windows virtual pc slow performance

[proland]

Hey, I am running windows 7 professional 64bit, I installed windows virtual pc. I have hardware virtualization enabled, install was succesful.
The main problem is I get very slow performance on an vm, even the mouse moves very slow inside the vm it takes me minutes to even click a thing...
I tried all things, dynamic expanding hard drive, fixed size, etc, tried everything is the same issue, even reinstalled win7 to 32bit os and the issue is the same.
The virtual machine has 1 gb of ram assigned and I am trying to install win xp, tried also to install w7 and vista but the same issue accours.
no errors in event log, I have 2 vieo cards, switched them, same issue.
The specs are:

sony vaio vgn-z31xn/b
4gb ddr3
128gb solid state drive
windows 7 professional 64bit edition
intel core 2 P9600 processor

is there anything else to look into ?

 

[aem]

Check Task Manager and see what is chewing your CPU and Memory. Wit those spec there shouldnt be not issue with VPC. I have half the RAM and it ran fine.

 

[Lee]

Your attempting to run a 64 bit OS in a VM with only 1 gig of ram, just isn't going to function the way you want. Try upping the ram to two gigs. Not saying this will work, however, using Vista 64 in a VM I had to up the ram to 2 gigs, and because my system has 8 gigs of ram I upped it to 4 gigs, it now runs fast and smooth.

 

[proland]

no, im attempting to run an 32bit os in the vm machine.

according to task manager vpc.exe uses 50% of cpu at the install time.

 

[aem]

My vpc.exe chew abit of CPU when starting up but then went down to 00 with around 10MB member at idle.

What about what's running on your XPmode?

 

[proland]

I confirm, using 50% when startinga nd then 0% and 10 mb ram, same here.

I do not use xp mode. also I tried vpc 2007 the last one and it acts the same way.
this is very weird

 

[Kari]

Hi Proland and welcome to the Seven Forums.

Check this out, it gives at least some boost to your VPC. Also change performance settings on virtual machine Windows systems to Adjust for best performance (in XP Mode for instance right click My Computer > Properties > Advance > Performance)

Kari

 

[proland]

thank you kari, seems interesting i start testing right away

also what is very weird is that overall performance is very good, but the mouse just hangs ...

 

[Kari]

thank you kari, seems interesting i start testing right away

also what is very weird is that overall performance is very good, but the mouse just hangs ...

You have enabled the integration features?

Kari

 

[proland]

nothing works.
performance is still slow, and Yes I did enabled integration features.
is not even usable

 

[HughShaw]

It was a bit slow for me as well when I first installed. After running CCleaner and disabling unnecessary services, it is a little better. Still I hope Microsoft will improve upon this in future updates.

 

[barbaros]

Well, I have found 2 location for sony vaio vgn-z31xn/b drivers for windows 7 as well as utilities... Better you check everything in these locations;

1. VAIO Country Selection Page check out windows 7 drivers and utilities, but you may not find all of the drivers and utilities there. Espacially hardware drivers (parser service, i/o drivers, chipset etc. and not all of the utilities) are missing so, I highly recommend the us support site, but be careful about vaio model. iti is different there so check out drivers and utilities for vgn-z670n/b which is exactly identical notebook.
2. Sony eSupport - VGN-Z670N/B - Software Updates & Drivers
choose your operating system and 32 or 64 bit.... all of them are here...

after a clean install with windows 7 drivers, install the utilities and averything should work perfectly.

 

[benyheg88]

Dear folks,

let me summarize my experiences on a DELL Latitude E6400:

1. While nothing runs in the virtual XP, the processor usage (reported by the VPC's task manager) is pretty high, over an average of 50%, and even window resizing is extremely slow.

2. If I start something in the real Windows7 machine, e.g. a Media player playing some music, the processor usage in the real machine inreases of course, while the proc usage in the virtual XP falls back to around 1% at the same time, and the virtual machine runs just perfectly, not slow at all.

3. I have checked "Advanced power settings" within "Power options", where in "Processor power management" both "Minimum processor state" and "Maximum processor state" are set to 100% when plugged in AC.

4. Tried the same thing on a slower machine (DELL Latitude D630 with a 1.8 GHz Core2Duo). In that case the processor usage in the real machine was higher, about 4-5 % even when idling, and the speed of the VM was just OK.

5. I suspect however there may be some problem in balancing the CPU power between tasks, but this is something I do not have the slightest idea about. Although it is ugly, but currently if I need VM, I start the Media player in W7 first and go ahead.

I tried both 32 and 64 bit W7, all service packs in the virtual XP, even XP mode, the behaviour was the same.

Could you who have the same problem try the same thing in your environment?

Many thanks
Gabor

 

[Kari]

Hi Gabor, welcome to the Seven Forums.

First, do you have integration features installed and enabled? If not, do it now.

Then you could try the trick told here, it might help with the XP mode CPU usage.

Kari

 

[benyheg88]

Hi Kari,

Thanks indeed for the quick help, integration features were enabled.
I edited the Options.xml file as you described, and it did change behaviour, it's perfect now! It is just unbelievable after a few days of continuous reinstalling and trying different ideas.

Thanks, thanks, thanks!
Gabor

 

[Kari]

You are welcome! Always nice to hear about a soved issue.

Kari