Windows 10 Preview 2 - unreadable Modern UI apps & tools reinstall

J

JamesC2

Bit poster
Installed 64 bit release of Windows 10 build 9926. First problem - like others in other thread, Parallel tools installs & reboots over & over. My other problem: The normal Desktop and apps reached by right-click on Start button (Control Panel, etc.) all look normal in English. The actual menu reached by left-click on Start button and the Modern UI apps both show up in an unreadable form that looks like very bold face blocks and shapes. Language settings in Control Panel have no effect. Deleted VM and reinstalled, same thing. I need to set Windows 10 to use my normal Microsoft ID instead of the local ID same as my Mac ID, can't get to that section. I don't really know if this is coming from Parallels, downloaded the ISO file from the Microsoft link - Install appeared to go properly (although a lot quicker than I expected). The previous build of Windows 10 was running normally before I deleted it to install the new version. I'm also running Windows 8.1 in a VM and Ubuntu 14.04 LET in a VM (not all at the same time). Mac Mini Server 2011, quad core i7 processor, two 500G hard drives, 16G RAM.
 
I did the new install, shut it down, and checked the "enable" value in config.pvs. Interestingly, it was already set to zero. The weird graphic characters on all the Modern UI screens are gone - in fact, there is no text at all (which makes it rather difficult to use the Settings app to change the user from the Mac username to my Microsoft user account, or to make any settings. The settings app shows all blank, with nine grey squares, each of which leads to another screen, and is only visible if I hover the mouse above it. I won't delete this copy, but will wait a day or so to see if Parallels comes up with any answer and will see if I can search the forums to find an answer.
 
The fonts are not readable when I use IE 11 and elsewhere in some apps. I have tried changing display settings but I can't fix the problem either. I have a Macbook Pro 2011. I have deleted and reinstalled but still have the same issue. Searched internet and apparently there were issues like this with 8.1 in the begining. My guess is that Parallels is not using the correct drivers as I have 8.1 and 7 running with no issues like this. Noticed that the Display is labeled differently in windows 10 with no way of changing it.
 
JamesC2 said:
I did the new install, shut it down, and checked the "enable" value in config.pvs. Interestingly, it was already set to zero. The weird graphic characters on all the Modern UI screens are gone - in fact, there is no text at all (which makes it rather difficult to use the Settings app to change the user from the Mac username to my Microsoft user account, or to make any settings. The settings app shows all blank, with nine grey squares, each of which leads to another screen, and is only visible if I hover the mouse above it. I won't delete this copy, but will wait a day or so to see if Parallels comes up with any answer and will see if I can search the forums to find an answer.
Click to expand...
I have 2 other versions of Windows that running in Parallels without this issue. I checked the display name on both of them and one reads like windows 10 "Generic non PnP Monitor" and the other reads "Generic non PnP Monitor on standard VGA graphics adapter" all show 1280 x 800 so I don't think it is that driver. It is not a problem with IE as the apps and other set up screens have problems with graphics but normal text looks ok. I tried fooling around with fonts but it didn't change anything. Some screens have weird symbols in place of text that look like some alien language.

I was going to try to download windows 10 tech review from Microsoft but you can't read the screen to download it.


A LITTLE HELP PARALLELS TEAM PLEASE or take this garbage off your site.
 
My last message was incorrect, I was looking at AutoStart instead of AutoUpdate. I have now edited AutoUpdate and changed the value to zero. I also found it necessary to manually remove IGT.exe (the file that starts Parallels Tools update) from the \ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup directory (I moved it to \Temp, so I can restore if needed). This has cured the over-and-over install tools, reboot, ... cycle.
Still no visible text in any of the Modern UI windows.
Since Microsoft released this late on a Friday, before they planned to release, Parallels probably does have to make some changes for 10 to work correctly for all users. I'll just let it sit a few days and follow up on it then. A big "Thank You" to ALL who have responded to my request. Jim.
 
According to Parallels knowlege base this VM for Windows 10 tech review will only last 90 days so I doubt we will get this fixed and hopefully the problem will go away when Windows 10 is released. I wonder if anybody has it running properly. If anybody does let us know what hardware you are using. I am going to try to download some software to see if that will work but IE is unusable.
 
The patch worked for the fonts on my retina MBP 2014, but on my MBP 2011 it seems I'm seeing the same font problem even after fixing the reboot issue.
 
I figure Parallels developers WILL have things working by the time the product is released to the public. I did attend Microsoft's release webinar, and they made a big point out of having a new version of Direct-X, their graphics display technology. I'm in a computer business, and have a service call this morning, but will set to DX 9 when I get back. After all, this is just released BETA software. Makes sense that the later Mac Mini doesn't have the font problem, it has a later Intel video assembly. That information is helpful.
If I REALLY had to get a machine up and running, I'd just put a spare HD in my shop test machine and burn the ISO to DVD, make an old fashioned non-virtual machine. After all, there can't be a huge difference in hardware requirement, or the announcement that there would be a free upgrade for a year for Windows 8.1 AND Windows 7 users would not have happened.
IE does have the font problem. I downloaded the stub install for Firefox, and FF runs without display problems on the W10 VM. Just save the FF executable in the Downloads folder on the Mac, then load it from inside Win 10.
 
Thanks, joachimi - changing the autoupdate AND changing from DX10 to DX9 - the system is working properly and displaying properly now.
 
This may be a stupid question, but how do you change the DX version? Especially, assuming it's done from within Windows, how do you change it when so many places have the text unreadable or missing entirely?
 
The change to the DX version is made with Parallels running, but NOT with Windows running. On the Parallels menu, choose Actions, then Configure. Go to the Video section - select the version of Acceleration from the menu. Most all settings in Configure cannot be changed while the associated Virtual Machine is running, but controls are here for setting such things as how much RAM is allocated, how many processor cores, and a multitude of other options. After you have set for V9 instead of V10, Windows will come up readable. This is on the older Macs, my understanding is that the later ones work OK with V10 (I don't have a later one to test this - my machine is a 2011 Mini Server version.
I also changed so that Parallels Tools does not auto-install - this has meant that I have to use the Parallels menu to install Tools whenever Microsoft updates the version. Hope this helps.
 
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