Annoying Bug with Parallels Tools

L

lucaseve

Member
Hi everybody,

The latest versions of Parallels tools has introduced a really annoying bug.
After a while, without any particular event, the Tools application whose icon is normally visible on right side of the task bar stops to work (therefore I can't use clipboards synch with Mac OS) but the really bad thing is that is impossible to relaunch the application because is impossible to kill the zombie (or whatever is the name on Windows) with task manager or process explorer. The only way is to reboot Windows!!
Please, Paralles team, fix that or at least let me know how to manage to restart the application without to reboot... or any other workaround.
Thanks in advance.

Luca Severini
 
Hello Luca,

Could you let me see a number of screenshots for I could deliver them to our engineers for investigation?

1. I would like to have a look at Parallels Tools Center, Clipboard synchronization section (when everything is running OK);
2. When you can't use Clipboards synch with Mac OS any more, please make a screenshot of Windows Task Manager, Processes tab;
3. Try to End process when you can't see Parallels Tools Center icon in the system tray, then make a screenshot of C:\Program Files\Parallels\Parallels Tools;
4. Could you also attach a list of programs installed on your VM (Control Panel -> Add or Remove Programs)?

Best regards,
Xenos
 
Screenshots

Hi Xenos,

I've attached a compressed pdf file containing the screenshots you requested.
Please note that the first two of them are related to the situation before the Tools stop responding.
Preparing the screenshots I noticed that the Tools stop a little after I begin to use Visual Studio 2003 launching some debug session. I'm usual to use Parallels with Visual Studio on PC platform to develop software, mainly QuarkXPress Xtensions and InDesign plugins.
I hope these informations will help you to fix the problem.
Let me know if you need more.

Best regards,

Luca Severini
 

Attachments

Hello Luca,

Thank you very much for the screenshots.
Could you specify, do you manage to end the process in Task Manager or not?
We appreciate the information on Visual Studio 2003. Will test this.

Best regards,
Xenos
 
Hello Xenos,

The process is unkillable (or at least it remains in the process list and prevents to launch the Tools again) with both Task Manager and Process Explorer.
Up to now the only way is to reboot or suspend/resume Windows.
I've downloaded a couple of other freeware task managers but didn't have the time to make tests.
If you want me to test those other task managers let me know.

Best regards,

Luca Severini
 
Hello Luca,

Please disable Kaspersky to check if this software causes the issue.

Best regards,
Xenos
 
I've found the cause

Hello Xenos,

I've tried already disabling or quitting Karpesky... nothing changed: the Tools goes "zombie" and can't be closed and restarted.

Anyway doing some I've found the cause: When I launch an old version of QuarkXPress 4.11 (released in 1999 but still used today in some large daily newspapers) the Tools disappears from the bar few seconds later...
Attached you can find the application folder that, for our luck, it's pretty simple to copy on another PC because doesn't require any installation. I left inside the folder only what is necessary to reproduce the problem, at least, on my Windows.

I also noteced that when I restart Windows to relaunch the Tools, sometimes, the shutdown sequence hangs.
Let me know if you have been able to reproduce the problem or not. Thanks.

Unfortunately I' haven't been able to attach the application to the message because of some unexpected errors. Please let me know how to do that. If you want you can contact me with my email that I think you have somewhere (I'm a registered user); if not, let me know.

Best regards,

Luca severini
 
Hey,

reminds me of my problem. I have the same issues (Parallels Tools "disappear"/crash) when using Adobe (Macromedia) Director MX 2004.

I reported these issues in the beginning of February. The support team could reproduce this error, but until today I did not get any more responses hints or any reaction at all. Still very, very disappointed...

Or are there any news?

joge

PS: Sorry Luca for using your thread for this. But at least we have the same problems...
 
Some hints

Regarding how XPress provokes the problem with Tools, it happens only when XPress load the Preview Enhancement XTension so I'm inclined to think is something related to the dll (QuarkXTensions module itself is a dll) loading phase or initialization during the startup of the application (Tools disappears immediately after the startup is complete). Only my conjecture anyway.

Best regards,

Luca Severini
 
Hello,

Luca, thanks a lot for all the details. This information is really valuable.
We would appreciate if you could upload the application to Parallels FTP server.
I've just sent you a private message with the instructions.
Please let me know by PM when you do.

Joge, I will inquire and will let you know at what stage is the work on your issue.

Best regards,
Xenos
 
Application Upload complete

Hi Xenos,

I read your instructions that seems to refer how to upload entire the vm file... anyway I'm sending you only the zip file with the application QuarkXPress. You can find it in your ftp server in /support .
Let me know if the upload was successful.
Parallels version is the latest one, the same for Windows XP (fully updated with everything released from Microsoft)

Best regards,

Luca severini
 
Good.
When you have a new version of Parallels that fixs that problem, if you want, I'm available to test it.

Best Regards,

Luca Severini
 
To add to this thread, if you try to kill the process from the command line using

taskkill /IM ParallelsToolsCenter.exe /F

it responds by saying that the task has been successfully terminated, however looking at task manager it's still there. It's impossible to restart parallels tools as well.
 
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