After Snow Leopard 10.6.8 and Parallels 6.0.12090, Dock process spins at 100%

S

sebastian.good

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My mac is getting hot! The Dock process is consuming exactly 100% of my CPU, no matter which view I use (coherence, windowed, modality, etc.) I went to the VM settings and told it not to show Windows application in the dock. That stopped the 100% CPU usage, but the icons are still in the dock. (Which is great, but weird)
 
I got the same issue. This may be due to the fact that Apple made some security enhancement. I think Parallels should release a fix for this issue.
 
Thanks, Sebastian, the solution really helped. Funny is, that even if Parallels is turned off, the Dock needs 100% CPU, unless you make the settings you mentioned. Again, thanks, it's now a lot more quiet in my Office!
 
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same here after the Snow Leopard 10.6.8 update.
Thanks Sebastian, your workaround works for me as well.

Parallels should release a fix soon.
 
Found workaround :
" The Problem comes from the " Show Windows Folder in the Dock"
Workaround:

1. Right klick Paralles Icon
2. Configure
3. Select Tab Options
4. Select Applications
5. UnSelect " Show Windows Application Folder in Dock"

-> Check CPU it slows down :-)

Seems to me that was the wrong choice to use Paralells ( even the blank screen is not solved and this since month)
 
Same Problem, Same Fix

I had the same problem immediately after upgrading to 10.6.8. Only one of my virtual machines was a problem, though. I left the Windows applications in the dock for two other VMs without a problem.

Hey, Parallels -- any fix coming soon?
 
After upgrading to 10.6.8, I was having the 100% CPU problem, too, and did the following to fix the problem:

-Launched Activity Monitor to watch the DOCK eat up 100% of a CPU on my MacBook Pro
-Trashed: user>library>preferences>com.apple.dock.plist
-made a screen shot of the dock in case I wanted to rebuild it the same as before
- Used Activity Monitor to quit the DOCK process, a rebuilt DOCK then appeared. I took this opportunity to redo what I had in my DOCK.

That seems to have solved the problem for me and I still have Parallels showing the current virtual screen in the dock icon. I haven't changed the Parallels settings at all. So not sure the 100% CPU problem was a Parallels bug or an Apple bug, but the solution to get around it (so far) has been pretty easy. We'll see if the problem comes back after sleep or relaunch. Still a hassle for the general user.
 
I had the same 100% CPU usage issue, but removing the the dock applications folder for all my windows VM's fixed
 
for those of you with this issue, were you even able to open the Windows Application Folder in your dock? my Windows Application Folder doesn't open at all. if i click it, nothing happens. if i right click and do "show in finder", then Finder hangs, goes into 100% CPU usage, and i have to relaunch it.

also, my windows application icons all went missing. i just upgraded to 10.6.8, so i'm sure it's all related, but i hadn't seen anyone describe this specific symptom.

parallels, is there a fix on the way?
 
WorkAround for now

The work-around offered in the 111541 KB article is fine for now. It was easily found via a quick google search today, and has recovered my iMac7,1. Thanks to the Parallels team for a quick posting. I submit others here should give them some time to work with Apple to get us a permanent fix. It's not ALWAYS the fault of the Parallels team!
 
Perhaps I was just lucky but this bug didn't hit me until June, 6 months after it was first identified. I spent about half a day troubleshooting and de-installing/re-installing Parallels thinking I had done something wrong to cause the lock-up before looking at the Parallels support pages. On the future, might I suggest that Parallels send an e-mail to all registered Parallels 6 for Mac owners notifying them of this (or similar future problems) and including the work around. Would have saved me lots of time and grief at almost no cost to Parallels.

I really do like the Parallels product and have recommended it to several people, BUT their customer service is rudimentary at best. I never did find a way to submit the above suggestion. I wasn't looking for a technical fix as I had already found it.
 
My computer is jacked

Sometimes the dock process is 100%. Other times the loginwindow process is 100%. Now both processes are 100%. Occasionally I have to re-login 3-4 times to get to my OS X 10.6.8 desktop. This happens when 2 companies don't test before releasing software.
 
Disabling the Windows Application Folder (WAF in the rest of this post) in the dock should fix the 100% CPU of the Dock process.

But whatever new format/method Parallels is using for the icons is also causing the Finder to crash/lock up/beachball/high CPU if you open a Finder window showing the WAF. The Finder can't draw the icons of the files properly. On my system, the location of the WAF has been moved again to ~/Library/Caches/Parallels/Applications Menus/(VM Name) Applications/ (which I appreciate because I didn't like it in the ~/Applications/ folder) and if I open that folder in the Finder, it crashes the Finder.

When they were in the old location and format (small application), I used an icon editor to apply custom icons to the apps as I didn't like the Windows icons (with the Parallels red lines) or they were low resolution. I would add 128, 256, and often 512 pixel icons to the application file. Is this adjustment causing the Finder issue with your new XML format?

EDIT/Followup: It seems I was wrong about the new location. The small applications are still located in my ~/Applications/ folder and the new files in the ~/Library/Caches/Parallels/ folder are just pointer/detail files of the Start menu. Still having Finder crashes when trying to view that folder though.
 
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What about Polish version of Parallels 6.0

I've checked the latest updates of PD 6.0 for Mac and for Polish version it's linked to compilation 6.0.11826
Unfortunately this version does not fix the above mentioned problem. Is the update to 6.0.12092 planned for Polish PD 6.0?
 
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