XP Mode Question

[darkcyber]

Is there anyway to set a higher CPU priority for the XP Mode in Windows 7? I have been using XP Mode now for some time and there is a noticable sluggishness or lag over using the same applications in a non-virtual OS. Opening applications take longer, a lot longer sometime. Opening mp3 files with Cool Edit 2000 Pro take much longer. As a comparison, in CEP in regular Windows XP I can open a 1 hour audio show in 20 seconds. The same file in Windows 7 XP Mode takes over 2 minutes. This is just one example, but I notice the slow down on everything I do in XP Mode.

So, I wondered if more CPU power could be diverted to run XP Mode.

Thanks!

 

[wysiwyg]

You must remember XP Mode is merely another application allowed to run on the 7 Platform, for applications that won't run on 7.

You can't expect it to reduce its capabilities for what is virtually an obsolete system,

The only way round it is to dual boot with XP.

Personally I don't see why you worry about a little bit of extra time loading, its doing the job you want.

 

[darkcyber]

You must remember XP Mode is merely another application allowed to run on the 7 Platform, for applications that won't run on 7.

You can't expect it to reduce its capabilities for what is virtually an obsolete system,

The only way round it is to dual boot with XP.

Personally I don't see why you worry about a little bit of extra time loading, its doing the job you want.

I know all the arguments about XP being outdated, running it in a virtual environment...etc. and that really has nothing to do with anything about my original post.

I am not worried about it, I just wondered if there was a way to set the priority of XP Mode just like you can regular applications.

 

[Keiichi25]

You must remember XP Mode is merely another application allowed to run on the 7 Platform, for applications that won't run on 7.

You can't expect it to reduce its capabilities for what is virtually an obsolete system,

The only way round it is to dual boot with XP.

Personally I don't see why you worry about a little bit of extra time loading, its doing the job you want.

I know all the arguments about XP being outdated, running it in a virtual environment...etc. and that really has nothing to do with anything about my original post.

I am not worried about it, I just wondered if there was a way to set the priority of XP Mode just like you can regular applications.

I believe he did answer your question with his post. It is an application that provides the emulation. Unfortunately, I do not believe you can give it a higher priority in order to reduce the problem as the application is running through another application and in both cases, they are sequential in process. This being that if XP mode is forced into a wait state due to other factors, some of which will probably disk based, and if further complicated with it needing to do Virtual memory swapping as all you put in your system specs is that you are running Windows 7 Beta, not specifying if you are running x32 or x64 or have over 4 gigs of memory... There is a high possibility that the lagginess you are seeing is due to Virtual Memory swapping and need to access disk which, if it is trying to juggle memory with disk, the XP Mode is also going to suffer.

 

[darkcyber]

I really do not feel that he did answer my question. My question was simply can Virtual XP Mode be set to a higher priority. I do not believe XP being obsolete, XP Mode allowing programs that will not run in Windows 7 to run in Windows 7, dual boot comments answers my question. If you feel that does, then you must not have read the question I posted.

My question was can XP Mode be set to a higher CPU priority.

My system is an AMD Phenom II X4 3.42 ghz cpu, 4 GB of ram, Windows 7 Pro 64 Bit, which I custom built.

 

[DeaconFrost]

You don't have any system specs listed, which would be the most important information for this topic. Without knowing those, we can't really give an answer. What processors do you have, how much system memory do you have, and how much do you have dedicated to the XP VM.

On my systems with Intel VT, enabled in Virtual PC, and more than 1 GB of memory devoted to the XP VM, I am running at near native speeds...in terms of usability.

EDIT: As I posted this, your above post showed system info. That's a start, but how much memory is devoted to the VM?

 

[Keiichi25]

First off, you are getting defensive over something that is rather trivial.

Secondly, I even stated in my own post that it does not seem to be an option and explained why, given that XP Mode is, in itself, an application. This application is limited to a situation where in your own system specs, you only state Windows 7 Beta. Nothing about memory, whether or not you are using Windows 7 x32 or x64 until now.

These two factors are important to note because in either case, assigning higher priority to it will not work because you are adding another layer to get a program to work. This layer will be drastically affected not by priority but whether or not it has to juggle its resources along with the resources the application it is trying to help process in a possibly restricted environment, namely, if you are in a x32 setup with 2 gigs of Ram, that is going to require juggling of a lot of resources which means that the XP mode application will be lagging because it will be doing VM swapping along with the program it is trying to assist.

Furthermore, even using x64 with 4 gigs of ram, you still have that problem because in the past, I have also seen Windows XP with 4 gigs of RAM still do the occasional virtual memory swapping and Windows XP x32 only sees 3 to 3.5 Gigs of RAM natively. In Windows 7 x64, at 4 gigs, it sometimes reserves some memory that you may still do a bit of Virtual Memory swapping still.

As stated, assigning higher priority under those conditions will not solve the problem. And his answer stated one of the realities of the situation.

The obsolesce of Windows XP, while it might not be 100% accurate persay, does not mean that for one, its end is not coming soon as noted here:

Microsoft Support Lifecycle

The recommendation of dual booting the system is also valid if you are looking to eliminate the lag all together, as you are not relegating yourself to that extra layer of an Application trying to grab resources ontop of the resources the actual application you are running needs.

 

[Darician]

Like wysiwyg said, it's a VM so it will be slower. You could technically increase the priority to the Virtual PC process in Task Manager under Windows 7 but I wouldn't recommend this as it would most likely kill your host (Windows 7) OS. If you want to avoid as much of a performance penalty, you can try installing the Virtual Machine on a different physical hard drive as that would reduce I/O issues, which are what usually kill VM performance (apart from other things).

You could also try using XP Mode in VMware Player, Workstation, or VirtualBox, which generally are better performers than Windows Virtual PC and you can assign more cores to these machines. Also consider the RAM assigned to the VM itself. And of course, like stated before, if you want full native performance, a dual-boot would solve the issue.