Very slow graphics since 5.1.12

[socratis]

Read and subscribe to either or both of the following tickets:

• #11606: Poor graphics performance on retina display with VirtualBox 4.2.x.
• #16436: windows drag and resize slowly, up to several seconds behind mouse. performance otherwise is fine.

[gonhidi]

No, it is not. Unless you have a recent Mac with a Retina display.

Being slow can have the same symptoms, not the same cause. It would be akin to bundling all people with fever in the same case. It's not.

I actually wanted to talk about the possibility of a Retina-related issue (given that two reports have such hosts), but since the opening post describes having the issue with a 2010 iMac (which I believe did not get a high-density display until 2014), I thought that it would likely be off-topic. But since you've already reached the conclusion that it is Retina-related and pointed to the tickets I wanted to link to, I have little else to add right now.

[socratis]

since the opening post describes having the issue with a 2010 iMac

since you've already reached the conclusion that it is Retina-related and pointed to the tickets I wanted to link to, I have little else to add right now.

Well, the opening "reply" was also talking about the minimum information needed for assistance. As I said, slow graphics can mean a lot of things. If you take a look at the two tickets that I linked to, the developers are struggling to find the root cause of this. The consensus now seems to be that it is Retina display related.

So, please post a VBox.log.zip so we can see what we're dealing with in your case. Follow a "start from cold-boot"/"observe error"/"shutdown" cycle. With the VM shut down completely (not paused or saved), right-click on the VM in the VirtualBox Manager and select "Show Log". Save only the first "VBox.log", ZIP it and attach it to your response (see the "Upload attachment" tab below the reply form).

Oh, and please if you see "slow graphics" with a specific program, please make sure to mention that as well. It's one thing if you try to resize a Notepad window, a completely different thing if your YouTube video stutters or your SolidWorks model doesn't rotate correctly or your Chrome browser doesn't perform well in the latest WebGL test.

[cyberyak]

I experienced today the same problem with slow performance of graphics with latest 5.1.18 (tried all options with 2D/3D and reinstalling the tools through safe mode), then went back to 5.0.36 as was suggested here and it finally works quite well.

[socratis]

I experienced today the same problem with slow performance of graphics with latest 5.1.18

What happened today? Did you update VirtualBox? OSX? Both? None?

[josh2020]

After installing Linux Mint, a warning flashes on the screen that video acceleration is not available and the CPU will have to pick up the slack. I am running a new Macbook pro with Sierra, and VBOX 5.1.18. Graphics seems very fast on Windows 10 though, but it only lets me use a small screen. Going to full screen view just gives a small screen with a lot of black empty space.

[socratis]

Have you installed the Guest Additions?
Please read the following: Minimum information needed for assistance.