Shared folders nightmare - unusable.

A

andythornton

Junior Member
I have never had acceptable performance from shared folders under parallels. It has ranged from 'sluggish' to 'hung GUI'. All I want is access to my Mac drive from Windows XP under parallels. Right now, if you double click the Mac .psf in windows explorer you will have to wait at least 20 seconds for anything to happen (if you're lucky). Often, you'll never get there - the GUI for that explorer window hangs. Is it just me?? If it is, then it's just me with 2 totally different systems:
I have Parallels 2.x running XP on a Macbook Pro 2.33Ghz 2 gig RAM 10.4.11 and Parallels 3.x running XP an a Mac Pro 2.6Ghz Quad with 5 gig RAM 10.4.11. No bootcamp on either.
If I don't attempt to touch .psf folders, everything else is pretty snappy, including my cheapy NAS drive.

PLEASE can anyone suggest how I get a useable performance from what should be a very simple function. I've tried all sorts and got nowhere. I don't think it's my failing since I have 2 very different systems with the same issue.

TIA
Andy
 
OK. So no one has any suggestions (including the vendor). Can any one confirm that they have a similar problem so I know I'm not an isolated case?
BTW, I have reinstalled parallels tools resulting in no change to the issue.
 
I have not seen as long a delay as you, but reported in a different thread that access through .psf was remarkably slower than through an SMB share. You may want to use the same workaround I have and enable SMB sharing on the Mac side and use standard windows sharing to access the folders enabled for sharing. Hopefully the Parallels dev crew is on this one.

Karl
 
Hi Xenos,

Could you clarify a bit: if build 5584 was posted on Jan 18 and the most recent MacFuse 1.3.1 was Jan 9th - isn't 1.3.1 what was distributed with 5584?

When I look in my /system/library/FileSystems/ folder, I don't see a fusefs.fs folder - so I'm confused: is MacFuse required for Parallels to operate? If so, where should the current installation be to verify the version that is presently on my system?

I'll go ahead and install anyway while I wait to hear from you. ;-)

Thanks,
Karl
 
PS OK, so after installing again, I still don't have anything in /system/library/Filesystems which is where the MacFuse FAQ said to look:
http://code.google.com/p/macfuse/wiki/FAQ

But, I do have fusefs.fs as the only entry in /Library/Filesystems.

Checking via TimeMachine, I don't see any different between what I just installed and what was there. (Open package, view version: 1.3.1)

Karl
 
More detail on slow psf performance

Updating MacFuse had no effect, Xenos - no doubt because I already had 1.3.1 installed.

Attached is something that may be of interest to you and the dev team.

I ran my Access database update twice - once with files on an SMB share and once with the files on a folder shared via .psf

The SMB (windows sharing) share took 55 seconds; the .psf share took 480 seconds to complete - nearly 9x longer.

I ran Activity Monitor and with the Parallels process selected, clicked the 'Sample' button. The samples (not the same place in code execution of course - but inside the same loop) are attached in a zip file. In comparing the two samples, you will note that critical sections seem to be handled differently depending on how the shared file is accessed - and this may be the performance problem with psf?

BTW: running the same task with the files in the virtual file system only takes about 10 seconds. The performance issue is all about network file access.

Regards,
Karl
 

Attachments

Upgraded to V3 on MBP

My Mac Pro already had PD V3 and was terrible with .psf access, but I decided to upgrade my Macbook Pro from V2.5 to V3 to see if I got lucky. No joy. .psf was still hideously slow.
I'd never heard of MacFuse until I started trying to delve into this issue. I've seen nothing in the Parallels documentation saying I need to install it, is it not included in the PD install disk image? And if so, would I not have the latest version by default if I've just upgraded??
Anyway, I followed the link above offered by Xenos and downloaded/installed V1.3.0 (I'm on Tiger), and It seems to have had no effect.
If I click the XP desktop shortcut to Parallels Shared Folders it takes 25 seconds to open. Similar problem with getting to My Computer since the psf is mapped in there. Then sometimes (not always?) another 25 seconds to open sub-folders.

