Parallels 8 kills my mac mini 10.8.2

Discussion in 'Installation and Configuration of Parallels Desktop' started by captcurrent, Oct 28, 2012.

  1. captcurrent

    captcurrent Bit poster

    Messages:
    9
    when i run parallels 8 it brings my 2011 mac min 10.8.2 with 4 g ram down to cold mollasses..

    I can't even get accurate process information as it is virtually impossible to run anything

    any suggestions on where i should start tweaking ??
     
  2. Specimen

    Specimen Product Expert

    Messages:
    3,236
    The Mac is likely 'paging' (writing the contents of the RAM to the disk because it doesn't have enough free memory).

    * If you can, upgrade the RAM to 8 GB, you'll have tremendous performance improvements

    * If you can't upgrade RAM, assign less RAM to the VM, no more than 2 GB, if it's already at 2 GB reduce it to 1.5 or 1.

    *Go to the terminal.app, and type purge and press enter before starting Parallels (this will release some inactive memory).

    *Shut down your browser or any other RAM thirsty app before starting the VM.
     
  3. captcurrent

    captcurrent Bit poster

    Messages:
    9
    I'll give that a shot.. right now I am running P7 on Leopard and getting MUCH better performance
     
  4. captcurrent

    captcurrent Bit poster

    Messages:
    9
    Ok I got activity monitor working before i restarted with P8 I have a bit over 1 g free.. even after i start p8 it might drop below to around 980 or so.. what i DID see was the P8 VM running at around 100% CPU vs between 10 and 30 for P7 on a old pB with I g of memory.. I am REALLY sorry I bought the upgrade....

    I don't really see wheer a mem upgrade is going to deal with that
     
  5. MichailT

    MichailT Bit poster

    Messages:
    9
    Similar problem on an MBP 15" (early 2011)

    I'm using OSX 10.8.2. I wanted only to test Parallels Desktop 8 (PD8). Installed it deinstalling PD7.
    Started it and performance of the system (OSX) was poor, because OSX started to hang.
    It was terrible to install PD drivers in my Win 7-VM (assigned 2,5 GB Ram, 4 CPUs).
    I have 8 GB of RAM installed and with PD7 I had no problems with Win 7 as VM (not Bootcamp).
    So I decided to go back to PD7. After uninstalling PD8 (move it to trash), I installed PD7.
    Now I have the problem that sound doens't work anymore, although the PD drivers of PD7 are installed
    and Device Manager says that they work, but the audio-app in Win 7 says that the "audiohardware" is not up.

    So I ended up installing back a backup of Windows I did few days earlier.
    I will wait till PD9 is out. PD8 is not worth the money.
     
  6. captcurrent

    captcurrent Bit poster

    Messages:
    9
    i will have to see if i can find a copy of PD7... this performance is just wierd and unacceptable
     
  7. MichailT

    MichailT Bit poster

    Messages:
    9
    If you have registered your PD7 on Parallels.com and have an account, you just have to go to "Download"->"Parallels Desktop 8 .." on parallels.com and there is a link to PD7 download. They sent you then a download link to your email account, but before you must have logged in. ;)

    I think some sort of software must interfere with PD8. I have a lot installed and some tasks are running in the background from the installed software, but which software interferes with PD8, I don't know. We will see in future,
    if the Parallels team can handle it. Till then I will use PD7. ;)
     
  8. captcurrent

    captcurrent Bit poster

    Messages:
    9
    i could believe the difference in cpu usage between 7 and 8
     
  9. YanaYana

    YanaYana

    Messages:
    1,666
    Would you please send the Problem report from Help --> Report a Problem and post the Report ID number here.
     
  10. captcurrent

    captcurrent Bit poster

    Messages:
    9
    Pd 7

    I have down graded to PD 7 and performance is much better .. the warning that & would not work on 10.8 was untruthful
     
  11. YanaYana

    YanaYana

    Messages:
    1,666
    Actually report can be very helpful - all development team would be very grateful
     
  12. captcurrent

    captcurrent Bit poster

    Messages:
    9
    cant report

    as i said I have deleted 8 you claimed it was faster and better and it killed my performance

    i dont intend to upgrade again
     
  13. MichailT

    MichailT Bit poster

    Messages:
    9
    I did a test with new version 8.0.18314.813278 and the performance is same low.
    The whole system (I mean OSX) hangs regardless what OS I'm running in Parallels.
    I did a report and send it in: Report-ID 19852443.
    And now I reverted back to PD7 again.
    Hopefully you find the culprit.

    And one thing I must say when I reverted back to PD7:
    I had to clean up all files in the system made by PD8 and 7,
    because PD7 and OSX was lagging too after reverting back
    from PD8 to PD7.
    After removing the files, reboot and a really "fresh" install of PD7,
    it works now as it did before installing PD8.
     
    Last edited: Nov 21, 2012
  14. MichailT

    MichailT Bit poster

    Messages:
    9
    Is there any news about this performance problem?
    It would be nice, if someone from Parallels have any suggestions about it.
    Because it is not only affecting Mac Minis, but also my MacBook Pro 15" Early 2011.
     
  15. YanaYana

    YanaYana

    Messages:
    1,666
    Hello,

    Thank for your report, i have forwarded it to our development team and will update you as soon as i get any feedback
     
  16. MichailT

    MichailT Bit poster

    Messages:
    9
    Is there any news in the meanwhile???
     

Share This Page