6.1 - very slow and jerky remote desktop even on host machine

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Alex1st
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Joined: 5. Nov 2021, 20:30

6.1 - very slow and jerky remote desktop even on host machine

Post by Alex1st »

Hi!

I have virtualbox 6.1 on a powerful i7-10700 windows 10 host and would like to use guests (both windows 10 and linux ubuntu) as remote desktops for other windows 10 based old and slow PCs in my local network at home (wired/wireless).

I tried MSTSC (Microsoft Remote Desktop) to connect from those PCs to guests and found than the connection is VERY SLOW:
while browsing pages in Opera / Chrome the page shows part by part, scrolling is jerky, youtube video is not playable at all (slideshow with very cartoony fast voice), even keyboard typing renders in guests with 1-2 seconds delay...

I thought it was due to network issues so I tried to run it locally:

mstsc /v:127.0.0.2:3389

- with almost same results (scrolling better, typing speed better, video/sound - same)

I tried to use teamviwer instead of mstsc - better browsing, video - with same result

Is there any other better option?

P.S. I had an experience to use Citrix with remote PCs lately (located not in my LAN, but far away thru Internet connection) and it was very fast, no video or sound issues of that type (yes, video and sound have a low bitrate, sounds like a radio, but it still sounds at correct speed)

P.P.S video plays smoothly and everything is great in virtualbox player on host
scottgus1
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Re: 6.1 - very slow and jerky remote desktop even on host machine

Post by scottgus1 »

Virtualbox RDP served from the VM's Display settings is remoting into the 'monitor' of the VM after the VM OS has fully composed the video feed. VRDP cannot plug into the VM's OS to benefit from the OS's compositing capabilities, like native MSRDP served from inside Windows can. So VRDP will be slower than inside-the-VM-OS-served RDP or other protocols.

If you are trying Virtualbox RDP, try native-served MSRDP or whatever Linux natively serves, using the VM's IP addresses, not the host IP address.
Alex1st
Posts: 6
Joined: 5. Nov 2021, 20:30

Re: 6.1 - very slow and jerky remote desktop even on host machine

Post by Alex1st »

I tried to use teamviewer instead of mstsc - with same result. It was teamviewer quicksupport inside windows 10 guest
Alex1st
Posts: 6
Joined: 5. Nov 2021, 20:30

Re: 6.1 - very slow and jerky remote desktop even on host machine

Post by Alex1st »

Now tried to set up https://remotedesktop.google.com inside my guest OS:

if I connect from host to headless vbox guest (both win 10, chrome) - everything is great:
- fast video, good sound
- smooth webpage render, no typing delays

if I connect from not-a-host-pc-in-same-network to headless vbox guest (both win 10, chrome) - things go worse:
+ still smooth webpage render, no typing delays (GREAT!)
- slow video, bad sound (eg man's voice becomes bear's roar and can't be understood at all)
scottgus1
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Re: 6.1 - very slow and jerky remote desktop even on host machine

Post by scottgus1 »

Alex1st wrote:tried to use teamviewer
Alex1st wrote:tried to set up https://remotedesktop.google.com
These aren't:
scottgus1 wrote:native-served MSRDP or whatever Linux natively serves
Native-OS-served RDP (ie RDP that came pre-installed with the OS) has the best chance for getting a good video feed. 3rd-party services are more likely to have to feed from and encode the final video output, rather than get optimizations from the OS, like native RDP might get.

To put it bluntly, native pre-built-in MS RDP will give the best results from a Windows OS. I do not know what to recommend for Linux, however.

Note that if you are no longer using Virtualbox RDP, which would admittedly be slow for video and smooth scrolling, then you are entering areas that are not in the scope of the Virtualbox forum. Help from the individual RDP programs you try will help for those programs better than Virtualbox can help.
Alex1st
Posts: 6
Joined: 5. Nov 2021, 20:30

Re: 6.1 - very slow and jerky remote desktop even on host machine

Post by Alex1st »

The last I tried was this:
- install windows 10 pro to guest
- enable built-in windows OS remote desktop
- access it directly using mstsc,
I used NAT option with port forwarding 55555 -> 3389

so connection was like this:
from host PC:

mstsc /v:127.0.0.2:55555

from other PCs:
mstsc /v: 192.168.0.117:55555

results: almost everything is very good, even video and aidio played smoothly,
but still video has a slight delay
areas that are not in the scope of the Virtualbox forum
Let me say that:
- if you have a computer program but there is no a good guide with best practice how to use it it's not a point to be proud
- it would be GREAT to have at least a topic with test results, isn't it?

