High CPU utilization (55%) after running PWS

System Config:
MBP 2.1ghz, 1gb RAM, Parallels RC1 or RC2, tested with Win2000 and WinXP:

Scenario:

Using ActivityMonitor, I show 1-2% CPU utilization before running PWS.

During PWS use (under XP or 2000), CPU utilization is between 50-65%.

Shutdown guest OS

Terminate PWS

User CPU Utilization is at 50%


Is anyone else experiencing this behavior using PWS?



Regards,

Daniel

 

Resolved.. solution

I'm not exactly sure why, but when I stop the "Windows Sharing" service the CPU drops down to practically nothing. As an added bonus, my PWS now runs in the 1 to 5% utilization range.

Hope this helps others who are experiencing this problem.

Regards,

Daniel

 

You mean Windows Sharing under Sharing section of System Preferences? Hmm... maybe it's conflicting with Shared Folders feature in PDM? (Mac version is now called Parallels Desktop for Mac)

 

Yes, I've seen this too. Turning off Windows Sharing definitely fixed it.

I think the problem is that Parallels is running first at startup, installing some sort of service listening on one of the SMB ports (137/138). Then when the Samba service (which is what Windows Sharing is) starts up, it can't run its own service on those ports, and dies. It's then launched again and again -- I found nmbd launching/exiting ~60 times per *second* when this was happening.

 

Ow... that's ugly.

 

Are you also running the shared folder option in the guest OS? I've found that to be a real resource hog. I only use network sharing and I don't seem to run into these problems.

 

Thanks, this problem has had me worried for days! It's one of the moments when I find myself missing the System Restore option in Windows XP.

I find Windows Sharing much more responsive than Parallels Shared Folders, so I've disabled Shared Folders for now, and the CPU utilization problem has disappeared.

In case anyone's wondering, you can disable Shared Folders by uninstalling Parallels Tools in your VM, and reinstalling it using Custom Install without the 'Shared Folders' component.

 

There appears to be a bug in OS X Windows Sharing (e.g. Samba) in some of the latest releases. The Netbios name server daemon (nmbd) is activated, even when name serving is not enabled. It crashes and is respawned continously, driving up utilization.

Another symptom is that the log file /var/log/samba/log.nmbd continuously grows and becomes huge (GIGS!)

A fix is to turn off Windows Sharing, and delete that logfile. If you want to run Windows Sharing, copy the properties file /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/nmbd.plist to another location, while WIndows Sharing is off. Turn it back on, then copy this file back to its location. This will set the boolean 'Disabled' flag to 'Yes' - you could also use the Properties editor to add this.

Note that the copying is best done from the terminal using cp with sudo.

Reboot, and you have Windows Sharing without the problem. This fix will be gone, the moment you toggle Windows Filesharing in the Prefs pane. This means that the fix does not interfere with future updates.

 

This appears to be fixed, or at least much better, in the GA release. I'm getting 5-10% with sharing on an < 5% with it off. I'm not using haralds fix...