Parallels causes slowdown, freeze--how to fix?

You should consider posting your question on the Parallels forums:

http://forums.parallels.com

I'm running vmware and I've not noticed anything close to what you're describing. in fact I'm running now, while having safari open and typing this response.

The default VM memory setting in Parallels is something ridiculously low, like 512 MB. Go into the VM settings and change the system memory to 2048 MB and the video memory to 64 MB. Hopefully that will solve the problem. Also make sure that the Parallels drivers installed successfully after the Windows installation completed.

I've never heard of this problem before and I extensively use both Parallels, VM Fusion and have even worked with VirtualBox some. Maybe I am missing this but did you say you completely removed the machine and installed under a new VM and have the same problem?

Is the slowdown with the VM itself or the entire computer? How quickly does it occur? Is it immediate? I agree that adding more memory may help.... but I have run XP VM's with less than 512 MB of ram and while it had to work a bit it certainly ran better than you are describing.

I would suggest maybe trying the trial of Fusion to see if you get the same result. Not because I think fusion is better or worse, but to see if you can recreate the problem with a different VM system.

It is honestly hard to diagnose or help with the little bit of info here. I am not meaning to sound critical.... I know many people who just do not know how to describe what is wrong. If you can offer any further information it would be helpful. Do you see any other performance issues when trying to run the VM? Any other issues with the computer in general? What size is the virtual disk you are using?

Again, any additional info you could offer would help in getting you on the right track.

Good Luck !!!!

If your running Timbuktu at the same time as starting Parallels, you will experience a massive slowdown. Quit TImbuktu BEFORE launching Parallels, or just switch to Vmware Fusion which does not have issues with Timbuktu.

I doubt Timbuktu is the problem - I run Timbuktu and Parallels on several machines and do not have the problem described. I have had problems with some past versions of Parallels running so slowly as to not be useable.

Have you run Activity Monitor to see what process is using an excessive amount of CPU power? If the machine is brand new you might have something like indexing running and taking a lot of CPU power. On the virtual machine side there are many things in windows such as Adobe and Java and Windows itself which will run auto updated processes after booting up - have you checked the task manager in windows to see if there is any process that seems to be taking too much CPU time?

As previously posted more information is generally better - for example which version/build of Parallels are you running? how much RAM is in the Mac and how much RAM is the virtual machine set to use? how is the virtual machine configured 1 or 2 CPUs, amount of Video RAM etc.