Mouse clicks stop working in guest OS

B

billpatt

Bit poster
I have a MacBook Pro 15" Retina. I'm currently on Parallels Desktop for Mac 13.3 and macOS 10.3.4, but this problem has been consistently present since macOS 10.2 and Parallels 11.
After I've been working in Windows 10 Guest OS for a few minutes, it will stop responding to mouse clicks, left or right. The cursor still moves, but I can't change focus or activate anything. The trigger is a mystery, but generally happens when I have been working in the host OS and return to the guest.
Restarting the guest OS fixes it, but the easier solution I've found is to switch to the host OS with the guest window in the background and move the cursor back and forth over the guest window. This triggers "big cursor", a feature of macOS used to find the cursor. This resets the issue in the guest OS.
Reinstalling Parallels Toolbox doesn't help, and the new Toolbox seems to have made the problem worse.
 
This has been happening to me too for some time and it is interfering with my ability to work. I have High Sierra version 10.13.4 on MacBook Pro Retina 13-inch Early 2015 running Parallels Desktop version 13.3.0 (43321). I am using it in clamshell mode with a 4K monitor and a 2K monitor attached. I have a USB mouse and keyboard attached. I've had Mouse & Keyboard | Mouse at each possible setting, Mouse & Keyboard | Advanced Settings all off, Boot Order | Advanced Settings Boot flags with and without 'device.usb.mouse=0'. Two or three times a day the mouse stops responding in the VM but responds when I release it back to the MacBook. The VM continues to respond to the keyboard okay. The only resolution is to shut down the VM and restart it. I am able to use Microsoft Remote Desktop from the MacBook to remote to the Parallels VM and the mouse works okay but the appearance and responsiveness is less than optimal. Pausing or suspending it and resuming does not work. Another odd behavior is that a couple times a day it goes into a right-click loop in the VM, i.e. if I right-clicked on something it starts doing that rapidly and endlessly until I use Ctrl-Alt-Delete to bring up the Windows Task Manger and then it stops. I really don't want to but it may be time to consider switching to a different platform for my Windows 10 development machine.
 
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RandyB3, thanks for the feedback. You are seeing the same issues as me. I didn't mention something that may be a contributor to the issue. I don't run in clamshell, but I do use Apple Remote Desktop to view my MBP screen on my iMac 27". I just picked up a possible workaround better than mine or yours. Open the Force-Quit window on the host machine. Close it, without quitting anything. That seems to resolve the click issue for me.
Parallels people, if you're watching this thread, I'd be glad to work with your developers to debug this issue. I've been a Mac developer for 27 years, and a Parallels DT user since it came out.
 
billpatt said:
I have a MacBook Pro 15" Retina. I'm currently on Parallels Desktop for Mac 13.3 and macOS 10.3.4, but this problem has been consistently present since macOS 10.2 and Parallels 11.
After I've been working in Windows 10 Guest OS for a few minutes, it will stop responding to mouse clicks, left or right. The cursor still moves, but I can't change focus or activate anything. The trigger is a mystery, but generally happens when I have been working in the host OS and return to the guest.
Restarting the guest OS fixes it, but the easier solution I've found is to switch to the host OS with the guest window in the background and move the cursor back and forth over the guest window. This triggers "big cursor", a feature of macOS used to find the cursor. This resets the issue in the guest OS.
Reinstalling Parallels Toolbox doesn't help, and the new Toolbox seems to have made the problem worse.
Click to expand...
Hello billpatt, Parallels Toolbox is different from Parallels Tools, Parallels Toolbox is a separate bunch of applications so for the above mentioned issue,
let us ensure that Parallels Tools are properly installed. Please follow http://bit.ly/1jbXVsI to install Parallels Tools. If you see reinstall or update Parallels Tools then kindly reinstall it.
 
AJ@Parallels said:
Hello billpatt, Parallels Toolbox is different from Parallels Tools, Parallels Toolbox is a separate bunch of applications so for the above mentioned issue,
let us ensure that Parallels Tools are properly installed. Please follow http://bit.ly/1jbXVsI to install Parallels Tools. If you see reinstall or update Parallels Tools then kindly reinstall it.
Click to expand...
I just reinstalled it, restarted the VM, worked about five minutes and then the mouse quit responding again. That is not the solution. Any other ideas please?
 
