Enough is enough

Yesterday I was notified that an upgrade to 6.0.11992 was available. An d then a journey began which let me finally turn away from Parallels.

I am a very experienced programmer using Parallels Desktop for MAC since version 3 running 2 XP SP3 boxes and one Win7 box using them daily. I always had problems after the upgrades mostly with the reinstallation of parallel tools in the XP boxes but this time it was a nightmare! All three boxes crashed with different errors:

After using backups I finally got them to work but experienced extremely unstable conditions. I am talking here about 3 boxes which were used daily without any problems before the upgrade to 11992!

I experienced constant crashes of explorer.exe and numerous other programs. Now after nearly 20h of constant tweaking and trying I give up. sorry parallels-team but I am quite confident that version 6.0.11992 will trash your credibility as a company which cares for their customers. This upgrade should have never been released period.

 

I am a very experienced programmer who just started using Parallels Desktop for Mac; I decided to try it after deciding to change from WinXP, which I was running via VMware Fusion 2 using a Boot Camp partition, to Windows 7. In fact I'm still on a trial license of Desktop 6. It's using an entirely new VM with Windows 7 installed from scratch, not the Boot Camp partition.

I've been using 6.0.11992 for only four days, but on the whole it's been a positive experience.

I'm posting this not to gainsay ChristophL's report, but merely to add another data point.

I did have one significant problem, which has been reported elsewhere on this forum: the prl_vm_app process slowly but relentlessly increasing its CPU and real RAM usage. About 36 hours ago I changed the number of CPUs in Configure::General from 1 to 2, and haven't experienced that problem since. We'll see...

MacBook Pro3,1 (late 2007); OS X 10.5.8
vm: Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit

 

ChristophL, build 11992 was tested and no problems were detected. I upgraded without any issues as well. Probably you have some kind of strong virus protection installed on Windows platforms which blocks proper Parallels Tools installation. Please create a ticket at http://www.parallels.com/support/request/ and let us know the ticket ID.

 

Having the exact same issues

I've had a support ticket open with Parallels for a couple of days related to this problem. So far, they've responded to me just like they responded to you: "We tested it. It's fine. Must be something on your end."

Seriously? There are tons of people on here having problems with the latest build.

Parallels needs to fix this this ASAP.

 

I have nothing but Windows 7 running by itself plus all their latest fixes, updates and etc. This latest build 11992 has made a mess out of my VM ... and my brain!

P.S. The only thing their developers wanted to do was disable bunch of serial keys out there. That worked fine.

 

There are much more problems with build 11990 and 11992. See topic http://forum.parallels.com/showthread.php?t=107483

 

There are much more problems with build 11990 and 11992. See topic http://forum.parallels.com/showthread.php?t=107483

 

Guys, we won't be able to detect the problem if we don't have enough information.

ChristophL, you told "All three boxes crashed with different errors". What are these errors?

Schr, what was your ticket ID?

RaminB, what happened with your VM?

You could speed up solving problems if you send the problem report IDs and post it here (Help --> Report a Problem).

 

My ticket number is 7420193.
I cannot generate a new one because I have a rollback to 11828.

See also topic http://forum.parallels.com/showthread.php?t=107483

 

Yes, I too have had nothing but trouble with the new build. Will be reinstalling the previous to confirm the problems exist with the new build.

 

Update

Hi all,

I just spoke with a member of Parallels Level 2 support. He assured me that Parallels is aware of the issues we're experiencing in 11990 and 11992. He agreed that staying with 11828 was the best option for now (for me at at least). Their development team is working diligently on a fix and will release an update as soon as possible.

-Sam

 

OKAY, but did they tell you how to get back to that earlier build? Where's the link? (thanks)

 

The best I can tell you to do is to track down your original Parallels 6 activation / installation email. It will have a link that takes you to a site where you can download the version of Parallels 6 that was out at the time of purchase (as best I can tell).

 

I have the same problem. i found out that reducing the memory size of the virtual machine from 2GB to 1GB could fix the problems for me. But thats for sure not the final solution....

 

Another week passes. Still no response from parallels

 

I don't think the Parallels folks understand the nature of these failures. I have a similar thread discussing the issues as well. When we say unstable, I mean randomly crashing services, startup programs, DLL's failing to register, etc. An entire spectrum of software will randomly fail from boot to boot. I eventually lost my entire VM and had to restore from backup as it became unbootable. The only fix I have found is to revert to 11828.

I did report the issue from the HELP menu and submitted it but did not open a ticket. The failures are entirely random. One boot, various DLL's failed to load and the VBScript engine failed to load. In other boots, the Virus scan service failed to start. In yet another, the Explorer EXE repeatedly crashes. The problem is widespread.


http://forum.parallels.com/showthread.php?p=435797#post435797

 

I am experiencing host OS kernel panics since upgrading to 11992 last week. MacBook Pro 13", OS X 10.6.6, 8GB RAM (MacBookPro7,1).

I have opened a ticket with Parallels support #1084326, submitted multiple problem reports (7660495, 7670533), and spent more than an hour on call with Parallels Support. I've given access to my host machine, guest OS. I've checked everything I can on the Mac side. I've used Tech Tool Deluxe to check RAM, VRAM, CPU, Video card, HD etc. I've repaired permissions, check the HD volume. The machine runs for hours without issue except when Parallels is active.

On the last Parallels support call I was told on the last call that the support engineer didn't want to look at my problem report, because he didn't understand them. I have multiple host OS kernel panics since installing 11992. I need help to fix those issues asap or help from Parallels to rollback to 11822.

 

Via this link you can download 11828 the last stable build. Good luck.
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=RI6CR8ZU
The question is if only restoring the build helps. My virtual machine was damaged also. Therefore, I had to restore a backup of the virtual machine to.

 

Thanks for the link

I was able to downgrade and the Mac OS X Kernel panics magically stopped. So far so good. Build 11992 appears to be the culprit. I've submitted multiple problem reports to Parallels, but I've been unable to get anyone in support to take them seriously and review them. I'm going to request they do this again and I'll post back.

Thanks again!

 

No thanks. I am glad that I have been able to help you.