Poor Windows 10 Performance of Parallels Desktop 15 on macOS Catalina


 
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Special Forums Windows & DOS: Issues & Discussions Poor Windows 10 Performance of Parallels Desktop 15 on macOS Catalina
# 1  
Old 01-21-2020
Poor Windows 10 Performance of Parallels Desktop 15 on macOS Catalina

Just a quick note for macOS users.

I just installed (and removed) Parallels Desktop 15 Edition on my MacPro (2013) with 64GB memory and 12-cores, which is running the latest version of macOS Catalina as of this post. The reason for this install was to test some RIGOL test gear software which only runs on Windows.

The basic Parallels installation went fine and so I also installed Windows 10. Everything went well. I then installed all the prerequisites for the RIGOL software, including NI-VISA for Windows and the drivers, etc.
had read a number of reviews comparing Parallels to BootCamp (and other approaches); and the bottom line seemed to be "the performance is so slow you are better off to buy a cheap Windows PC." .

But I thought to myself, since I have 64GB of RAM and 12-cores (and am quite happy about the performance of this MacPro, 2013), maybe I'll have a different outcome.

Alas, I experienced the same very slow performance others talked about in reviews. I tried adjusting various Parallels configuration switches and sliders in the control panels, rebooting a number of times, but I ended up just deleting Parallels off my Mac.

If I *really* must have Windows for some test equipment applications, I may just go the "buy a cheap PC route", which is the same advice from many reviewers and commenters out there in "discuss and share" land.

Cheers.
# 2  
Old 01-23-2020
Update:

Just attempted to install Windows 10 on my MacPro (Catalina 10.15.2) and, during the reboot during the final part of the Windows 10 setup process, Windows did not recognize my Apple bluetooth mouse and the keyboard short cuts in the setup GUI also did not work.

So, I also deleted Windows 10 via Bootcamp on my "big Mac"......

LOL, two days ago I spent a long time moving 500 GB of data from this "big 12-core Mac Pro" to a remote Mac Mini, so to repartition my 1TB SSD drive to give Bootcamp it's on 128 GB partition; and then found out Windows 10 on macOS cannot even recognize a simple BT mouse.

And this is the year 2020? Windows 10 cannot "out of the box" recognize a BT mouse?

Amazing really.

I think I will try Parallels again, with my new disk configuration. Maybe I'll get lucky and it will be a bit faster.
# 3  
Old 01-23-2020
Update:

Trying Parallels again on the 12-core Mac Pro running Catalina.

It's running a bit better since I repartitioned the boot disk.

Later, I will try installing NI-VISA and UltraScope for the RIGOL DS1054Z and see if I can get it to connect to the oscope, by isolating Windows 10 completely from the Mac. Earlier, I did not fully isolate them and had some problem connecting, so maybe if I isolate Windows 10 as much as possible from the Mac (an option in Parallels config) I can get RIGOL UltraScope to work.

It's only an "experiment", as I don't have an real intention to use UltraScope; I just want to see if I can get it to work since so much test equipment software (like software for arbitrary waveform generators and power supplies) are not supported on macOS, I thought "maybe" Parallels could be an option to get this Mac talking to various pieces of test gear; especially since I plan to buy an arbitrary waveform generator (AWG) in the $100 USD price range from AliExpress vendors after the Lunar New Year holiday is over and the Chinese businesses are back to work.
# 4  
Old 01-23-2020
Update:

I have RIGOL UltraScope working on macOS Catalina using Windows 10 in Parallels.

One of the tricks is to install RIGOL UltraSigma first and install UltraScope afterwards, launching UltraScope only from UltraSigma.

Poor Windows 10 Performance of Parallels Desktop 15 on macOS Catalina-sigma_scope_windows_parallelsjpg


This link (to PDF file) was helpful:

Rigol Software Installation and Use

It's slow running in the Parallels VM, but it works.... and so does other Windows only software for test gear.
# 5  
Old 01-23-2020
Here is the Riden Power Supply Softare running in macOS Catalina in the Window 10 Paralles VM.

Guess I'll have to seriously consider buying an RD 6006 power supply now that I have the software working on the Mac (or so it seems without testing the device) Smilie

Poor Windows 10 Performance of Parallels Desktop 15 on macOS Catalina-riden_ps_windows_parallelsjpg


RD RD6006 RD6006W USB WiFi DC - DC Voltage current Step-down Power Supply module buck Voltage converter voltmeter 60V 6A aa

(If I can tolerate the slow speed of the Parallels VM, that is).
# 6  
Old 01-23-2020
Here is a snap shot of the JDS6600 Arbitrary Waveform Generator (AWG) UI on macOS Catalina / Windows 10 Parallels VM:

Poor Windows 10 Performance of Parallels Desktop 15 on macOS Catalina-untitled-6jpg


I noticed the JSD6600 software uses NI-VISA and recognizes my RIGOL scope.