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billpatt said:
I just picked up a possible workaround better than mine or yours. Open the Force-Quit window on the host machine. Close it, without quitting anything. That seems to resolve the click issue for me.
Click to expand...
I'm not sure what you mean. Force quit Parallels DT? That would seem to be a temporary fix as is restarting the VM and Parallels but not as kind to the guest OS. Or did you mean do that once and it's a permanent fix? Thanks for clarifying.
 
RandyB3 said:
I just reinstalled it, restarted the VM, worked about five minutes and then the mouse quit responding again. That is not the solution. Any other ideas please?
Click to expand...
Hello RandyB3, kindly go to the top menu bar, click on Actions--> Configure--> Hardware--> Mouse & Keyboard and set the Mouse option to "Don't optimize for games" and check if it helps.
 
AJ@Parallels, this issue predates Parallels Toolbox. As I said above, it has existed since Parallels 11. Yes, I have updated the Tools numerous times, but this does not effect the issue. Thanks for the response though.
 
RandyB3, here's what I mean about the Force-Quit window:
On the host machine, select the "Force Quit..." item from the Apple menu. Close the window without doing anything else.
I've only tried this a couple times, but it seemed to resolve the issue temporarily. Murphy's Law, now that I'm trying to test the workaround, I can't make it misbehave.
 
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billpatt said:
RandyB3, here's what I mean about the Force-Quit window:
On the host machine, select the "Force Quit..." item from the Apple menu. Close the window without doing anything else.
I've only tried this a couple times, but it seemed to resolve the issue temporarily. Murphy's Law, now that I'm trying to test the workaround, I can't make it misbehave.
Click to expand...
Ah I see, 'close the Force-Quit window'. I'll give that a try. That sounds like a possible corollary of using Ctrl-Alt-Del in the Windows client to get out of the right-click loop that happens to me occasionally. I've avoided coherence mode in the past but I'm giving that a try to see if it matters.
 
Well, I'm grasping at straws. Coherence mode went one full day and most of another before it stopped responding to mouse clicks. That's much better than Full screen view had been but not good enough. I tried opening and closing the Force Quit window when it occurred in Coherence mode but it didn't help any. Alas.
 
I went back to using Full screen view and haven't had the issue for some time. I don't know what's different as I didn't change any settings. The only significant thing that happened about the same time as the issue going away was an OS security update 2018-001.
 
It's still happening from time to time. Some days none, some days once or twice. Still on High Sierra but everything else is on latest update. I have one further observation - when the mouse left/right clicks stop working in the VM, the extra buttons on the side of the mouse I have assigned to forward/back still work.
 
Updated to Mojave 10.14.6 and Parallels 15.0.0. Now it's happening many times each day, sometimes within a few minutes. This is unworkable and unacceptable. I guess my only alternative is to switch to a Windows host machine and some other VM platform. Nice.
 
RandyB3 said:
Updated to Mojave 10.14.6 and Parallels 15.0.0. Now it's happening many times each day, sometimes within a few minutes. This is unworkable and unacceptable. I guess my only alternative is to switch to a Windows host machine and some other VM platform. Nice.
Click to expand...
Did you submit a ticket to support? If you decide to investigate the issue please collect the tech report right after the issue reproduced and post the report's ID here.
Looking forward to your reply.
 
Additional info: I can use Microsoft Remote Desktop to remote to the VM and mouse clicks work fine that way. Graphical performance is poor that way but it's a workaround until I restart the VM.
 
Additional info: touch pad behavior during one of these occurrences is the same - left/right clicks do not work in VM, other touch pad gestures work when VM has the focus, touch pad left/right clicks do work in host machine. I also uninstalled Logitech drivers - same issue, reinstalled Logitech drivers - same issue. Reinstalled Parallels toolbox - same issue. All VM gaming options are off - same issue. VM settings, Hardware, Boot Order, Boot flags:
device.usb.mouse=0, still same issue.
 
Per support ticket request, reinstalled Windows 10 1903 in the guest, reinstalled Parallels and Parallels Toolbox, still same issue.
 
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