Folder sharing extremely slow, minute long delays.

[Leffmann]

Hosted system is XP Pro 32-bit with SP3. Explorer can view the shared folder and copy files to and from fine, but every action such as even clicking the shared folder to select it is met with a 30 second delay during which Explorer stops responding completely, after which the operation completes as it should. Applications on other hand can not cope with the delays and are unable to use the shared folder.

I'm on OS X Snow Leopard with pretty much unchanged network settings since install. Installed 3.0.10 with guest addons, tried reinstalling but to no avail. Any solution?

Thanks.

[Sasquatch]

Try putting the following line in the hosts file of the Guest and see if it helps speed things up.

Code: Select all

vboxsrv 127.0.0.1

I forgot the exact syntax on Windows, it might be the other way around (IP before name) as on Linux.

[Leffmann]

That solved the problem.

I wasn't sure whether it was "vboxsrv" or "vboxsvr" as I've seen both here on the forum and in the documentation, so I just added two lines to make sure. Maybe you can clarify this for other people who find this thread after running into the same problem.

Thank you very much for the help.

[Sasquatch]

This 'fix' has been released here on the forums before, hence I know it. Basically, Windows tries to look for host names on the network using the hosts file first, then DNS, then WINS, and maybe a few other options before it times out. When that happens, the GA somehow come up and give it the proper location to find the files. By using this work around, you basically let the GA pick up straight away because Windows doesn't need to look further on the network.
Something like that.

[dnonnema]

I'm glad I come back to this forum occasionally. I had this problem, and have been living with it.

Is this modification to the hosts file documented? I don't remember seeing that when I installed VBOX.

[Sasquatch]

I'm glad I come back to this forum occasionally. I had this problem, and have been living with it.

Is this modification to the hosts file documented? I don't remember seeing that when I installed VBOX.

You didn't read my reply, did you? It's only here on the forums, you won't find it in the Manual or anywhere else (maybe someone's bog site).

[anton]

Hi, I had the same problem, using xp as guest on karmic. I deleted the line '127.0.0.1 localhost' and replaced it with '127.0.0.1 vboxsvr' in file 'hosts' from guest directory C:/WINDOWS/systems32/drivers/etc. This cut the delay for share folder response a fair bit but it can still take a good ten seconds with the change. The improvement so far is appreciated but any ideas how the lag could be shortened further? Cheers!

[MarkCranness]

Don't delete 127.0.0.1 localhost. Instead add another line 127.0.0.1 vboxsvr would be recommended.

[Sasquatch]

Hi, I had the same problem, using xp as guest on karmic. I deleted the line '127.0.0.1 localhost' and replaced it with '127.0.0.1 vboxsvr' in file 'hosts' from guest directory C:/WINDOWS/systems32/drivers/etc. This cut the delay for share folder response a fair bit but it can still take a good ten seconds with the change. The improvement so far is appreciated but any ideas how the lag could be shortened further? Cheers!

Way to go to FUBAR your system. NEVER EVER remove localhost from the hosts file.

[anton]

sasquatch mentioned use of vboxsrv. considering this might be a typo i added two lines initially '127.0.0.1 vboxsrv' and '127.0.0.1 vboxsvr' (in that order) whilst leaving '127.0.0.1 localhost' in at the first line. This made no change to share file response latency. I don't know how these files work exactly but i considered sasquach's explanation which suggested to me there may have been some kind of command priority based on order maybe and so i deleted the first original line, leaving the two new lines in. Still no diff! I then deleted the line with vboxsrv leaving only vboxsvr and hey presto, reduced latency but still takes around 10 real seconds on average which is quite a while still. Any ideas on cutting it further?

[anton]

so far no sign of FUBAR as a consequence. I'd only just installed windows anyway so was prepared to take the risk. Still, given the warning i put localhost back in at the second line and preserved the improvement.

[cekuhnen]

I added: 127.0.0.1 vboxsrv but nothing really changed.

still panifuly slow.

[MarkCranness]

127.0.0.1 vboxsvr
Note: sVr, not sRv, although adding both can't hurt, and it all depends upon which network name you actually used in your share.
In the HOSTS file in the guest.

[cekuhnen]

Ok I will give it another try.

[seattle vic]

I'm having the same problem on a PC. Tried all of the above, but the reading (especially loading a file into word) is "very" slow.