Parallels Auto-Suspend When Mac Sleeps

J

JeffA8

Bit poster
Hello, I am using Parallels Desktop 18 on a MacBook Pro 14 Inch (M1 Pro). I am having a bit of an issue with an external SSD attached to my Mac that I often use in Windows (note that the VM itself is installed directly on the Mac and not on the external drive).

When I put the computer to sleep, I use a program to automatically eject all external drives and then it automatically re-connects them upon awakening (Mac program is called Jettison). Unfortunately, if the Windows 11 VM is running or paused when I put the Mac to sleep, I get an error from Jettison upon returning to the computer that it was unable to eject the external drive since it was in use in the Parallels Windows VM. I was able to confirm manually that is I suspend the VM instead of pausing, Jettison is able to eject the external drive without issue.

I know I can disable auto-pause in Parallels, but what I am wondering is whether there is a way to have Parallels automatically suspend Windows 11 whenever my Mac goes to sleep (whether put to sleep automatically or manually).
 
I've been trying to figure out a similar issue for the past several months and I may have just stumbled across the answer: Try unchecking the Enable Power Nap feature for both the battery and the power adapter in the System Preferences ==> Battery preference panel.
 
On my 2019 (Intel) MBP with Windows 10 running in PD, the Sleep command in the Apple menu puts the computer to sleep for about 2-3 seconds after which the computer wakes up. There no issue when PD is manually suspended. Unchecking the Power Nap setting fixed the problem and the Sleep command (or closing the lid) now puts the computer to sleep regardless of the state of PD. I understand that these settings do not apply to the Silicon based Macs, so I think the issue is back to Parallels to address.
 
Interesting, having checked all power settings in both the host VM (Windows 11 arm) and in Settings on my Apple Silicon Mac Studio last night. I locked the screen and expected the build I started last night to have completed in the morning - how damned inconvenient is that - its a 5 hour build time!!. It did not and it appears that the VM had been suspended. Checks showed that locking the screen for a short period of time does not suspend the VM but it seems if left longer then by default the VM gets suspended, perhaps helpful for power saving on a laptop! Mac Studio is not a laptop so maybe default options should be different!. I have just noted in the Parallels VM configuration settings page the startup and shutdown options and note the "always ready in background setting" which I currently have unchecked! Hmm I wonder! A quick check indicates that perhaps it does help! With the build still running I locked the screen while I made coffee, about 5 mins. The build had progressed while the screen was locked when previously it had not! Wish I'd noticed this setting last night! Anyway my machine will be so busy now all morning that instead of dev work I'll have to do some admin, VAT return maybe!
 
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