Very Slow Startup for Parallels 5

I just can't see how it's a spotlight issue on my machine. I have Windows installed in BootCamp which Parallels reads. But I have my Boot Camp partition blocked to Spotlight. My pvm file is only 28 mb and I assume it only contains settings. I added the Parallels folder to the list of areas not to be read in spotlight anyway just to try it out, but it made no difference.

Again, a response from Parallels at least updating us to the efforts to fix the issue would be appreciated. Obviously these comments are being read since they are moderated.
 
IT'S THE WAY PARALLELS USED TO BE!!

I've been using Parallels since 2006, beginning with version 2. The last thing I want to do is buy a new program ESPECIALLY after just buying version 5!

Again, I'd rather stick with Parallels, but I need something that works NOW.
 
No difference...

Well I tried it and set Parallels VM-Folder to Private in Spotlight.
No better behavieour, the same time to start PD.

The only result for me was setting the whole MacintoshHD into the privacy-list.

But I am not willing to rebuild Spotlight-index ever after using PD.

HEY GUYS AT PARALLELS, WHAT IS GOING ON????

WHERE IS THE NEEDED UPDATE?????
 
The Problem Just "Went Away"?

This is interesting. After not using Parallels for a couple of years & instead using Boot Camp to reboot into my WinXP partition on my MBP the times I needed Windows, I took advantage of an upgrade offer & purchased Parallels 5 a couple days ago. I installed it and tried to run Desktop, experiencing the exact same problems as described in this thread (I didn't ever actual get it to come up - not having the patience, I force quit it each time I tried to get it to run after watching the Dock icon bounce over and over and over).

Then I found this thread & contemplated asking Nova for my money back or waiting it out for the fix. As I considered my options, I decided to replace WinXP with Vista in my Boot Camp partition (temporarily until Apple releases Boot Camp drivers for Win7). I went ahead and deleted my WinXP Boot Camp partition so I could recreate it a little bigger. On the recreation attempt in Boot Camp Assistant, I got an error stating that the partition could not be created due to some operating system files that were unable to be moved. I did some research, discovered this was a common problem when deleting & recreating a Boot Camp partition, and that the solution was to image the system disk to an external FW drive, reboot from it, delete, recreate & format the partition on the system disk, restore from the external FW drive, reboot from the system disk, and finally create the Boot Camp partition.

I did exactly that using a utility called SuperDuper and it worked flawlessly (and took about 4 - 5 hours). So, I then installed Vista Ultimate on the new Boot Camp partition. After that was up & running, I rebooted back into OS X intending to start Parallels Desktop, waiting out the long time it took to get up & running, create a new VM from my new Vista Boot Camp partition after it was finally running, and then take the steps outlined above by Spencerian to exclude my new VM from Spotlight as a temporary fix. Much to my surprise, however, when I double-clicked on the Parallels Desktop icon, it came up immediately, asking for my activation key! I entered it, and was able to create a new VM right away from my new Vista Boot Camp partition. And, the VM runs Vista flawlessly. All without making any Spotlight changes.

So, I don't know what happened that solved the problem - all I can think of was the imaging of my system disk then recreating & restoring it rebuilt some Spotlight indexes or something. I know this is a pretty dramatic "solution" to the problem, but if any one else wants to try it, you can download SuperDuper here: http://www.shirt-pocket.com/ & you do not have to purchase a $28 license to do a basic backup / restore as I described (it is a great, easy to use backup / restore utility, however, & I encourage anyone who finds it useful to purchase a license).

Tom
 
Parallels 5 almost always starts significantly slower than Parallels 4 did.

But I really don't know what the reviewers are measuring when they talk about 3x speed. Is that how long it takes to start a VM & load Windows XP?

About once per day I get a time when my computer appears to lock up. I wait a few minutes and things clear up. About the time I did my upgrade, the Genius replaced my mother board with a video problem, but I don't believe this problem has happened when I'm not running parallels.
 
I have tried all so;utions mentioned except the last.
and nothing works.
Very dissapointed this is still happening.
Could the parrallels team give us an update as to when this will be fixed.
4 weeks now there should be some frame of whrn this should be fixed
 
Slow startup and slow response of user interface

Hi,

I have started using Parallels Desktop with version 3 and upgraded thru version 4 and finally to version 5. Performance has been acceptable with version 3 and 4. The startup times are between 5 to 10 minutes. And responsiveness of the user interface became a nightmare. Menus pop up after several seconds. The programs launch minutes after you have clicked their icons. In its current form Parallels Desktop 5 is totally unusable.

