Windows 10/7 Slow performance using HyperV when it is off

Discussions about using Windows guests in VirtualBox.
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xnf
Posts: 5
Joined: 22. Jun 2021, 10:52

Windows 10/7 Slow performance using HyperV when it is off

Post by xnf »

I have installed Windows 10 as a Guest on my Windows 10 Host.
All worked perfectly until I installed Hyper-V. Even after removing it and having it appear as disabled with every check, VBox is still reporting using it in the logs

Code: Select all

00:00:04.020150 GIM: Using provider 'HyperV' (Implementation version: 0)
00:00:04.020180 GIM: HyperV: Reporting vendor as 'VBoxVBoxVBox'
I can't figure out why.

It does use VT-x though

Code: Select all

00:00:04.004158 HM: HMR3Init: VT-x w/ nested paging and unrestricted guest execution hw support
Any idea how to disable it entirely?
Attachments
VBox.zip
log
(25.13 KiB) Downloaded 8 times
scottgus1
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Posts: 20965
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Primary OS: MS Windows 10
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Re: Windows 10/7 Slow performance using HyperV when it is off

Post by scottgus1 »

These can be ignored:
xnf wrote:00:00:04.020150 GIM: Using provider 'HyperV' (Implementation version: 0)
00:00:04.020180 GIM: HyperV: Reporting vendor as 'VBoxVBoxVBox'
They refer to the Paravirtualization channel, which is a comm channel provided by modern virtualization-aware OS's to talk to the hypervisor they're running on. Windows 7 & later use this channel to communicate with the hypervisor, and Windows speaks Hyper-V in paravirtualization. This is not the Hyper-V that blocks Virtualbox.

This is the big kahuna:
xnf wrote:HM: HMR3Init: VT-x w/ nested paging and unrestricted guest execution hw support
You have full VT-x with no interference from host Hyper-V.

If you did have a Hyper-V service running, you'd see this in the log:
HM: HMR3Init: Attempting fall back to NEM: VT-x is not available
NEM: WHvCapabilityCodeHypervisorPresent is TRUE, so this might work...
It's either "HMR3Init: VT-x..." or "HMR3Init: Attempting fall back to NEM". Your host is good, no Hyper-V.
mpack
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Posts: 39156
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Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: PUEL
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Re: Windows 10/7 Slow performance using HyperV when it is off

Post by mpack »

Have you been trying to enable PCI redirection? I'm seeing this in your log:
00:00:04.003749 [/Devices/acpi/0/Config/] (level 4)
00:00:04.003750 CpuHotPlug <integer> = 0x0000000000000000 (0)
00:00:04.003750 FdcEnabled <integer> = 0x0000000000000000 (0)
00:00:04.003751 HostBusPciAddress <integer> = 0x00000000001e0000 (1 966 080)
00:00:04.003751 HpetEnabled <integer> = 0x0000000000000001 (1)
00:00:04.003752 IOAPIC <integer> = 0x0000000000000001 (1)
00:00:04.003752 IocPciAddress <integer> = 0x00000000001f0000 (2 031 616)
00:00:04.003753 McfgBase <integer> = 0x00000000dc000000 (3 690 987 520)
00:00:04.003754 McfgLength <integer> = 0x0000000004000000 (67 108 864)
00:00:04.003755 NumCPUs <integer> = 0x0000000000000002 (2)
00:00:04.003756 Parallel0IoPortBase <integer> = 0x0000000000000000 (0)
00:00:04.003756 Parallel0Irq <integer> = 0x0000000000000000 (0)
00:00:04.003757 Parallel1IoPortBase <integer> = 0x0000000000000000 (0)
00:00:04.003757 Parallel1Irq <integer> = 0x0000000000000000 (0)
00:00:04.003757 PciPref64Enabled <integer> = 0x0000000000000001 (1)
00:00:04.003758 Serial0IoPortBase <integer> = 0x0000000000000000 (0)
00:00:04.003758 Serial0Irq <integer> = 0x0000000000000000 (0)
00:00:04.003759 Serial1IoPortBase <integer> = 0x0000000000000000 (0)
00:00:04.003759 Serial1Irq <integer> = 0x0000000000000000 (0)
00:00:04.003760 ShowCpu <integer> = 0x0000000000000001 (1)
00:00:04.003760 ShowRtc <integer> = 0x0000000000000001 (1)
00:00:04.003761 SmcEnabled <integer> = 0x0000000000000000 (0)
Most of this structure is zero in my own Win10 log. I've highlighted one of the settings that looks PCI related and is zero in mine.

