Parallels 9 - OSX 10.6 - Win XP VM - HORRIBLE performance

The win xp VM hangs for several seconds with 100% CPU (per the Windows Task Manager) and meanwhile saturates one CPU (per the Mac Performance Monitor). Then it will get a burst of work done at normal-seeming speed, then hang again with 100% CPU.

It was not what you'd call speedy under Parallels 8 but this is a new low and very disappointing.

Let me add: this is immediately after a fresh boot. It can hang when opening a folder. Have you ever seen a folder display with (not responding) in the title bar?

Any suggestions on improving things, or any debugging info I can get, please add.

Edit: my Win 7 VM seems more normal, altho Parallels Tools Update took over 12 minutes to complete...

 

OK after Parallels 9 has had a day to think about it and settle in, Win XP seems once again to be running normally.

I could delete this thread as there is no longer a problem, however I think I will leave it in to document for others that (a) the install/upgrade process can be rather fraught, and (b) things seem to get better, later.

 

this happens to me when windows update is running. the VM is almost unusable, then it'll snap back to life for a bit, repeat, etc. made worse after a reboot. if i just suspend the VM, it appears to lessen the impact the next time i need to use it.