Can't open Windows 10 - stuck on spinning device

As I reported above, I tried 15.1.0 (shortly after installing the supplemental Catalina 10.15 update from Apple). It bricked my computer, and I was unable to collect any logs. I fought for hours trying to regain control of my computer, but in the end I had to pull power and boot into Safe mode and delete the Parallels app before booting normally. The result is that the virtual machine was left in a weird state. When I try to import it into VMWave (which I am switching to), I get the message that the VM was not properly shut down and it cannot be imported. I checked the config.pvs inside the nvm package and it says ShutdownReason=0,... is this okay? What else must I do to shut down the PVM (without access to Parallels Desktop). I am familiar with using the Terminal command line. Thank you or your advice.

 

Well, 15.1 seemed to do the trick for me. I am/was in the process of moving to a new Mac, so I was going to try just copying over the .vpm file to the new machine (I don't have anything super critical in my VM so I don't back it up in Time Machine to save drive space), but because of the crashing (I'm guessing), I kept getting a file transfer error during the copy. Last night, I installed 15.1 on the old Mac and started the VM. I got "Checking disk due to improper shutdown" for a while (about 15-20 minutes) and then it booted successfully! As soon as it did, I shut it down and tried to copy it over to my new machine (via external USB drive). It worked! And the machine is booting successfully on my new machine with 15.1.

 

Parallels 15.1 did not work for me (just got off a 1 hour support call). I'm running Catalina 10.15 (as I am writing this I see there is a new Supplemental Update available...) on a mid-2015 15-inch MBP with iGPU. We get about 20-30 seconds into Windows 10 bootup (which now says performing Automatic Repair) and then the entire system crashes and restarts. Thankfully Parallels was able to change the configuration to not automatically start Windows on restart. However I am not very happy with the options presented. Parallels basically said my VM is screwed because they "could not even mount the drive using Parallels Mount". Seems to be a very similar to what I'm hearing from other users in this thread...

Going to run the macOS update and try a few more times before I start digging up my most recent Quickbooks backup. Parallels has been great for me for years up until now. If they don't find a better solution within a couple of weeks I think I will be done with the whole VM thing as well as Mac. Very disappointed to put it lightly.

 

I had the same issue that everyone else was reporting. I was running 15.1 and the VM was freezing or non responsive or wouldn't even boot at times. I did the incremental update for the MacOS that Zerkalo mentioned and now the VM will boot up again and is at least usable. It still freezes from time to time, although it is minimal and comes back in a working state, yet still an annoyance.

 

OMG, is a cluster you know what...

I'm on Mojave, Parallels 15, mid 2014 MacBook Pro SSD. I sensed some instability in the past few weeks but my VM seems a goner. I though it was just me but this seems a widespread issue to do with the software.
About 2-3 weeks ago every 3 days or so;
- VM used to freeze, bringing down MacOS
- sometimes VM would wake up sporadically after minutes of being stuck and then freeze again
Yesterday
- I saw the 15.1.0 update and my eyes lit up because it was a chance for Parallels to get this right. However, within a few hours my Windows got frozen, a hard restart (you guys mentioned how painful it was to restart once Parallels messed up the MacOS), but then Windows got stuck on loading loop checking for disk after improper shutdown, multiple times it just wouldn't load, whereas a few days ago in a similar situation it did, one of the few options available to me was to click on take a snapshot to break up the routine of Windows loading screen (it worked a few days earlier) but alas my VM is forever stuck on loading with taking a snapshot now.
- I have found that after a hard shutdown/restart of Mac, the MacOS is still messed up and it always takes 2 restarts after MacOS has loaded without residual lag and Instability, but VM never progresses beyond Windows loading/taking snapshot
- I haven't got another snapshot of my Vm
- I have tried moving my Pvm file to another machine to try elsewhere via USB SSD drive and also via network to another compute but my file stops transferring and says an error for USB transfer, or my computer blanks out when transferring via network.
- the error prompted Parallel chat support to ask me to disk first aid, he said there were multiple errors, that I needed to take computer to Mac Servicing. Which I would have totally believe except for the many identical problems all happening in past few weeks with these posts. My Mac works like lighting and is stable!, except when I run parallels.
- I have tried loading the PVM from a network machine, via network, but my Mac blanks out after a while and freezes while network machine ends up with a question mark on the Windows loading screen
- I cannot mount successfully via Parallel Mount, the computer doesn't react visibly or becomes a little unstable
- kb 113241 to fix "virtual disk is corrupt" was not useful
I think my VM is cactus. Wasted 12 solid hours on this while being already time poor. It's not a matter of Parallels saving grace now, it feels like it's compensation is required to existing users for messing up so many machines.
Thanks to all the posters who shared their tidbits to that as a collective we know we're in the same boat.
I'm totally ready to give up on Parallels and start fresh with VMware Fusion. It gives me no reassurance at all that everyone else has this problem, which probably means a fresh VM will run into problems within a matter of time, time that few people have these days.

