Slow Windows guest performance on my Mac

Discussions about using Windows guests in VirtualBox.
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jflim
Posts: 3
Joined: 13. Dec 2019, 21:34

Slow Windows guest performance on my Mac

Post by jflim »

I'm running a Windows 10 guest on my MacBook Pro.
I experience keyboard input lag and sometimes keys are repeated as well.

Some of the animation (such as when searching for things in the Windows search) are slow as well.

I'm trying to get an idea what VM settings I may need to change to remedy these symptoms.

I've attached my vbox.log which should contain the full start to shutdown.

Thanks!
Attachments
Development Windows 10-2019-12-13-11-31-41.log.zip
zipped log
(34.49 KiB) Downloaded 14 times
socratis
Site Moderator
Posts: 27330
Joined: 22. Oct 2010, 11:03
Primary OS: Mac OS X other
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Win(*>98), Linux*, OSX>10.5
Location: Greece

Re: Slow Windows guest performance on my Mac

Post by socratis »

I can't seem to find anything wrong with your setup, except maybe going Full-Screen. Can you try with a normal, windowed mode?
Do NOT send me Personal Messages (PMs) for troubleshooting, they are simply deleted.
Do NOT reply with the "QUOTE" button, please use the "POST REPLY", at the bottom of the form.
If you obfuscate any information requested, I will obfuscate my response. These are virtual UUIDs, not real ones.
jflim
Posts: 3
Joined: 13. Dec 2019, 21:34

Re: Slow Windows guest performance on my Mac

Post by jflim »

I changed to use scaled mode without going using Full-Screen mode and I still noticed slowness in input and animations. I'm not sure if this helps but I looked in the Windows Guest display options and saw by default the Windows guest resolution was greater than my native Mac resolution.
Attachments
Archive.zip
screenshots_and_updated_vboxlog
(234.99 KiB) Downloaded 12 times
socratis
Site Moderator
Posts: 27330
Joined: 22. Oct 2010, 11:03
Primary OS: Mac OS X other
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Win(*>98), Linux*, OSX>10.5
Location: Greece

Re: Slow Windows guest performance on my Mac

Post by socratis »

socratis wrote:Can you try with a normal, windowed mode?
jflim wrote:I changed to use scaled mode
Do you see the difference in my suggestion and your action?
jflim wrote:I'm not sure if this helps but I looked in the Windows Guest display options and saw by default the Windows guest resolution was greater than my native Mac resolution.
Go to VirtualBox Settings » Display » ScaleFactor. Change that to 200%. You shouldn't be getting that high of a resolution for a VM.

Then switch the VM's resolution to something like 1280x1024 for starters. And no Seamless or Full-Screen mode, just a plain vanilla window.

I want to see the recipe of the VM, the ".vbox" file. Right-click on the VM in the VirtualBox Manager, select "Show in Finder". ZIP the selected ".vbox" file and attach it to your response.
Do NOT send me Personal Messages (PMs) for troubleshooting, they are simply deleted.
Do NOT reply with the "QUOTE" button, please use the "POST REPLY", at the bottom of the form.
If you obfuscate any information requested, I will obfuscate my response. These are virtual UUIDs, not real ones.
jflim
Posts: 3
Joined: 13. Dec 2019, 21:34

Re: Slow Windows guest performance on my Mac

Post by jflim »

I changed the resolution to be lower and the scaling factor to 200% on VirtualBox as you had suggested.
The VM is a lot faster now but the desktop icons and overall windows are now a lot smaller.

I've attached the .vbox file

I had tried using the VM specific auto scaling to 200% to make the icons look larger on top of these changes
as a test and noticed input lag.

Thanks!
Attachments
Development Windows 10.vbox.zip
(3.08 KiB) Downloaded 11 times
socratis
Site Moderator
Posts: 27330
Joined: 22. Oct 2010, 11:03
Primary OS: Mac OS X other
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Win(*>98), Linux*, OSX>10.5
Location: Greece

Re: Slow Windows guest performance on my Mac

Post by socratis »

Shut down the VM, quit VirtualBox, count to 30. Open Terminal and issue the following commands:
  • 
    VBoxManage setextradata global GUI/ScaleFactor 2
    VBoxManage setextradata "Development Windows 10" GUI/ScaleFactor
Do NOT send me Personal Messages (PMs) for troubleshooting, they are simply deleted.
Do NOT reply with the "QUOTE" button, please use the "POST REPLY", at the bottom of the form.
If you obfuscate any information requested, I will obfuscate my response. These are virtual UUIDs, not real ones.
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