prl_vm_app @ 99.9% CPU on Mac OS X 10.7

This thread has been a treasure trove. iMac Version 10.9, 2.66, i5, 8GB, Parallels 9. I keep Windows (XP Pro) only because our CPA’s tax collection program has not yet ported over from the Darkside. Windows began running at glacial speed, prl_vm_app taking over 100% of the CPU in Activity Monitor. Using the suggestions above, I went to Control Panel, Performance & Maintenance, Scheduled Tasks and deleted every scheduled task starting with Adobe Updater and ending with AVG anti-virus updater. Rebooted Windows and started Activity Monitor and saw an immediate reduction for 100%+ CPU usage to 5% CPU usage. Started some windows tasks such as native Windows Defrag from Control Panel and saw prl_vm_app go from 5% to 50%, then jump around with a high around 70% and back down to 5% when the defrag finished.
Started a third party Defrag and saw Activity Monitor prl_vm_app jump to 110% then drop immediately to 100% and then down into the 50% range. When defrag finished in about a minute, prl_vm_app is now sitting at 4%. Can no longer fry bacon on my CPU diode.

So, the problem is inside Windows. No surprise there. Now long retired from IT, will be most happy to see the last of Windows on this iMac.

Thanks for the helpful hints above.

Tom
 
Found solution high CPU usage: AVG + Microsfot Visual Basic (every application using)

travellerva said:
I found the problem!! If you go to Windows task manager (Ctrl+Alt+Del) in the VM you'll see a task called TaskBarUpdater hogging the cpu. I did a search on the Windows blogs and found the following:

"Go to Add/Remove Software [in the Windows Control Panel]. Uninstall the StartNow Task program (you’ll see it in the list). This obviously is some sort of IE add on that installed itself during a 3rd party software installation."

I did this and pri_vm_app dropped down to less than 10%.

What a relief after months of frustration.
Click to expand...

Hello,
I think I found the problem: I looked at my Windows Activity Monitor (Task Manager) and saw that when I start the program that uses high CPU resources of MAC Activity Monitor that it happens only when I start SDL Studio 2011 (based on Microsoft Office and Visual Basic, Framework etc..) my AVG UI goes crazy... So I stopped AVG monitoring, killed this process and uninstalled this antivirus.... My CPU usage of VM is about 6% now... My Macbook Pro Can not even reach 55 C degrees...
 
I'm experiencing the same issue on my MacBook Air with Mavericks.
I stopped the Windows Defender runtime protection and the Windows Search service, and the fan is not anymore going crazy. Anyway I didn't test the VM under real workload.

It's annoying that this problem is here since long time ago and not yet fixed.

It's a pity to say that I could switch back to other virtualization solutions, because I was really satisfied when I switched to Parallels.
 
I also discovered many winwdos functions "devoring" CPU . I installed Prio addendum to Task Manager to lower the priority of some tasks.... It does not always work...
 
I'm experiencing the same issue on my iMac...it's becoming more and more annoying, and no one from Parallels says anything about it...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top