What about best option for linux, for example?
scottgus1
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Re: 6.1 - very slow and jerky remote desktop even on host machine

Post by scottgus1 »

Alex1st wrote:- enable built-in windows OS remote desktop
- access it directly using mstsc,
...
results: almost everything is very good, even video and aidio played smoothly,
but still video has a slight delay
Excellent! A bit of video slowness would be expected, as even MS RDP is probably not 30FPS.
Alex1st wrote:Let me say that:...
Don't get huffy. I wasn't telling you not to post your test results. That's perfectly fine. But you did come to us to ask how to improve RDP. This topic is under the umbrella question on the subject, How do I improve my RDP? My "scope" comment is to inform you, that while we may direct you to try non-Virtualbox-served RDP, this forum is not the logical source for explanations on how to improve non-Virtualbox-served RDP.

And I did tell you to try native MSRDP, you came back with Teamviewer and Google, without any reference to what I suggested, and you only tried it after I pointed MSRDP out again (and you presented it as if it was your idea to finally try MSRDP, not even mentioning that it had been suggested to you already, twice). Reading and responding to the posts made on your topic before posting again is a good idea. It lets others who helped know that you saw and appreciate their help.

I am glad that you got good, if not perfect, results from MSRDP!
mpack
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Re: 6.1 - very slow and jerky remote desktop even on host machine

Post by mpack »

Native MSRDP will almost always be the best choice for Windows guests (servers), since the protocol sends screen API commands, it usually isn't screen scraping (i.e. dumbly copying pixels). A modern screen uses a lot of pixels, so screen scrapers will often be afflicted by bandwidth limitations.

However, even on MSRDP, some things can only work using screen scraping, and video windows are an excellent example. For MPEG video it would technically be possible to stream the compressed data and decode it at the viewing end, but I don't know if Windows attempts that anywhere.

Note that it makes no difference to RDP whether the server is a physical PC or a VM: it's a network protocol either way, i.e. software, not hardware.

For Linux I have had good success with the XRDP package, i.e. a free MS-RDP server for Linux. I find it better than Linux's officially pushed offering: VNC, at least as of around 18 months ago. Note that Linux is not Windows and nor does it have a standardized GUI stack to speak of AFAIK, so I believe pretty much all Linux remote desktop apps will use screen scraping. Hence performance of VNC and XRDP I find to be similar on Linux, however I found that VNC would fail to make connections irritatingly often (i.e. every time I needed it to work), for this or that dependendency problem. Hence for me VNC went in the recycle bin.
Alex1st1
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Re: 6.1 - very slow and jerky remote desktop even on host machine

Post by Alex1st1 »

Ok then it's strange that my Ubuntu 20.04 guest + xrdp shows very slow performance on remote PC via MSTSC ...
Any ideas why?

Meantime I tried VMWare 16 with same Ubuntu 20.04 guest + xrdp with the same remote PC via MSTSC - it looks MUCH FASTER (comparable to MSTSC to Win 10 guest with native remote desktop connection inside), but VMWare can't play sound from remote linux guest ;-(
mpack
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Re: 6.1 - very slow and jerky remote desktop even on host machine

Post by mpack »

I have no idea what MSTSC is.

As I said above, if you install XRDP in a Linux guest and access it remotely using Windows Remote Desktop Connection then VirtualBox is barely involved, and the same should be true of VMWare. It's a software protocol. I'd think audio should work if XRDP supports it, it shouldn't matter what VMWare supports.
scottgus1
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Re: 6.1 - very slow and jerky remote desktop even on host machine

Post by scottgus1 »

MSTSC = MS Terminal Services (Client?) The Windows "Remote Desktop Connection" app is 'mstsc.exe'.

My old boss's Small Business Server had two Terminal Services licenses, which allowed users to remote into the server OS and run the server's installed programs in separate independent RDP environments. The Clients would use MS RDP clients (running mstsc.exe). So up to three people could use the same computer.

@ Alex1st1, Ubuntu, xrdp and mstsc.exe running through the VM OS's network, not using the Virtualbox RDP server from the host Virtualbox, is all an independent setup that happens to run on a Virtualbox VM. So you'd have to check with Ubuntu, xrdp, and Microsoft how to optimize the setup. As Mpack and I have pointed out, there are no Virtualbox settings that can improve the RDP response, short of optimizing the whole VM settings for general performance.
Alex1st1
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Joined: 29. Dec 2021, 07:15

Re: 6.1 - very slow and jerky remote desktop even on host machine

Post by Alex1st1 »

Yes, I agree that opting to xrdp has nothing to say about virtualbox itself.
Alex1st1
Posts: 3
Joined: 29. Dec 2021, 07:15

Re: 6.1 - very slow and jerky remote desktop even on host machine

Post by Alex1st1 »

for those who interested in xrdp go to https://github.com/neutrinolabs/xrdp subsection Audio redirection (requires to build additional modules)
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