 

btw, I am also on Mojave 10.14.6 (18G95). This had nothing to do with Catalina 10.15

 

Oh, and @BradX - I'm in the same boat as you. After almost 4 weeks of not being able to access on of my VM's, and costing me not only time but money, I had to move on.

This is so ridiculous. It's actually like the team doesn't give a s**t. They didn't even email me and I was one of the first to post here. Totally ignoring people in this thread, not giving updates, and happily going on about the business here is ridiculous.

As soon as an update is posted where I can access my VM to get some files off of it, I'll be cancelling my subscription.

 

I dealt with this on my last Mac OS update to the point that Parallels was completely unusable. I had to scrap my VM and rebuild but the issue continued. I ended up getting a new MacBook a couple months ago and reset my VM from the ground up. It worked flawlessly until 10/18 when I updated to Catalina and Parallells 15.1. the problems started with random reboots with a dialog box that just said there was an error and the system had to reboot. It seemed to only happen when I was away from my computer so I thought it might be a sleeping issue. I fixed the power settings and now I just came back to find the spinning wheel and my entire computer is was locked up. This is how the my VM went belly up last time. Now I am scared to death to restart parallels because my VM might die on me. Super frustrating.

 

After fussing with this for days, I noticed this:

My problems started after I increased memory in Parallels to give the Windows 10 VM 16GB of the 32GB in my iMac running latest Catalina. Same problems as described above: freezes, damaged Parallels app requiring reinstallation and more spinning beachballs than on all the beaches in Florida.

However, if I use the defaults of Processors =2 Cores and Memory = 4096MB in Parallels > Actions > Configure > CPU&Memory, my VM seems to run each time.

I had increased the memory allocation in Windows to run a huge Excel spreadsheet that Excel for Mac just didn't handle well. Apparently a bad move.

 

Problem: Parallels desktop app won't start / takes an eternity to boot. While trying to start, Mac becomes unresponsive.
Hi guys - I had a lot of problems with this for several days, same as people above. I've taken and done a few of the recommendations and now have a stable system...
The biggest single thing I have found is that YOU MUST switch off WiFi on the Mac before trying to start Parallels (15.1 on Mojave).
Before all this I had the problem where the VM was trying to boot but taking for ever (once I'd got Parallels to start in the first place).
Taking advice from earlier, I let it carry on over night, and sure enough at sometime (about 4 or 5 hours later) the VM successfully booted.
I then ran Windows update on the VM (even though Windows 10 was saying it was up to date, something (very quickly) installed).
I then shut down the VM and stopped Parallels. Rebooted the Mac cleanly, etc.
Finally, and this continues to be the case, I SWITCH OFF WIFI before starting the Parallels Desktop App. Control panel is then displayed in just a few seconds, as usual.
I then boot the VM and login to Windows.
Finally I restart the WiFi and everything works fine. I've not had any seizures (which I think is down to the Windows update).
I've also found if I forget to switch off wifi and start Parallels (leaving me with 'Starting ... ' and apparently stuck again), if I switch off WiFi at this point, Parallels App recovers and Control Panel appears.
Obviously not a complete solution, but for me at least, a reliable set of things to do to overcome the issue.
Good Luck!
Tim.