Here is my own structure for comparison.
00:00:03.497947 [/Devices/acpi/0/Config/] (level 4)
00:00:03.497948 CpuHotPlug <integer> = 0x0000000000000000 (0)
00:00:03.497949 FdcEnabled <integer> = 0x0000000000000000 (0)
00:00:03.497949 HostBusPciAddress <integer> = 0x0000000000000000 (0)
00:00:03.497950 HpetEnabled <integer> = 0x0000000000000000 (0)
00:00:03.497950 IOAPIC <integer> = 0x0000000000000001 (1)
00:00:03.497951 IocPciAddress <integer> = 0x0000000000010000 (65 536)
00:00:03.497952 NumCPUs <integer> = 0x0000000000000002 (2)
00:00:03.497952 Parallel0IoPortBase <integer> = 0x0000000000000000 (0)
00:00:03.497953 Parallel0Irq <integer> = 0x0000000000000000 (0)
00:00:03.497953 Parallel1IoPortBase <integer> = 0x0000000000000000 (0)
00:00:03.497954 Parallel1Irq <integer> = 0x0000000000000000 (0)
00:00:03.497954 Serial0IoPortBase <integer> = 0x0000000000000000 (0)
00:00:03.497955 Serial0Irq <integer> = 0x0000000000000000 (0)
00:00:03.497955 Serial1IoPortBase <integer> = 0x0000000000000000 (0)
00:00:03.497956 Serial1Irq <integer> = 0x0000000000000000 (0)
00:00:03.497956 ShowCpu <integer> = 0x0000000000000001 (1)
00:00:03.497957 ShowRtc <integer> = 0x0000000000000000 (0)
00:00:03.497957 SmcEnabled <integer> = 0x0000000000000000 (0)
xnf
Posts: 5
Joined: 22. Jun 2021, 10:52

Re: Windows 10/7 Slow performance using HyperV when it is off

Post by xnf »

Hey,
Thank you guys for replying. Weird thing is the windows 7 host is also sluggish.
How would I check the PCI redirection? I have not done it knowingly.

Code: Select all

VBoxManage modifyvm "Windows 2" --pcidetach
returns

Code: Select all

VBoxManage.exe: error: Unknown option: --pcidetach
scottgus1
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Posts: 20965
Joined: 30. Dec 2009, 20:14
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Re: Windows 10/7 Slow performance using HyperV when it is off

Post by scottgus1 »

Let's take a look at the VM's recipe. Right-click the VM in the main Virtualbox window's VM list, choose Show in Explorer/Finder/File Manager. Zip the VM's .vbox file (not the .vbox-prev file), and post the zip file, using the forum's Upload Attachment tab. (Configure your host OS to show all extensions if the folder that opens does not show a .vbox file.)
xnf
Posts: 5
Joined: 22. Jun 2021, 10:52

Re: Windows 10/7 Slow performance using HyperV when it is off

Post by xnf »

Thanks for the help.
Here it is.
Attachments
Windows.vbox.zip
(1.88 KiB) Downloaded 8 times
mpack
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Re: Windows 10/7 Slow performance using HyperV when it is off

Post by mpack »

I'm not seeing anything unusual in the VM settings.

