Re: virtualbox just became slow
On Tue, 8 Nov 2011 12:54:11 +0000 (UTC), I wrote:
>> I've been happily running a virtualbox Windows XP machine (VM) on a Wheezy
>> host for eight months. However, the VM just became pathologically slow. For
>> example, if I boot the VM, call Photoshop 6, and open a small JPG, it all
>> works but takes several minutes. During much of this time the XP Task
>> Manager pins at 100% CPU usage,
On Thu, 10 Nov 2011 10:22:14 +1100, Scott Ferguson replied:
> What process?
When CPU usage gets to ~100%, the process that hogs all remaining memory is
Photoshop or Illustrator, whichever I'm testing. The next larger processes
are there on the healthy machine too (svchost.exe 16 MB, explorer.exe 17 MB).
> Debian/VirtualBox - check dmesg[*1] and VirtualBox log for relevant
> messages. The VirtualBox log is accessible via the GUI Manager =>
> Machine => Show Log. You don't say what sort of VirtualBox disk system
> you use.
I haven't had a chance to check this yet but will.
> Windoof - how much free space does your virtual drive have, when did you
> last defrag, what filesystem, how big is the Windoof swap, have you put
> a sniffer on the virtual NIC, what does Windoof show as chewing the most
> resources?
Sorry, I meant to mention that there's 8 GB of free disk space on c:. I have
never defragged it. I almost never connect to the Internet with it.
> One suggestion is to export (as an appliance) one of the slow
> VirtualMachines from your slow host and import it into your faster host
> - then compare apples with apples. I'd also suggest you temporarily
> disable the virtual NIC to rule out Windoof network activity as the problem.
Good idea. I just brought up the VM (xpvm.vdi + my two home vbox
directories) from my sick installation on the other host, and it ran OK
there. (I had to delete a network printer that it would not have found on
the other host; I can display the printer's properties on the sick machine.)
So I don't believe the problem is in the VM itself. I'm not sure how to
disable the NIC (unless just yanking the ethernet cable will suffice).
I'll check the logs tonight. Thanks.
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