Invalid Handle on Login (latest Parallels, Windows 10, Sierra)

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BernardT1

Bit poster
I am having a issue that seems unresolvable running Windows 10 under Parallels Pro Edition on a Mac with Sierra installed. When I boot, I get a screen with the Windows twirling dots that say "Administrator" and, under that, "Welcome". This persists for 5 to 8 minutes while the machine does various things--accesses disks, the interent and so on. Eventually, I get a screen that says "Invalid handle" and a box to enter a password. There is no password as I set up the VM to run without needing one and, indeed, if I then just click on the adjacent arrow the machine will go on to boot. The problem, of course, is that this entire rocess can take 10 minutes.

I spent 1.5 hours the other day with Parallels Support leaving my system in a confused state and the issue unresolved. They finally said I should call Apple for an ACL reset, which I did, but it turns out under Sierra there is no such thing. Sierra apparently repairs permissions automatically and on the fly and gives users no way to do it manually.

Looking at Windows online discussions this seems to have been an issue for some people in the past: https://sysoperators.blogspot.com/2016/02/windows-10-handle-is-invalid-at-logon.html . But that was using different emulation software (Citrix) and some time ago (February) as far as Windows updates go--I did not have the problm until I updated (a) Windows, (b) Parallels and © the MacOS. I doubt it applies today and am reluctant to try what that link suggests now since my machine in its current state does eventually boot and become usable.

Does anybody else have this problem? Has anybody found a fix?
 
I'm having the same issue. And, every time I restart, I get the same issue and go through a couple of steps. It just worked for me by doing the following:
  • Windows | Sharing | Shared Profile: Share Mac user folders with windows --Uncheck this box.
  • Hardware | Scaled
  • Shut Windows 10, Stop Windows 10
  • Shut down Parallels
  • Start Parallels and try to log in again. It doesn't happen for me every time. Again, I'm not sure what the specific fix is.
  • Once you can log in, I see a message that Parallels can't see the Mac folders. I then share the folders again as in step 1.
  • That's it. But, it costs me a lot of time every time I have to restart.
 
Well I finally threw in the towel and (1) deleted Parallels including my virtual machine, (2) downloaded and installed a fresh copy of Parallels, (3) downloaded and installed a fresh copy of Windows 10, (4) downloaded and installed fresh copies of my important software (fortunately, there are only 3 or 4 programs not included in Windows that I use), (5) restored from backups my data files. It's too soon to relax and say I succeeded, but so far so good. IF all continues to work as it should, I have to conclude something probably got corrupted updating to Sierra since that is the major thing that happened just before all the problems.
 
I've been having the same issue since I upgraded to Parallels 12. I'm still running El Capitan, and the only updates or changes to Windows are whatever automatic updates it does on its own. It sure is a time waster! It takes a good 15 minutes to get Windows past the spinning wheel, invalid handle complaint and the occasional complaint that Windows can't see the Mac desktop. Once it's running, it's as reliable as Windows ever is. Unfortunately I don't dare to leave Windows open in the background while I use Mac programs - once Windows goes to sleep it generally won't wake up so I have to shut it down all too often and that starts the waiting cycle all over again. And like joeB6, once in a while it starts up with no issues.

I found the Reset ACL article 120432 and will give that a try in the next day or two. Hopefully that will correct the missing Mac desktop issue.
 
I am having the same issue and have found no solution. I can not log in to Windows at all. May have to remove Windows and reinstall but I would hate to loose the set-up. May also try a restore to previous desktop.
 
I restored the "Windows 10.pvm" file from before the problem. I was then able to log in, so I turned of the automatic Windows updates so the Anniversary update did not run. I have not had any problem since.
 
My problems seem to have corrected themselves, just as mysteriously as they appeared. After several days of no log-in problems, I updated from El Capitan to Sierra and still no problems. I can only guess that one of the many patches Windows applies regularly caused and then later corrected the issue. By the way, I mentioned the Reset ACL process above, which I attempted but did not complete. The article indicated this was possible in El Capitan but had been changed to an automated process in OSX Sierra. Based on what I encountered, the reset ACL process must have been changed prior to El Capitan.
 
RussellW3 said:
My problems seem to have corrected themselves, just as mysteriously as they appeared. After several days of no log-in problems, I updated from El Capitan to Sierra and still no problems. I can only guess that one of the many patches Windows applies regularly caused and then later corrected the issue. By the way, I mentioned the Reset ACL process above, which I attempted but did not complete. The article indicated this was possible in El Capitan but had been changed to an automated process in OSX Sierra. Based on what I encountered, the reset ACL process must have been changed prior to El Capitan.
Click to expand...
My assumption about this having self-corrected was wrong. After several weeks of successful Windows booting, I'm back to the spinning wheel and invalid handle error. I'm back to 20+ minutes boot time while it works out its' issues. Very frustrating! Has anybody found any solutions?
 
Same situation as many posters above; Sierra, Parallels 12 and Windows 10. Haven't gotten around to rebuilding the VM but will probably have to.

Hopefully Parallels has a solution soon.
 
It is now Dec. 15, 2016 and the same issue persists with Mac OS 10.12.1 and Windows 10.
This thread started 3 months ago.
Will there be a fix or are we just wasting our time posting here?
 
I had the same issue, I've reinstalled Parallels tools and the issue is gone now.
Reinstalling PTools was painful though. I had to manually clean up folders and registry (http://kb.parallels.com/8969) and than install tools.
 
I had the same problem with Win 10 Pro 32-bit, after I change CPU and RAM in Parallels.
Now I install Parallels and Win 10 Pro 64-bit new, and so far it works. How long?
 
I've started to see the same problem. Tried doing a full re-install of Windows, and it worked for a couple of days, but now the problem is back. Initially intermittent, but seems to be happening more and more. Parallels 12.1.2, Sierra 10.12.2. I was also having the displayport problem with my second screen, but I've installed the separate displayport driver on the Mac, and this seems to fix that.
I'm suspicious it's something to do with permissions. Last time it happened did a sfc /checknow, and it all seemed to work again for a couple of days.
Suspect something touches one of the Windows directories or system files, and changes a permission or owner.
 
Same problem here, invalid handle message. I had this happen after installing Windows 10 Pro on Sierra. I finally resorted to a fresh VM with a new install of Windows and reinstalling all apps. I had chalked it up to being a carryover problem from my previous VM. Unfortunately, it started happening again today. I restarted the VM and now its telling me invalid handle at the login screen. It takes several minutes before you can do anything. I can eventually get logged in, but you can't click the start button without another long wait. I also notice after clicking start, typing will not trigger a search. Not sure if it's related, but recently I have noticed that shared networking will not work. I always have to switch to bridged - wifi. I have re-installed Parallels tools. At this point, i'm going to do some more digging and maybe open a Parallels ticket and figure out a good time to schedule them to remote in. I have not been very happy with Parallels 12. I've not had nearly as many critical issues in the past with Parallels. I'm thinking of switching back to VMWare so I can get some work done. I believed Parallels was faster and more efficient battery wise, but it's not very productive to be troubleshooting it so often.
 
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