Windows XP Pro SP3 works flawlessly under Boot Camp (Mac OS X v10.6.2).

Hope a cure is on the way.
 
Is there an answer to this yet?

Having the same issues, although to be clear it's Windows XP that is slow to get going, rather than the VM. After about 5 + mins, everything works fine and fast....

Help Parallels, please!
 
Sometimes my Parallels startup will be slowing down my computer for 20 minutes before I kill it. I wonder if this is related to the problem that I have with my computer basically stopping for a few minutes - only when Parallels is running.

I don't get any messages. I don't know what to tell Parallels. Nobody from Parallels ever answers posts I've created here.
 
It's getting worse. I have more times when my computer appears to be locked for several minutes. And sometimes Parallels will be booting for 20 minutes or more before I kill it.

Both my wife and I agree that normal running is slower than earlier versions of Parallels. She has pretty much stopped using it because she gets a screen full of graphics problem - which is solveable by closing Parallels and re-opening it. When I have my lock-up, I have to wait for it to go away to close parallels. Both computers work fine when Parallels isn't running.

I don't have any diagnostics to create a ticket.
 
Waiting it out...

I have been following this thread, with great interest... Fortunately, I saw this BEFORE installing the v5 upgrade. Obviously, there is a major problem.I have v4 well tuned, and will sit tight...

Parallels Team,

I encourage you to PLEASE communicate openly and often about the resolution of this issue. As great a product as Parallels is, the support experience leaves much to be desired.

My experience: I have an upgrade I don't dare install, and I've paid for support I never received -- an automated email telling me to use the forums is not my idea of PAID SUPPORT ;-)

Still, I'm waiting it out. I'm confident you will work it out eventually...
 
When I upgraded to Parallels 4, one of my VMs got corrupted. I got people to work on remotely for a couple of nights without luck. Spending all night on my computer with them wasn't pleasant, and I wished that the support workers had American hours.

And I never did get that VM back.


But the extreme slowness problem did go away, so I'm hoping the same thing happens with 5.


Anybody know how they measure the stated 3x performance? What is supposed to be 3x faster?
 
Same Problem and Can't Quit

In addition to the slow startup, I can't get Parallels to quit. I have 8GB RAM but not Leopard, running 10.5.6 on 2x3.2 Ghz Quad.
 
Well I tested Fusion 3.01 and I can say that both Fusion and Parallels are buggy. Fusion installed 33 PCI to PCI Bridge drivers and they have a note on their website that blames windows. I found that kind of strange because parallels does not suffer from a similar problem after I imported the same WINXP booth camp. Any way I uninstalled both Fusion and parallels desktop 5 and found that my IMAC 3.06 Duo Core 4GB RAM on 1 terabyte hard drive starts up and shutdown before I can get off the chair. I think that is reason enough to never come back to either virtual app. Unfortunately I own both and I am past the 30 period. But neither application will see another penny from me. The way I see it is that I did not buy a mac to spend my time fixing buggy virtualization programs so that I could run windows on a mac side by side. I like boot camp and windows will stay in bootcamp and nothing else. I think that is good enough for me because it gives me the best of both worlds.
 
Before Spotlight trick: 32 times bouncing icon and 3.5 min before VM appears
After Spotlight trick: no difference at all......
Besides this my whole OS is very slow
 
Same problem after update....

Downloaded the Parallels 5 update this morning. It fixed several problems I was having EXCEPT this problem remains - when spotlight is turned on (as it should be) then the boot up time is crazy long. Did the update fix this problem for anyone else? Maybe a new workaround is available? Jeff
 
Prl_disp_service

I had uninstalled parallels 5 so I had to install and import a fresh vm. But instead I got the dreaded unable to start Prl_disp_service on launching version 5.0.9308 for the first time.
 
Update 5.0

After installation, I booted it up. It came up within a few seconds and then took about a minute and a half to load up. After that it loaded tools and rebooted. To test it, I opened some software. They came right up. It's definitely faster. I appreciate all your efforts. You guys do work to make your product better. I'm a happy camper so far. Thanks guys!
 
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