Parallels: Unable to Allocate Virtual Machine Memory!
For the most part, I've been pretty happy with Parallels as my virtualization solution. Lately...less so. I have a WinXP virtual machine that I keep running most of the time. I use it sparingly, but just often enough that I find it to be a pain to open every time I need it. It does some pretty important things for me. I use it to VPN into the office network (so I can use all of Outlook 2007's Exchange capabilities) and to run Quicken to manage my finances. Last week, though, something changed.
For no reason at all, as far as i can tell, when I started up the machine one day last week (I do shut it down occasionally) I got this:
That can't be good.
A little together time with Google told me that this was not a new error message. There are complaints about it all over the Parallels forums along with a lot of home grown solutions. I tried them all:
- I verified my boot disk
- I repaired permissions
- I ran Onyx to clean my caches and, for all intents and purposes, thrown the bath water & the baby
- I rebooted (um, duh)
- I reduced the amount of memory allocated to the VM
I even tried all of those crazy things you try for absolutely no reason at all except that you're desperate and nothing else has worked. You know what I'm talking about. Stuff like rotating the desktop three times, launching and quitting a text editor and balancing on your left foot while starting the VM. Come on, you know you've done it, too.
Nothing worked. Until tonight. Tonight...I found an answer. I'm not sure it's the answer, I'm not sure why it worked, I'm not sure whether it should work and I'm not sure whether it will screw up something else, but...all that said...I finally got the VM to start. Here's what I did:
- I opened the folder where the VM is stored (e.g. ~/Library/Parallels/[vm name])
- I deleted the .sav and .mem files (retaining the .pvs and .hdd files)
- I started the VM
There in #3 when I say I started the VM...I mean I started the VM. Not to be confused with tried to start the VM. Finally.
Hey...you. Yeah...you. The one reading this who's about to delete those files without creating a copy first...don't do that. Seriously. That never ends well.
So glad you made it to the top of my google results. It worked for me too! I did not get a chance to narrow it down to a particular file (I just wanted to have access to MYOB again). Just want to say thanks firstly for trying to RENAME the files in the first place and secondly for posting your findings.
Paralells might need to look into this. Nothing makes the pit of the stomach churn like a memory error when you try to enter invoices and process payments. Better still, MYOB should port Accounting Plus to Mac OSX.
I definitely agree that it's something Parallels should look into. That's a terrifying error to see when you have critical applications running in a VM.
so off i went in search of parallels website. i paid $87 for the download version of parallels desktop 5 and the extended download service. i installed it and thought great. i created the virtual machine and then tried to install windows xp. at this point, our experiences become very similar. the installation of xp stopped at less than halfway and i got a message that parallels tools had not been installed, and i got an option to click the button to install the tools. what happened next was surreal.
the program began searching the xp disc, in the dvd drive, for the parallels tools. i thought it was odd as i had downloaded the program. but after i had clicked the button, i could do nothing. parallels froze my machine. i figured i had just had bad luck until i tried to contact parallels for support.
unlike most reputable companies (for example, hp has the most excellent after-sales service i have ever encountered), parallels was a bust. first, they say there is a 30-day free support. that, in my case was bullshit. when i tried to make contact to make use of that 30-day support, i was asked for my purchase order id number. when i typed it in and click submit, i reeived a notice that the number was invalid. i tried several times, but got the same result.
i then tried to find an e-mail address but, conveniently for the company, they do not offer one for north america, from where i bought the download. unfortunately foe me, i am a journalist working in china, so it is not practical for me to call their phone number. when i uninstalled the program, i got a feedback form asking why i removed the program.
i sent a detailed e-mail back, explaining the situation, how the program did not work right and how their lack of any semblance of customer support left me with NO confidence in either the product or the support team and i asked for a reply.
i did receive an automated reply with the typical promise to read the e-mail etc etc, but have not received a reply. i have reopened that automated e-mail and sent a reply again asking for a refund, confirmation that i will receive a refund and confirmation from a person that they received my e-mail.
only once have i experienced such an abysmal product and even worse customer support. can?t even refer to it as customer support, as with customer support there is some form of communication and response to the complaint. and for the life of me, i can?t understand how the purchase order number was invalid. the activation key they sent me worked fine and registered the product.
i would like to hear from others who have had bad experiences (or even good) with this product and company representatives. i am thinking about writing an article about my experience with parallels for the tech pages. i might not get my refund, but i will be able to warn others what could be in store for them if they purchase this product.
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