Mac is slow after installing Parallels Desktop

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Symptoms

Mac is running slower after installing Parallels Desktop.

Cause

There could be several reasons:

Resolution

First of all please check if your computer meets Parallels Desktop system requirements:

http://kb.parallels.com/en/122662 for Parallels Desktop 10

http://kb.parallels.com/en/117047 for Parllels Desktop 9

Then, if you suspect a lack of resources on your computer, please try to adjust virtual machine settings:

If you suspect an incorrect resource allocation to the virtual machine side, then you need to identify applications on Mac that may consume too much resources:

Or

If it is a resourse consumption:

Check the log messages in Console Utility:

Open Finder > Applications > Utilities > Console - If it is required click Show Log List - Select All Messages - In the search box type i/o - if it returns disk0s2: I/O error, your hard drive is corrupted and you need to contact Apple Support.

Also please check how much CPU usage is taken prl_vm_app process. If CPU amount is very high (>80%), please do the following:

  1. First of all please check if any driver takes improper amount (>5000) of interruptions per second via this KB article

  2. Make sure that your Virtual Machine configured to the best performance following this article.

  3. Perform the test described in this KB article

  4. Start the virtual machine and turn off Antivirus and Firewall software on the both sides: Mac and Windows.
  5. Perform Selective Startup:

For Windows XP and Windows 7:

For Windows 8:

Check the issue. If it does not help:

  1. Shut down virtual machine, open virtual machine configuration > Security Tab, turn on Isolate Windows from Mac option.

  2. Start virtual machine and check the issue.
  3. Contact Parallels Support team if you still experience 'slow Mac performance' issue while using Parallels Desktop.

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