Perhaps I'm not using the right networking mode? Shared/Bridged/Host Only? Is there a preferred mode to get optimum performance out of .psf?

Thanks to Dr Karl for the smb share idea. Unfortunately, when I try to add a network place from XP to my MBP samba share the window hangs or says it's not a valid share!!
 
Hi Andy,

You wrote: "when I try to add a network place from XP to my MBP samba share the window hangs or says it's not a valid share."

Maybe it was just fast typing and this doesn't say what you meant to say ... but it is the other way around if you want the equivalent of psf. In OS X, you enable SMB file sharing and set up your workgroup name for Windows sharing of a user account / folders. Then, in Windows, it is the normal Windows thing - find the shared Mac under My Network Places > Microsoft Windows Network > [workgroup] and enter Guest/password if you have enabled pw, etc.

Going the other way works fine for me too - my VM is in the same workgroup as my Mac SMB and all of my windows computers, and so it shows up in Finder as a shared machine on Leopard and Tiger - access to all shared folders as should happen.

I wonder if you might have a firewall issue?

Karl

PS As best as I can fathom, until we hear from Xenos, MacFuse is the technology that Parallels uses to view the VM's monolithic HD file as a file system both by Parallels and Parallels Explorer. I don't really see how this has anything at all to do with viewing Mac files and folders.
 
Hi Karl

Thanks for the support. I didn't phrase it very well but what you suggested is what I did. At first, the MBP showed up in the workgroup under XP but with no share?? I tried manually pointing to it with \\ip\user but it sat for ages before reporting invalid path. Eventually, I got to it by 'view workgroup computers'. The share appeared there and I was able to connect and map the path.
I've now disabled parallels sharing of Mac volumes from XP and will use the samba share instead which appears to perform much better (but not exactly lightening). I haven't tried the performance of the XP drive from Mac OS yet. If it's poor, I'll set up a samba share the other way too, as you suggest.
I can only assume from the lack of response that most users are getting satisfactory performance with psf. I wonder how?!! Hopefully, someone will sort this one day.
In the meantime, thanks for your help, you've made my system useable - I was ready to punch the screen, but it's not the Mac's fault!!

Cheers
Andy
 
Glad to have helped while we wait for Parallels Support & Development to address these performance issues.

In case you (and others) are not aware, XP has virtually no security for shared folders. Another really lame decision by Microsoft. A 2003 PC Magazine article explains how to provide at least some security in XP Home and XP Pro:

Sharing is via the Guest account, which must be present even if it is disabled from appearing in the startup/login screen. Out of the box, Guest has no password - so anybody on the network can access all shares.

To provide at least password security, go to Control Panel > User Accounts and turn on the Guest account temporarily.

Next, Start > Run and type 'cmd' and enter to get a DOS-like (terminal-like) window.

At the prompt, type: net user guest password
and then hit enter. This just enabled password protection (with no pw yet) for the Guest account. Exit the cmd box.
Back in the User Accounts, you will find that you can now set up a password for Guest.
After you have done so, turn the guest account 'off' (so that nobody can log onto your XP machine with that account).
Voila - now when anyone on your network - including yourself in Finder - tries to connect to your XP virtual machine's shares, they will have to know the password. In Finder, do NOT try to connect as 'guest', which confusingly is the same name/word as the name of the Guest account. Instead, log on as a user, with the user name "Guest" and the password the one that you just established.

This is especially important for security if you have wireless access to your local network. Out of the box, and if your wireless doesn't have security turned on (which it should), your neighbors would have free access to your XP shared folders.

With all of the service packs/etc you'd think Microsoft would have plugged this hole years ago. Sigh.

Anyway ... let's hope the Parallels team does something about shared file performance - particularly from the Mac side to the VM side since that's the smart (IMHO) way of doing things so that Time Machine can handle backups of files used by Windows programs.

Cheers,
Karl
 
That's good advice Karl. I was always dubious about soiling my Macs with Windoze but have had to by necessity (mostly for Windoze only pro audio hardware control and some PCB software I need). It's a worry, but not surprising, to hear about the many shortcomings of XP and I'm sure Windows 'Fister' is worse still - won't be going there!!

