Parallels Tools install breaks my Windows 10

S

StacyJ

Bit poster
Sometime after updating to Parallels 12, I have started having issues with my Windows 10 vm. I use this for work so it breaks at the most inconvenient times! What happens is, i get an update to Parallels 12, that installs, then tools installs, and then wants to restart the vm. Soon as windows restarts it isn't usable. Sometimes it won't let me login. Sometimes it will but i can't use the start menu. Doesn't matter if i log in with a normal local account or a local admin account. Most applications won't run. Start Menu isn't available. Nothing works until i revert to a snapshot. This morning I got the parallels 12 desktop update to 12.1.3 it installed. Then tools installed. As long as i postponed the restart things were fine. Soon as i restarted it was same broken crap. So reverted to snapshot so i can function. This time i opened a support case and am posting here. I saw at least one other person posted a similar issue. So when is this going to be fixed??
 
Wow! The exact same thing happened to me. Updated, tools installed, restart. Quite a few minutes to start after logging in. All app icons missing from task bar (except Edge). Nothing happen when I click on the start. No way to shut down or restart. Been using the snapshots to launch then cancelling tools update. Any ideas for a fix?
 
Hm, looks like I've the same problem here. Can't tell you exactly which update or what action messed my system, because I'm not the only person working on the Mac, but my Win10 VM hangs on the logon-screen, after a few minutes I get errors "invalid handle" on the login screen and "C:\Windows\system32\config\systemprofile\Desktop no permission" and it proceeds to desktop, but the taskbar doesn't work and the icons are missing. Everything takes minutes to appear ...

The most curious about the problem: I've copied the Win10.pvm in October 2016 as a backup, and after copying back to the Mac and running this VM, I get the same problem!! This VM worked perfectly months ago.

The problem appeared, before installing this weeks MacOS update, and before installing this weeks Parallels update.
System: MacBook Pro retina 15 (2013), Parallels Desktop 12Pro, Windows 10Pro

Please help, I need the system for work!
Thanks, bye!
 
Flinky said:
Hm, looks like I've the same problem here. Can't tell you exactly which update or what action messed my system, because I'm not the only person working on the Mac, but my Win10 VM hangs on the logon-screen, after a few minutes I get errors "invalid handle" on the login screen and "C:\Windows\system32\config\systemprofile\Desktop no permission" and it proceeds to desktop, but the taskbar doesn't work and the icons are missing. Everything takes minutes to appear ...

The most curious about the problem: I've copied the Win10.pvm in October 2016 as a backup, and after copying back to the Mac and running this VM, I get the same problem!! This VM worked perfectly months ago.

The problem appeared, before installing this weeks MacOS update, and before installing this weeks Parallels update.
System: MacBook Pro retina 15 (2013), Parallels Desktop 12Pro, Windows 10Pro

Please help, I need the system for work!
Thanks, bye!
Click to expand...
Hi, did you try to start the
sfc /scannow command in the Command prompt on the Windows side?
 
@maria
Nope, I tried the following steps:
- Re-Installing Parallels Tools multiple times
- the shutdown -r command
- updated to latest Parallels
- restored Windows System to an earlier point (Jan 14th)
- reset the user profile (regedit, set RefCount to 0, restart)
- created a new user, but Parallels seems to force to login as the "main user"

and after nothing worked i copied the backup from an older VM from 2016 (Windows 10.pvm) to the Mac and I had the same problem ... so I think, maybe there is a problem in the interface Parallels-Windows. If it's an Windows Update, or Parallels Tools, or User Profile related issue, the older VM should work, but it doesn't ....
:-(
 
i was sure it was parallels tools. that was the common denominator. i could revert back to a snapshot prior to installing and all was good. things only broke after installing tools and restarting. at that point i followed various things i found on the internet including creating another user, etc no help. i even opened a ticket with parallels they insisted it was an issue with windows 10 and that microsoft was working on it and i didn't really believe them. i was given a 1-800-642-7676 to call microsoft. Instead i reverted back to my old working snapshot. set with the box unchecked to auto update tools. And tried a fresh win10 install on vmware fusion. imagine my surprise when i had the same issue on fusion. so i dug deeper. This solution referenced in this link worked for me -
ymmv. i haven't decided whether to go back to parallels or stick with fusion. But am glad to know that both now seem to work.
 
OK, the sec /scannow command didn't work and also the youtube-video didn't fix the problem.

:-(

After that all, I also tried again to run that October VM .... but without luck, hangs on logon and nothing works ....
 
Last edited:
LATEST UPDATE:
I've deleted Parallels 12.1.3 and the Toolbox, then I downloaded and installed Parallels 12.1.1
After starting the older Oct16-VM-Backup, the Parallels Tools installed, but this wasn't a problem: this system now works.
The actual VM still has the problem ... even with Parallels 12.1.1
 
LAST UPDATE:
I finally found no fix to repair my defective VM, but I was able to use my October-backup VM in Parallels 12.1.1, then I installed all the Windows Updates, and I also risked to install the latest Parallels update 12.1.3 + PTools ... now my System is all up to date and works again.

Advice of the day: BACKUP your VMs regularly!

Thanks for your help and bye!!
 
Flinky said:
LAST UPDATE:
I finally found no fix to repair my defective VM, but I was able to use my October-backup VM in Parallels 12.1.1, then I installed all the Windows Updates, and I also risked to install the latest Parallels update 12.1.3 + PTools ... now my System is all up to date and works again.

Advice of the day: BACKUP your VMs regularly!

Thanks for your help and bye!!
Click to expand...
Great! Happy to hear that you've reverted from the backup and fixed the issue.
Please feel free to reach us anytime for support.
 
This doesn't seem like a coincidence as I am having exactly the same issue after upgrade to Parallels 12.1.3 and then the corresponding Tools upgrade. An enormous amount of errors in Event Viewer system logs post upgrade that were not occurring prior. I think I will try rolling back to 12.1.2 and see how that goes.
 
Hi, I've had a similar but probably even worse problem because in my case after upgrading to Mac OS Sierra and Parallels 12 I cannot boot into windows 10 again. I've tried pretty much all options but nothing has worked so far. I get the "cannot boot MBR is missing" error message. I'm tempted to roll back to my old config using "El Capitan" but it is quite laborious and there's no guarantee it will work. All I want at this stage is to retrieve my files in the virtual partition. Is there any way I can open a .pvm file and get my files back? Many thanks in advance for your help.
 
Same here, what a PITA.
Updating to Parallels 12 and rolling on the major Windows 10 update at the same time broke two separate Windows 10 VMs on two different Macs.
None of the tips mentioned in this thread resolved the issue,
and had to roll on a Windows 7 backup image and spend hours migrating data back from the W10 image to W7.
 
This has now hosed TWO installs of Windows 10, I'm not happy. I have to say I'm not impressed with support in these forums either, they seem to completely ignore that this is a major issue. Starting to regret handing over my money if I'm honest.
 
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