Parallels Issues in Leopard

Discussion in 'Windows Virtual Machine' started by rparker, Feb 3, 2008.

  1. rparker

    rparker Bit poster

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    Previously, I ran Windows Vista Ultimate through a parallels virtual disk in my tiger install. That computer was an imac, 2.4ghz Imac with 2gb's of ram.

    I recently had to part with the imac for portability, and now I own a macbook pro, 2.4ghz, 2gb ram. The laptop has a fresh tiger install, and this time, I installed Vista Ultimate on a bootcamp partition (bootcamp support came well after I was established with my virtual disk).

    The issue starts there, for one, parallels starts up fine, albeit slow. But, ram and processor usage within leopard are significantly higher than what I encountered in tiger. In tiger, Parallels would normaly take up around 2-4% cpu when idle. Now, it is constantly taking 20-30%. Launching a simple application like Internet Explorer spikes the cpu even further.

    Is the performance decrease resulting solely from the changes in leopard, or is it a parallels error? Also, if it is a parallels error, is there an estimate by which the issue will be fixed?
     
  2. Alicia

    Alicia Parallels Team

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    683
    Hello,

    what Parallels Desktop build are you using?
     
  3. rparker

    rparker Bit poster

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    The latest one, I think it is 5584.
     
  4. rparker

    rparker Bit poster

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    Bump. Any updates on what I can do about this problem.
     
  5. Alicia

    Alicia Parallels Team

    Messages:
    683
    Hello,

    do you mean that previously you had Tiger and now you have Leopard? You wrote "The laptop has a fresh tiger install" and it confused me because then you compared the productivity of Parallels on Tiger and Leopard.
    How mach RAM do you have allocated to the VM?
     
  6. rparker

    rparker Bit poster

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    Sorry, let me clarify myself.

    Computer A: Imac, 2.4ghz, 2gb ram, Tiger, all updates, parallels 5584
    Computer B: Macbook Pro, 2.4ghz, 2gb ram, Leopard, all updates, parallels 5584

    Both Computer A and B are running Windows Vista Ultimate, with all updates.

    Computer A was running parallels off a virtual disk, and it performed excellently. Computer B is running parallels off boot camp, and performance is extremely degraded.

    Parallels on Computer A would consume less than 2% cpu when idle. Parallels on Computer B consumes 30% cpu when idle.

    So, to answer your question, In parallels preferences, ram allocation is set to automatic. In the guest os configuration, it is kept to the recommended 512mb.
     
  7. Alicia

    Alicia Parallels Team

    Messages:
    683
    Hello,

    thank your for the detailed information.
    Could you please make a screenshot of processes in the Task Manager and attach it here?

    And do you have any USB devices connected to the VM? Please, try to disconnect them, reboot the VM and check the CPU usage again (without them connected)?
     
  8. rparker

    rparker Bit poster

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    I have attached a screenshot of both task manager in vista and activity monitor in leopard.

    I have no usb devices attached.
     

    Attached Files:

  9. Alicia

    Alicia Parallels Team

    Messages:
    683
    Hello,

    what is that "TrustedInstall..." process in the Task manager? What program runs it? Please, try to stop it and check the CPU usage again.
     
  10. rparker

    rparker Bit poster

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    I killed the process. But results were not too different. CPU usage for parallels spikes between 20% to 40% while idle, cpu usage while running applications are even greater.
     

    Attached Files:

  11. Alicia

    Alicia Parallels Team

    Messages:
    683
    Hello,

    thank you for the information provided!

    Unfortunately, it seems that it is a normal current performance for running a boot camp Windows. We are trying to fix this issue and to improve Parallels performance. Sorry for all the inconveniences caused.
     

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