VirtualBox 4.3.22 Direct3D experimental driver no Aero support

Hi,
I have a problem in VirtualBox 4.3.22.I have Windows Vista SP1 in a virtual disk.I have installed Guest Additions,but Aero is still not available.I installed the experimental Direct3D driver and left 256 MB for video memory.What shall I do?

Hi there

I'd switch to VMWARE (VMPLAYER is FREE) as it supports 3D rendering etc.

1) Uninstall Guest additions from VBOX
2) Run VMWARE CONVERTER (also free) to convert the VM to VMware format
3) Power up the Guest VM
4) install VMware tools
5) re-boot the guest -- now it should work perfectly (enable 3d and video hardware acceleration in the vm settings).

I assume you are running on a WINDOWS HOST.

If running on a LINUX Host you have to edit the VM's configuration file as well.

Add these lines :

mks.enable3d="TRUE"
mks.gl.allowBlackListedDrivers="TRUE"

One of these lines might already be in the config file - ensure there's no duplicate line or the VM won't start.

ensure also packages DKMS and libtxc_dxtn (or similar) are installed on your HOST - this will enable 3D etc (S3TC) on the HOST. (LINUX).

Again for Linux Hosts - with VMware player rel 7 (latest one) you might see a message 3D support not available from the Host --- this is actually INCORRECT if you have made the changes listed in this post. 3D rendering works fine as you can use DIRECTX to check it. With VMWARE PLAYER release 6 you won't see the message.

On the Linux host run command glxgears - this will show that your 3D is working on the HOST. (again Linux). Screenshot enc from laptop. CENTOS7 HOST running W10 Guest (X64)

Cheers
jimbo

I have VirtualBox AND VMware Player.Vista x64 SP1 VM is installed in a .vmdk virtual disk I created with Player.The problem with Player is performance.What can I do to boost it?I have Tools installed and left 1GB for graphics memory and 1796MB for RAM.:huh:

VistaUltimate said:

I have VirtualBox AND VMware Player.Vista x64 SP1 VM is installed in a .vmdk virtual disk I created with Player.The problem with Player is performance.What can I do to boost it?I have Tools installed and left 1GB for graphics memory and 1796MB for RAM.:huh:

Click to expand...

Hi there

You could try to update hardware compatibility of the VM (run from the vm settings BEFORE powering up the VM) to switch it to the latest version of VMware.

Assuming you have enough RAM in your HOST the biggest performance problem with VM's is likely to be POOR or VERY SLOW HDD's. (In fact my experiences with computers over the years is that POOR / SLOW HDD's are usually the BIGGEST culprit in poor performance. Not talking about specialized Gaming computers etc but simply standard computers).

Try running the VM from an SSD -- even an external SSD connected via a USB2==>SATA or better a USB3==>SATA if you have USB3 ports on your machine will give far better performance than the average HDD especially if the VM is installed on the same drive (even if it's in another partition) as the Host OS.

Cheers
jimbo

I will tell you about my system.As you can see,my HDD is an ST1000LM024 HN-M101MBB.I think its speed is 5400 rpm.My Vista VM is in Windows 8 partition.My computer has two USB 3.0 ports.I will check if I have an SSD.RAM storage is 4GB.How much RAM shall I leave for this Vista VM?:huh:

Hi there

The main bottleneck is the slow (very slow) HDD. Assign 1GB of RAM to your VM - should be enough.

On an SSD with a USB3==>SATA connector the external SSD will give a more than adequate performance for the VM. You don't need to allocate 2GB for the VM. Try it also with default RAM for the graphics.

Cheers
jimbo

I have left 1,7GB RAM for Vista x64 SP1 and 1GB for graphics.Is that OK?
I should also say that this HDD gets hot very quickly!
Are my graphics cards good?What would you tell?
1)Intel HD Graphics 4000
2)Nvidia GeForce 610M

Well,bad news! I don't have an SSD.
What other choices do I have?

Upgraded VBox to 4.3.26 and Aero doesn't work again,even if I install the experimental driver again. I bought VMware Workstation 11 and created some VMs with it (Windows Server 2003 x86,Windows Vista x86 & x64,Windows Server 2008 x64,Windows 7 x64). The problem with Workstation is that sound is distorted. I followed the Knowledge Base about that and it doesn't fix my issue. However,if I turn on Windows Media Player,the sound will be less distorted and Aero effects will work better. Insert a DVD,play it with Media Center (if you have Vista Home Premium or Ultimate) and see that somewhere the sound will crackle,as if you had a blue screen.