OpenSolaris guest is slow on WinXP

[kebabbert]

on a Dell Inspiron 9400. And it is also slow on a IBM Thinkpad T60p. Why is that?

[Vaidaskz]

I have the same problem:

Host:
WinXP 32bit
1.7GHz Core (no hardvare virtualisation support).
4GB RAM

Guest:
OpenSolaris 2009.06
1.5GB RAM
Fixed size disk image (10GB).

First that is very slow is USB: I have another XP guest and there 1.5GB file from USB disk is copied in 12 minutes, while in OpenSolaris it takes two and half hours! (about 150kb/s).

Also OS System Resources Manager shows that it uses almost all memory even just booted (boot is also I say slower than with XP) and uses about 50% CPU even at idle (but host shows lower usage at about 7%).

Does OpenSolaris need so much RAM? Or it is not very good compatible with XP host or another problems?

[jkeil]

Host:
WinXP 32bit
1.7GHz Core (no hardvare virtualisation support).

The missing hardware virtualisation support
slows down the guest.

Guest:
OpenSolaris 2009.06
1.5GB RAM

First that is very slow is USB: I have another XP guest and there 1.5GB file from USB disk is copied in 12 minutes, while in OpenSolaris it takes two and half hours! (about 150kb/s).

How exactly are you using USB with the Solaris guest?

Is there a FAT filesystem on an USB device that you somehow
mount inside the guest? Solaris' FAT filesystem (pcfs) is known
to be very *slow*...

Also OS System Resources Manager shows that it uses almost all memory even just booted (boot is also I say slower than with XP)

The Solaris kernel tries not to waste free memory and caches all sort of
data in memory. It is expected that you see all memory is in use.
When applications need memory, the kernel shrinks the caches to
free some memory.

and uses about 50% CPU even at idle (but host shows lower usage at about 7%).
Does OpenSolaris need so much RAM? Or it is not very good compatible with XP host or another problems?

That could be a side-effect of running the operating system in a virtualized
environment. Could also be a problem that some process is indeed using
to much cpu cycles.

Do you have the guest additions installed?

[Vaidaskz]

How exactly are you using USB with the Solaris guest?

Is there a FAT filesystem on an USB device that you somehow
mount inside the guest? Solaris' FAT filesystem (pcfs) is known
to be very *slow*...

I've tryed with Nokia 5800 connected as USB drive, so i think yes, it is FAT.

Do you have the guest additions installed?

Yes, I'm using VB 3.1.2 with guest additions installed.