I suggest you look at Task Manager inside the Windows guest to find out what is hogging the CPU or I/O bandwidth. Check the host too.
scottgus1
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Re: Windows 10/7 Slow performance using HyperV when it is off

Post by scottgus1 »

I also don't see anything odd in the .vbox file. I haven't ever tried PCI redirect in Virtualbox (it doesn't exist since 6.1.x, btw), so I'm not certain how it would show up in the .vbox file, but I am rather certain it would show somehow if some attempt at PCI redirect was attempted at some time in the past.
mpack
Site Moderator
Posts: 39156
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Re: Windows 10/7 Slow performance using HyperV when it is off

Post by mpack »

scottgus1 wrote:Ibut I am rather certain it would show somehow [in the vbox file] if some attempt at PCI redirect was attempted
Agreed. It certainly isn't a global setting, nor is it a default, so there would be something in the vbox file. That leaves me puzzled as to why the log has the differences I highlighted.
scottgus1
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Re: Windows 10/7 Slow performance using HyperV when it is off

Post by scottgus1 »

I also see your same results, Mpack, in my Windows 10 VM:
00:00:04.935724 HostBusPciAddress <integer> = 0x0000000000000000 (0)
xnf
Posts: 5
Joined: 22. Jun 2021, 10:52

Re: Windows 10/7 Slow performance using HyperV when it is off

Post by xnf »

mpack wrote:I'm not seeing anything unusual in the VM settings.

I suggest you look at Task Manager inside the Windows guest to find out what is hogging the CPU or I/O bandwidth. Check the host too.
It's a fresh install, can't think of a reason for this. It all started after enabling Hyper-V, and kept on going after I disabled it.
scottgus1 wrote:I also don't see anything odd in the .vbox file. I haven't ever tried PCI redirect in Virtualbox (it doesn't exist since 6.1.x, btw), so I'm not certain how it would show up in the .vbox file, but I am rather certain it would show somehow if some attempt at PCI redirect was attempted at some time in the past.
I have changed the chipset back to PIIX (changed it to ICH9 when the issue started) and now the logs do not show the PCI redirect stuff. I have attached the current log.
00:00:03.850729 HostBusPciAddress <integer> = 0x0000000000000000 (0)
Attachments
vbox.log.zip
(167.45 KiB) Downloaded 8 times
mpack
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Re: Windows 10/7 Slow performance using HyperV when it is off

Post by mpack »

xnf wrote: It's a fresh install, can't think of a reason for this.
On a fresh install is exactly the time when those CPU hogging tasks run. On later runs it's already done that work.

Check the guest task list.
fth0
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Re: Windows 10/7 Slow performance using HyperV when it is off

Post by fth0 »

Regarding the PCI settings: VirtualBox emulates different PCI bus layouts for the PIIX3 and ICH9 chipsets. This accounts for the differences seen by mpack.

Regarding the Windows 2.vbox file: NestedHWVirt corresponds to System > Processor > Enable Nested VT-x/AMD-V and should IMO be disabled unless needed. The amounts of CPU (3), RAM (4487 MB) and VRAM (204 MB) are somewhat unusual. I don't know if any of these play a role here.

Regarding the latest VBox.log file, I can see the slowness in the timestamps, but not the reason for it. I'd suggest to use your favorite task manager on the host OS to investigate further.

Regarding the latest VBox.log file, I've seen this Guru Meditation several times: It is related to nested virtualization and it is yet unsolved.
xnf
Posts: 5
Joined: 22. Jun 2021, 10:52

Re: Windows 10/7 Slow performance using HyperV when it is off

Post by xnf »

The task list showed some update process was running, but I think it's not the real cause as windows is being loaded extremely slow.
I tried to change the VRAM and CPU to 256 and 2 CPU cores (Same ram). Disabled nested VT-x (though I needed it to run a VM inside it).
Things seems a bit faster now (after changing the settings suggested in the previous posts).
I could call is reasonably usable, but not entirely.

What I do see is rather small disk usage actions (OneDrive going as 2MB/s for a few moments) taking up 100% (with a total of about 5MB/s of other processes) of the disk usage.
That hard drive has about 70-90MB/s and is not being used to that extant, and is healthy. Seems like something is slow with the disk read/write actions.
fth0
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Re: Windows 10/7 Slow performance using HyperV when it is off

Post by fth0 »

If you have installed any so-called security software (e.g. anti-virus other than Microsoft Defender) on the host or in the guest, uninstall it for a test.
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