Kybd appears non-responsive in Parallels 11

I tried to open a WinXP VM that was used in a previous version of Parallels for Mac and, while the VM boots, nothing shows up in the Windows login pane when I try to type a password. That is, I have the blinking vertical cursor in the password box but when I press a key nothing happens.
This happened the first time I tried opening the VM in PArallels 11 a yaer or two ago and I haven't tried again until now.
Anyone have any workarounds/thoughts/hocus pocus to get the keys typed to appear on-screen?

 

Hi @Ken1 , please try Actions > Reset and check if that helps.

 

Thanks, Arun.
I tried what you suggested, to no avail, sadly.
However, while I was poking about the menus, I selected Devices>External DEvices>Apple internal keybaord...
That gave me keyboard input once again, for which I'm thankful, but it seems to come with some side-effects - I can't "unlock" my cursor from the virtual machine window / can't switch OS X virtual desktops (even using ctrl-arrow) / trackpad behaviour changes - cursor speed slows way down (i.e. cursor distance on screen per inch fingertip moved across the trackpad is severely reduced) / in full-screen, cannot access the menu by running cursor up to the top / Can't switch to OS X. the only way to recover is to shut down the VM which returns control to OS X.
So I am partway there but why, oh, why can I only get a response to the kybd using this method? I've never had to do that before. The kybd/trackpacd has always just worked.

 

An update. Now the VM is unusable.
I try selecting Devices>External DEvices>Apple internal keybaord... and the trackpad becomes non-responsive. Can't do anything.
Using CMD (Alt?) I can open the main Windows menu and TAB to select shutdown but the VM is really unusable.

 

I'm also having issues when typing in windows 10 VM. It was all running fine at first, I'm on Sierra still and running parallels 12. Windows 10 is largely unusable now and I'm not sure what to do. Shall I reinstall windows 10? And/or parallels? Do I need to upgrade parallels or to high sierra? Please help its driving me crazy!

 

Hello @KerensaR , please let us know if you are unable to type in Windows search bar?
Thanks

 

That's right - can not type anything in the search bar. I could when I first installed and then after a few weeks it changed...thanks

 

Guys, please write what Parallels Desktop version you are using. Are all of you guys using Parallels Desktop 11? Or some of you is using 12 or 13 version?

Ken1, if you assign physical Keyboard to the VM then you loose control of it in Mac. In PD12 and PD13 we prohibited this scenario due to such a problem.

 

As mentioned above, I'm having similar issues with Parallels 12.2

 

KerensaR, you can't type in Windows Search bar only or you have a trouble with typing at all? No any keys are responding?

 

I can't type in the windows search bar at all but if I open my shared documents e.g. in wordpad, it types fine. The curser seems to freeze up too and I cant access the windows 10 toolbar, until i press ctr alt or something but then it frees for just a short time. Lots of egg timers and basically not usable...

 

Hello KerensaR, kindly be informed that this is a known issue with Windows 10 and happens on real Windows PC's as well. As a workaround (results not guaranteed), navigate to C:\Windows\System32 and locate the application 'ctfmon'. Next, press CMD+R in Windows to launch the Run window, type 'shell:startup' (without the quotes) in the text field, hit 'Enter' (which opens a new window), drag and drop the 'ctfmon' application from the other window into the new window, launch it (no application window will open and nothing will seem to happen because, after being launched, the application will simply run hidden in the background) and restart Windows.Thanks!

 

Hi Meena, I found it but I can not drag the ctfmon application as it says access denied, I need permission from 'TrustedInstaller'...? I have managed to get the search bar text working but still get the curser freeze persistently...thanks for your advice!

 

Please try the steps provided below
Press Win + R (to open Run )
copy paste and press enter to run this program. "C:\Windows\system32\ctfmon.exe" (without quotation marks, no application window will open and nothing will seem to happen.because, after being launched, the application will simply run hidden in the background) and then check if it works.
Thanks

 

Hi Alexg,

I am running Parallels Desktop 11 for Mac. OS X El Capitan (10.11.6).

I have cycled through the 3 WinXP VMs I have backed up and the problem seems to result from an incomplete installation of Parallels Tools. That is, I was able to use ctrl-alt to give kybd control back to OS X and then get access to the parallels menu bar at the top of the screen. But the VM then tries to install the tools and things go downhill from there.

(aside: since I started using Parallels several years ago, Tools installation has been an error-ridden pain; I don't know if installation has ever installed without an error).

So, any idea what can I do to get some keyboard activity in the VM without locking the kybd to the VM and thereby precluding any attempted re-install of the Tools?

 

Hello Ken1, click on Actions in the top menu bar > Configure. Go to Hardware > Mouse & Keyboard > Set Smart Mouse option to "Auto-detect for games" or "Don't optimize for games" and see if this works. Thanks!

 

Hi Meena:
What you suggested did work. I had the VM running, I was logged into WinXP. Could ctrl-alt to get control back to OS X. All was good. (I note it asked me to install the video adapter and PCI adapter when I first logged into WinXP).

Then I shut down the VM (Shut down Wndows) exited Parallels and then booted it back up.

Now, after getting the standard WinXP boot screen, it transitions to a login screen that is out of wack (640x480?) so I only get a portion on the entire login screen presented and in lo-res. I clocked on the pswd field and, sure enough, the keyboard no longer worked.

I am shaking my head. What is going on with this blessed thing?

 

Seems somthing is wrong with Parallels Tools. Try to reinstall them using Actions menu Install/Reinstall Parallels Tools.

 

Alexg, please see above. I figured that it is a probpem with Tools but the trick is... how to install Parallels Tools successfully?

I have poor success with installation of Parallels Tools. I can't do it at this point with this VM because I can't login to WinXP. (Unless the tools installation proceeds without being logged in?) I note that the Install Parallels Tools menu item is NOT greyed out even though I'm not logged in.

I shall try, once more, retrieving my VM from backup and see if I can login and install parallels tools.

 

Install Parallels Tools "there was a problem updating Parallels Tools. Please reboot and try again."
Of course, at this point, when I reboot the keyboard will not work, so I am unable to attempt to reinstall Tools.