However, when looking at it's competitor, the FeelTech 6900 AWG software, it's quite disappointing, relatively speaking and does not use NI-VISA. Not using NI-VISA might be a plus for some people:

Poor Windows 10 Performance of Parallels Desktop 15 on macOS Catalina-untitled-3jpg
# 7  
Old 01-24-2020
Update:

I do not have a good "feeling" about Parallels because of their licensing agreement.

Basically, the cheapest "home user" version of Parallels costs $79 / per year on a subscription basis. This is crazy expensive, I think, for a VM machine.

If you do not want the subscription, you have to pay $99 for a license which grants you no bug fixes or upgrades. This is an outrage, in my view.

So, although Parallels does install and run "reasonably" well on my 12-core Mac Pro with 64GB RAM, it is still slower than I would like it to be. Furthermore, because the licensing terms and fees are such an insult to users, I am having trouble justifying keeping this on my Mac past the trial period.

In a nutshell, I think Parallels International GmbH should be ashamed of themselves for their greedy licensing terms and conditions for Parallels.
Login or Register to Ask a Question

Previous Thread | Next Thread

9 More Discussions You Might Find Interesting

1. OS X (Apple)

MacOS 10.15.2 Catalina display crash and system panic

MacPro (2013) 12-Core, 64GB RAM (today's crash): panic(cpu 2 caller 0xffffff7f8b333ad5): userspace watchdog timeout: no successful checkins from com.apple.WindowServer in 120 seconds service: com.apple.logd, total successful checkins since load (318824 seconds ago): 31883, last successful... (3 Replies)
Discussion started by: Neo
3 Replies

2. Programming

A Slightly Better NTP Client for the ESP32 (ESPWROOM32) on macOS Catalina

Currently have two ESP8266 modules testing some Blynk apps, whereI'm not so happy with the Blynk business model for developers, but that's another story. So, with two of my ESP8266s currently "busy", I decided to work on the ESP32, and in particular the ESPWROOM32. I installed the... (0 Replies)
Discussion started by: Neo
0 Replies

3. Programming

Python Screen Capture of RIGOL 1054Z on macOS Catalina Using NI-VISA

On the NI-VISA boards there has been some frustration where folks cannot get NI-VISA to work on macOS Catalina because Catalina (macOS 10.15.x) is "not supported" by NI-VISA (for many months, it seems). Currently, the README shows: NI-VISA 19.0 for macOS supports the following platforms: ... (10 Replies)
Discussion started by: Neo
10 Replies

4. OS X (Apple)

MacOS 10.15 Catalina Crashes and Freezes on Boot

Sadly, I have turned off my access to the Apple Developers Beta program after installing macOS 10.15 Catalina a few days ago. After the install, I rebooted by MacBook Air and it "hard froze" and we were heading out of town so I grabbed a backup MBA running Mojave. Then, after getting back at... (10 Replies)
Discussion started by: Neo
10 Replies

5. OS X (Apple)

MacOS 10.15 (Catalina) switches from bash to zsh

Interestingly Apple has decided to switch the default shell for new users from bash to zsh in MacOS Catalina (10.15) Use zsh as the default shell on your Mac - Apple Support Another interesting fact is that Catalina also comes with /bin/dash (5 Replies)
Discussion started by: Scrutinizer
5 Replies

6. Solaris

Poor performance on an M3000

Hi We have an M3000 single physical processor and 8gb of memory running Solaris 10. This system runs two Oracle Databases one on Oracle 9i and One on Oracle 10g. As soon as the Oracle 10g database starts we see an immediate drop in system performance, for example opening an ssh session can... (6 Replies)
Discussion started by: gregsih
6 Replies

7. AIX

Poor Performance of server

Hi, I am new registered user here in this UNIX forums. I am a new system administrator for AIX 6.1. One of our servers performs poorly every time our application (FINACLE) runs many processes/instances. (see below for topas snapshot) I use NMON or Topas to monitor the server utilization. I... (9 Replies)
Discussion started by: guzzelle
9 Replies

8. UNIX for Advanced & Expert Users

HW Raid poor io performance

Hello all We just built a storage cluster for our new xenserver farm. Using 3ware 9650SE raid controllers with 8 x 1TB WD sata disks in a raid 5, 256KB stripe size. While making first performance test on the local storage server using dd (which simulates the read/write access to the disk... (1 Reply)
Discussion started by: roli8200
1 Replies

9. UNIX for Advanced & Expert Users

Samba on E3500 Poor Performance!!!

Hi you all, I have a BIG performance problem on an Sun E3500, the scenario is described below: I have several users (30) accessing via samba to the E3500 using an application built on Visual Foxpro from their Windows PC , the problem is that the first guy that logs in demands 30% of the E3500... (2 Replies)
Discussion started by: alex blanco
2 Replies
Login or Register to Ask a Question