I have an iMac with the Fusion Drive on it and wondered if Parallels works well with it? I have been running VMWare Fusion for the past year with two VM's on it and over the past week they both failed and I suspect it has something to do with the Fusion Drive. I don't know if there is simply a compatibility problem running virtualization software on a Fusion Drive or if it is because I had more than one VM on it (Fusion Drives can only have one partition added to them). Anyway I am investigating using Parallels if I know that it works fine with the Fusion Drive? Appreciate your input!
iMac Fusion Drive with Parallels?
- Thread starter TommyGun
- Start date
How long have you been using it?
P
Parallels User
Unless you're using Bootcamp, the virtual disk in a virtual machine is just one big file in the OSX file system, there no extra partitions, so, having more than one VM does not create any sort of incompatibility.
Abdul@Parallels
Parallels Support
Hi TommyGun,
Yes, Fusion Drive works perfectly with Parallels Desktop 10 for Mac.
If you are still in a dilemma, please try our 14 days trial of Parallels Desktop 10 for Mac as suggested at http://kb.parallels.com/122644
Yes, Fusion Drive works perfectly with Parallels Desktop 10 for Mac.
If you are still in a dilemma, please try our 14 days trial of Parallels Desktop 10 for Mac as suggested at http://kb.parallels.com/122644
Paul_Phillips
Bit poster
I've used Parallels for many years (started with version 3!) and have only started experiencing problems since I replaced my two iMacs this year. I bought 2 iMacs to replace my late 2009 models. Got high spec models so I could have a Parallels VM (Windows 7) running on each - previous models weren't powerful enough, so used to remote desktop to a Bootcamp installation on a Mac Mini.
The problem is that, usually overnight, but sometimes during the day, the iMacs freeze - always when they aren't being used. The symptoms are black screen (but my energy saving settings switch the screen off after 20 mins), no response from keyboard or mouse, unable to connect remotely either to drives or screen sharing. The machines are still up and consuming power, so have to be hard-reset (holding the power button down), and then started again. I get no reports of a failure when the machines restart.
Just upgraded to Parallels version 10.0.2 in the hope that it was a problem with the software, but issue still occurs. Note that the machines only crash if Parallels is running.
My suspicion is this is something to do with the fusion drive as I never had an issue running Parallels on any other machine. Have submitted this to the Apple support forum too as I haven't been able to find similar experience reported elsewhere. Also used the Parallels "Report a Problem" facility.
Are there any diagnostics can I perform to get a better view of what's happening?
The problem is that, usually overnight, but sometimes during the day, the iMacs freeze - always when they aren't being used. The symptoms are black screen (but my energy saving settings switch the screen off after 20 mins), no response from keyboard or mouse, unable to connect remotely either to drives or screen sharing. The machines are still up and consuming power, so have to be hard-reset (holding the power button down), and then started again. I get no reports of a failure when the machines restart.
Just upgraded to Parallels version 10.0.2 in the hope that it was a problem with the software, but issue still occurs. Note that the machines only crash if Parallels is running.
My suspicion is this is something to do with the fusion drive as I never had an issue running Parallels on any other machine. Have submitted this to the Apple support forum too as I haven't been able to find similar experience reported elsewhere. Also used the Parallels "Report a Problem" facility.
Are there any diagnostics can I perform to get a better view of what's happening?
Paul_Phillips
Bit poster
Right, I think I've found it! I had a look in the system log this morning after having to restart. The last event was the iMac hibernating:
26/10/2014 01:09:21.000 kernel[0]: kern_open_file_for_direct_io(0) took 15 ms
26/10/2014 01:09:21.000 kernel[0]: Opened file /var/vm/sleepimage, size 3014656000, partition base 0x0, maxio 2000000 ssd 1
26/10/2014 01:09:21.000 kernel[0]: hibernate image major 1, minor 0, blocksize 4096, pollers 5
Looking around various forums using this information and there appears to be a recognised problem with waking from hibernation when a VM is running (even if sleeping). I've now one iMac to not suspend:
sudo pmset autopoweroff 0
sudo pmset standby 0
Now I'll see what happens over the next few nights...
26/10/2014 01:09:21.000 kernel[0]: kern_open_file_for_direct_io(0) took 15 ms
26/10/2014 01:09:21.000 kernel[0]: Opened file /var/vm/sleepimage, size 3014656000, partition base 0x0, maxio 2000000 ssd 1
26/10/2014 01:09:21.000 kernel[0]: hibernate image major 1, minor 0, blocksize 4096, pollers 5
Looking around various forums using this information and there appears to be a recognised problem with waking from hibernation when a VM is running (even if sleeping). I've now one iMac to not suspend:
sudo pmset autopoweroff 0
sudo pmset standby 0
Now I'll see what happens over the next few nights...