 

Sorry - minor update. It looks like in all the chaos of the above, at some point I reverted to Parallels Desktop: Version 14.1.3 (45485), so currently I've only tested the above 'solution' on that, not 15.1.

 

I've been having this same issue for the last 5 weeks or so and it has costs me so 3-4K, and even more in reputational trust.

I hope parallels is giving this their complete attention because this problem is ruining their trust among the people who have supported them years. I have used this product for 5 years and don't want to switch but there is a limit to how much my business can bend to the inaction of a software vendor.

 

This was first reported on Jul 21st. It's fucking October 23rd. Still nothing.

 

Amazing. I have exactly the same problem. Has anyone gotten any response whatsoever?

 

This is happening for me as well. Started with Parallels 15.0 while still on Mojave, upgraded to Catalina and it continued, upgraded to Parallels 15.1 and it still continues. I did manage to get a technical report made, report number 325203161. I am virtually unable to use Parallels like this, and have had to resort to buying and using an actual Windows machine for my work.

 

I just confirmed that yes, after about two hours my Windows 10 VM did finish checking the drive. While it was checking the drive the Mac was extremely sluggish to the point of being virtually unusable. I am purely guessing here, but given the performance problems and people reporting that it is less awful if they dedicate fewer cores to the VM, it would seem that maybe the drive check is happening inside the VM vs outside? Did previous versions of Parallels just not do this? If so, can we just have an option to disable integrity checking?

 

Our lab machines have WIfi switched off as a default (ethernet is connected though) and we still fell victim to this issue.

 

I went on a three week vacation hoping to come back to some kind of resolution... What a disappointment!!! Is Parallels going to fix this at all? I can't believe there hasn't even been an update here. Well, other than "update to the latest 15.1.0 build", which didn't seem to fix the issue for anyone. With 200+ machines in the labs with this issue, I as thoroughly disgusted!

 

A few observations:

• This seems to happen to me when I unplug my computer form the monitor, use it, then try to plug it back to the monitor.
• The monitor is attached via usbC to thunderbolt 3. I have a usb hub connected to the monitor that is connected to the laptop when plugged in.
• I am using 15.1
• I am on Catalina 10.15, but had this issue on Mojave. This issue caused me to upgrade to Catalina hoping it would resolve itself.

I have noticed a way to recover from this issue within 30 minutes or so. Here are my steps:

• DISABLE PARALLELS from starting up with Mac. This is a prerequisite to the below steps. If your mac is running well, do this now. If it isn't, reboot or restart your computer a few times, then disable it from automatic startup.

• I try to shut down parallels, I usually have to force close all my windows programs (I may have to force close Parallels also). There is nothing I can do to recover them so a shutdown is required.
• Shut down my mac. I sometimes have to shut it down with the power button.
• Let it sit for a few seconds, then turn it on.
• Start up computer. Let it startup for a few minutes. It will probably still be sluggish.
• Shut down the computer again. Then start it up. again.
• Go to spotlight in the mac and put your whole HD in the index exclusion (located in the privacy tab).
• Reboot, then let the mac come back up. Now it is ready to use
• Open parallels. Windows is pissed, so it complains that it needs to check the disk. Lock your computer and let it do it's work. It will take 15-20 minutes, then boot up. It seems to take much longer if indexing for some reason, this is why I've suggested turning off spotlight previously.
• Everything should be working
• Remove your mac HD from the spotlight exclusion when you go to lunch.

The take aways:

• I cannot use my laptop anywhere but my desk.
• Force shutting things down is going to come back to eventually bite me in the ass, but there is nothing I can do because the computer is taxed to the point where nothing works

 

For me this happens only on iMacs so I'm not sure if the monitor has anything to do with it. We do not use secondary monitors.