[Solved] VirtualBox running Slow on Mac OSX

[DavidA99]

I recently just started using virtualbox on my mac machine and the performance is very slow on windows 10. My macbook is fairly new and has 16GB of RAM so not too sure if my configuration is wrong, or what could be causing my virtual machine to experience slow performance. Also in the activity monitor, virtualbox is using 200% of my CPU.

Host:
MacOS High Sierra v 10.13.2
MacBook Pro (15-inch, 2017)
2.8 GHz Intel Core i7
16 GB 2133 MHz LPDDR3
Intel HD Graphics 630 1536 MB

Guest:
Windows 10 Enterprise, Version 1703 - 64 bit.

I just installed the fresh copy of Windows 10 so any help would be appreciated. I would need this virtual machine to run an environment for a project using visual studio 2017.

I have attached my log, hopefully I can get some guidance to see if there is anything else I need to do to my configuration.

[socratis]

00:00:01.922345 GUI: 2D video acceleration is disabled

And so is the 3D acceleration. Shutdown the VM and enable them in the VM settings » Display. Then re-install the GAs in the guest.

00:00:01.409366 AIOMgr: /Applications/VirtualBox.app/Contents/MacOS/VBoxGuestAdditions.iso

Speaking of additions, you never actually installed them to begin with. You did insert the CD in the VM, but you didn't actually run the "VBoxWindowsAdditions.exe".

00:00:01.185357 RamSize <integer> = 0x0000000165600000 (5 995 757 568, 5 718 MB, 5.5 GB)

I don't know what your needs are, but that's a little bit on the high side of allocated RAM. I'd lower it to 4096 MB (4 GB).

00:00:01.185354 NumCPUs <integer> = 0x0000000000000003 (3)

Same thing with your CPUs, you allocated 3 out of 4 to your guest. I would go with 2 CPUs.

00:00:01.073737 Installed Extension Packs:
00:00:01.073755   None installed!

You could benefit a lot from the extras of the Extension Pack...

Now, all that could improve your Win10 VM experience. But, not for a fresh installation of Win10. A fresh installation of Win10 will take hours and hours to look for updates, index its own, install updates, rinse and repeat. It happens on physical systems too. I'd leave it overnight to do its thing, and then some more.

Check the TaskManager in Win10. You'll see that the System is sucking up all your resources; CPU, Disk I/O, Network. Just let it ... settle.

[DavidA99]

Thanks a lot socratis! I applied all your suggestions and it now works seamlessly. I really appreciate the help you've provided me and from browsing the forums before I create this post, i'm sure everyone else does too !

[socratis]

Great, thanks for the feedback. Marking as [Solved].