime a program like Visual Studio accesses the disk the fan starts going crazy and the machines runs hot as can be. If I get out of Parallels, the Mac comes back and runs as smoothly as can be lightening fast.

    I'm running 2018 Macbook Pro with 32GB Ram and 6-Core I9. I allocated 16GB RAM and 4 Processors to my Parallels VM running Windows 10 Pro.

    Anyone have any ideas? It's gotten so bad, I'm thinking about abandoning Parallels and asking my company to give me a PC to run Windows on it. Not happy.
     
  8. johngrins

    johngrins Junior Member

    Messages:
    18
    I've only been stable with DT15 and earlier. There is a release 16.5.1-49187 that I haven't tried. I'm bummed that DT17 is released there likely will be no updates to DT16. Contacted Parallels and they offer me no refunds or discounts to attempt DT17 since I"m outside the 30 day refund window. I'll sit with DT15 until it breaks and then run bootcamp on an older Intel Mac as a dedicated windows device (or get a cheap PC) and remote into it from my Mac.
     
  9. AlessandroB6

    AlessandroB6 Bit poster

    Messages:
    4
    I have also the same issue, and is a shame that we are obliged to move to Parallels 17 to (probably) solve the problem.
    Also tried to use Windows restore points to see if some update cause the issue, with no findings.
     
  10. johngrins

    johngrins Junior Member

    Messages:
    18
    For others reference I'm successfully using
    Mac OS Big Sur 11.6.1
    Parallels DT Version 15.1.5 (47309),
    Edition Windows 10 Pro
    Version 21H1
    OS build 19043.1348
    Experience Windows Feature Experience Pack 120.2212.3920.0
     
  11. AlessandroB6

    AlessandroB6 Bit poster

    Messages:
    4
    Solved moving the .PVM file from original location under Documents. Originally, I had a VM directory under root /. After upgrading to BigSur, the original directory was moved in a System protected read-only area: from there every time the virtual machine tried to access or write file, some low level delay happened. Moving to a standard Document directory, now the VM works fine!
     
  12. Frank_Hamersley

    Frank_Hamersley Bit poster

    Messages:
    2
    Hmmm - my PVMs are already in the ~/Documents/Parallels folder! [MacOS 10.14 Mojave w Parallels 15 patched to the gills]
    The issue seems to be limited in my case to SMB translation of the OSX file system - because when I access the on-PVM "physical" C: drive Explorer is very snappy.
    However when I go to "My Documents" which maps to MacOS folder ~/Documents it first chokes for 5 to 10 seconds before working as you would hope.
    It smells like (1) either a dud system/network call is being made that has to time out before the proper request is made or (2) the driver is reading excessive portions of the MacOS file system to feed Windows in the interests of Explorer vs Finder consistency.
    My vote is for (1) as I suspect Windows is reaching out for a full picture of the network rather than treating it as directly (locally) connected storage.
    Are there any configuration options to convince Windows not to search the universe every time I click on a folder in My Documents?
     

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