Thanks again for the advice - it's made a big difference for me.
 
Hello,

I am sorry for the long absence. I've been asking our engineers on the issue.

Please check if there is the line "127.0.0.1 .psf" in C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\etc\hosts

Windows looks for network resources names in the hosts file before addressing to DNS. So if the .psf IP has not been included in the file for some reasons, this could explain why shared folders hang.

Best regards,
Xenos
 
It appears to be in order? I assume localhost and .psf should have the same ip? Here's the 'Hosts' file opened in text edit.

# Copyright (c) 1993-1999 Microsoft Corp.
#
# This is a sample HOSTS file used by Microsoft TCP/IP for Windows.
#
# This file contains the mappings of IP addresses to host names. Each
# entry should be kept on an individual line. The IP address should
# be placed in the first column followed by the corresponding host name.
# The IP address and the host name should be separated by at least one
# space.
#
# Additionally, comments (such as these) may be inserted on individual
# lines or following the machine name denoted by a '#' symbol.
#
# For example:
#
# 102.54.94.97 rhino.acme.com # source server
# 38.25.63.10 x.acme.com # x client host

127.0.0.1 localhost
127.0.0.1 .psf
 
My File looks like this:
# Copyright (c) 1993-2006 Microsoft Corp.
#
# This is a sample HOSTS file used by Microsoft TCP/IP for Windows.
#
# This file contains the mappings of IP addresses to host names. Each
# entry should be kept on an individual line. The IP address should
# be placed in the first column followed by the corresponding host name.
# The IP address and the host name should be separated by at least one
# space.
#
# Additionally, comments (such as these) may be inserted on individual
# lines or following the machine name denoted by a '#' symbol.
#
# For example:
#
# 102.54.94.97 rhino.acme.com # source server
# 38.25.63.10 x.acme.com # x client host

127.0.0.1 localhost
::1 localhost
127.0.0.1 .psf


In Windows, I can not access Share Folder

My PD Windows System is Vista
 
Just as an update to this:
I have still not achieved anything like useful performance out of .psf support as discussed above. I am using various other methods/workarounds to do what I need to do. Here's a summary, if it's any use to people with similar issues:
Use bridged networking mode.
1. Edit shared folders setup of your VM such that only windows disks are shared to Mac OS. This should give you a C:\ volume icon on your Mac desktop, any issues means you might need to install the latest build of Macfuse for your Mac OS. This works very well for me. Shut off all sharing of Mac volumes to the guest OS.
2. Ensure windows sharing is enabled under Mac OS preferences. You may need to change your firewall to allow this through also. The workgroup name needs to be the same as your VMs.
3. Map your Mac OS Home (or whichever you need) under windows by navigating to it through 'My Network Places/View Workgroup Computers'. Right click (control click) the volume and select 'Map Network Drive'. I used this method after getting unreliable results using the 'Add Network Place Wizard'. The only negative is logon is required for access after each VM boot.
4. I had poor performance with a network laser printer when adding it to the printer list as a network printer. To resolve this, I added it as a local printer and manually created a TCP/IP port specifying the IP address. This works well, so far....
5. I have a NAS drive which is mapped in the same way as the Mac OS volumes and seems to be stable. Again, logon is required on first access every VM launch session.

So I have everything working relatively well, but not as Parallels developers might have intended.
 
Hosts file fix worked for me...

I've been having this problem for a while, but only recently tracked it down to Parallels' shared folders...

I'm running Win2K3 Server as a web development platform under PD (also running MS SQL and ColdFusion), but with the pages being sourced from a shared folder on my Mac; recently I started getting long delays while serving pages.

I checked the hosts file, and the .psf declaration was right at the end of it, after some of my own development mappings - but it had been tacked on the end of another line, e.g.

1.1.1.1 my.test.domain127.0.0.1 .psf

I've fixed this onto its own line, and everything is now working perfectly!
 
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