For years I have run Windows 7 VMs using Parallels on the Mac without any problems
I have recently virtualised a Windows 10 laptop to a virtual machine using the Parallels tools – this VM freezes after a short while – I get the MAC spinning wheel in the VM and the VM is unresponsive. This can happen after a few minutes if I just start the VM but don't do anything, other times it takes longer e.g. 30 minutes to freeze. The Mac continues to work without any problems. My old Windows 7 VMs run without problems.
When the VM freezes the Mac Activity Monitor has the Parallels Desktop process is not listed as 'not responding' – the virtual machine process is there too but not marked as not responding – I have to force quit both processes to restart the VM.
My Mac is running High Sierra version 10.13.5
Parallels is version 13.3.2
Windows is Windows 10 build 1803 – OS build 17143.112
I have made sure I have applied all updates to Parallels, also I have followed the instructions in various knowledge base articles (e.g. https://kb.parallels.com/112091) but unfortunately none have fixed the problem.
What can be done to remedy Windows 10 guest VM performance issues and freezing?
Best Answer
I have the same issue with MacOS High Sierra 10.13.6, Parallels 13 and 14 and Microsoft Windows 10 Pro 10.0.16299. Windows 10 worked w/o any problems until recently. Last week we installed Windows updates.
In order to reduce the number of possible issues, Parallels support recommends to disable all third party services (to include the ones started during startup). I just did this except for Symantec (this application runs for years w/o problems and would require a de-install). On the list of third party services now disabled are Google and Adobe.
I'm advised to get back to Parallels support if the problem occurs again.
Update: Today I experienced a sudden crash. Screen of MV and Mac freezed and after a few seconds the Mac rebooted. There was no way to switch to the Mac host. Received a crash dump after the login completed (indicating graphics problems). I'm back on square one. A session/chat with Apple support showed that there are no hardware problems. I was advised to reset SMC and NVRAM/PRAM. Completed both tasks. At the moment I'm testing again.
Update: Since the reset of SMC and NVRAM/PRAM (3 days), the problem has not occurred.