Since a few weeks ago we have multiple Windows 11 installations randomly crashing and rebooting. All Macs are older iMac models with Intel CPU. We're running v26.1.2 (57293) on Tahoe. I attempted to do a repair install of Windows, but that throws an error during the last step (something went wrong...) and aborts. What can we do to find the cause of the problem and hopefully fix this?
Hello @MartinW16 We have created a support ticket to assist you. Please check your email for future communication. Regards,
Same with me - New behavior over the past 3-4 weeks. Very troubling! Running Parallels Desktop Version 26.2.2 (57373) on a 2019 MacBook Pro w/ plenty of disk space fully updated Windows OS (Pro, 25H2, OS Build 26200.7840) Will sometimes crash & reboot a couple times a day - no warning. Also have noticed the small Parallels icon with the double diagonal arrows that I use to switch views, suspend, etc. at the top of the mac desktop is intermittent - mostly gone. Have to right-click the Windows icon in the Dock to get the same menu choices.
Support told us to switch from Parallels hypervisor to Apple's. I can't tell yet if that helps. 1. Shutdown any running virtual machine (Click on the "Actions" menu on top of the Mac menu bar > "Shutdown" OR if the virtual machine is suspended > Resume it first then shut it down) 2. Right-click on the Parallels icon in the Dock > Control Center > Right-click on your Windows 11 virtual machine > Configure 3. Select the "Hardware" tab > CPU & Memory > Advanced > Click on "Parallels" Hypervisor and change it to "Apple" > Close the Configuration Window
= = = After I seconded the issue above, I was looking around my settings and noticed for some reason my Win 11 virtual machine was set up to use 8 GB of RAM. That seemed too low for that OS, so I bumped it up to 16 GB. I'll ride that for a few days to see if it helps. If not, I'll try making the hypervisor change.
We've seen similar behavior when Windows 11 is running in Parallels with tight resource allocation. A few things you can check: Make sure the VM has at least 8GB RAM (more if possible) Allocate 4 CPU cores minimum Disable "Automatic resource optimization" in Parallels settings Update Parallels Tools inside Windows Check Windows Event Viewer → System logs to see if it's a driver or memory-related crash If you're on Apple Silicon, also confirm you're running the ARM version of Windows 11, since mismatched builds can cause random instability. In most cases we've debugged, it turned out to be allocation or tools-related rather than a core Windows issue.
