Parallels in Catalina: Office 365 (in Windows) crashes the Mac

I discovered a problem: When a Windows 10 (with latest updates) runs in Parallels, and I start a Office 365 application (Word, OneNote, etc....), then the screen freezes for some seconds and the Mac crashes, which means the Mac makes a reboot. I am very sure, this crash only happens because of Office 365.
My configuration: Mac mini 2018 with 32GB, with eGPU ASUS XG Station Pro with Radeon Rx 580.
I made a clean install with Catalina, using Parallels 15 with latest updates, using in Parallels Windows 10 with latest updates.
Does anybody have the same problem? Does anybody know how to solve it?
Beside that: Parallels on Mac runs very stable with Windows 10!

 

Also important to mention: this crashes only occurs with a eGPU (only external displays), with my MacBook Pro 2017 no crashes at all with Parallels 15 (same image as on Mac mini)

 

Hello
That is right. The Mac crash, when you have a egpu with an external display. I've the same problem with a MacBook Pro 2018 13", AMD Radeon 580 and an external display. I develop with VBA and my Mac crashes daily. But when I start Parallels 15 and Windows 10 and Office 2016 without the external display then my Mac does not crash. I hope the bug will resolved... (for Parallel: it's not a feature, it's a bug )

 

Hello RolandB8 and MikeK17,
Can you check the issue on the latest Parallels Desktop 15 build available for download here? In case Mac still crashes after installing the update collect technical report after restarting the Mac and starting Parallels Desktop without eGPU/external monitor connected to avoid the crash. This data will help the Engineering team to investigate the root cause of crashes.

 

Hello Parallels-Team

With the new version and the external monitor and start of Microsoft Office Home and Student 2016, the Mac still crashes. I have send a technical report.

 

Thanks, MikeK17.

Somehow panic.log is missing in the collected technical report. I created a ticket for you to ask for some logs from your Mac which should help to find the root cause of the issue.

 

I get this issue too, I've just crashed three times this morning trying to write an e-mail. Report has been sent. Latest versions of Mac Os and Parallels

 

This the report that gets generated after a crash:
BAD MAGIC! (flag set in iBoot panic header), no macOS panic log available

Just back from the 4th crash - unticking prefer eGPU yields no improvement.
- Catalina 10.15.1
- Paralllels 15.1.1
- Windows 10 1903 18362.418

 

What seems to be working for me for the past half an hour or so is disabling hardware acceleration in outlook. It can be found in File > Options > Advanced tab > Display subheading, tick the checkbox "Disable Hardware Graphics acceleration". Of course this requires going into the application, I'm sure there is a registry option that you could change if you aren't able to make this change quick enough.

Although this was in Outlook, there is a similar option for Word/Excel etc

 

Hi Tom,

Thank you for sharing your observations and providing technical data. The information you shared has been sent to the Engineering team for deeper analysis.

 

No problem Ivan. So it seemed disabling GPU acceleration in 365 apps stopped the crashing for me.

Curious, I tried launching CS:GO which was exhibiting the same crash behaviour and subsequent log output but it still crashed. I would theorise that use of the eGPU is causing the crashing. I don't mind because I use parallels solely for work reasons and I can live without eGPU accelerated outlook .

The whole eGPU eco-system is a headache already within Apple and Bootcamp, I don't even want to imagine what your dev team has to deal with if Apple and Windows can't already sort it out.

 

I've just been having this problem too, running
Catalina 10.15.2
Windows 10 1909 build 535
Parallels 15.1.2
Office version 1911 build 12228.20364
I was finding my completely freeze and shutdown and would give error of "BAD MAGIC! (flag set in iBoot panic header). This would happen after a few mins of starting to write a email reply. So far the fix above of disable hardware graphic acceleration has fixed it

 

I am finding the same issue when I upgraded to Catalina. I also have an eGPU and as soon as I use an application (maybe .NET based like office) I will soon after halt my whole system then shutdown without warning. On startup the error report is only the "Bad Magic" response.

I will try to disable graphics acceleration, but I am not sure I can do that in the app I am using.

 

I tried this hoping for a different outcome, but got the same results.
https://kb.parallels.com/124266

 

I ended up going back to parallels 14, i found was still get the issue randomly with other applications too.

 

Same/similar issue here. It completely freezes everything, Parallels red screens and then a few seconds later, my Mac black screens.
Only happens when using the eGPU.
For me, it's triggered by opening Visual Studio and using it for more than a few minutes, so there is no setting to disable graphics acceleration.
Any suggestions?

 

Hi Parallels team, has there been any progress on this issue? I have basically had to stop using Parallels due to the constant crashes while on eGPU. I won't attempt again, as I fear something would damage my installation severely. Please let ue know when we can expect a bugfix. thanks

 

Same issue, 2018 13" macbook pro, egpu, AMD 580, windows 10, parallels 15, office 365. Freezes whole machine once I start using PowerPoint. Had to abort 15 and go back to 14. Hard when you can only work for about 30 seconds before rebooting

 

I am running Windows 10 in my VM. How do you go back to Version 14, when the parallels tools are on V15? Any special considerations?

 

Same issue, mac mini eGPU 580, 2 x 4K and also MBPro 13". Would be nice to get some feedback from Parallels....