VM settings: 8GB RAM; using 16GB

[vboxuser799]

Hi,

I recently installed VB 6.1.4, and since then the Mac Activity Monitor says VB is using 16+GB of memory, even though in the VM settings I have it set so the VM only gets 8GB. However, the problem might be because Windows 10 Home just updated to 10.0.18362 about the same time I updated to VB 6.1.4. The memory hogging is slowing down the Mac to where some apps are unusable. I have the most recent GAs installed.

Host: Late 2018 Mac Mini running Mojave (10.14.6) with 16GB of RAM.

Mac specs

Screen Shot 2020-03-07 at 14.26.05.png (26.97 KiB) Viewed 2942 times

Guest: Windows 10 Home 10.0.18362.

Win10 memory

Win10_memory.JPG (28.32 KiB) Viewed 2942 times

Activity Monitor

ActivityMonitorSays16GBusedByVB.png (66.51 KiB) Viewed 2942 times

Thank you for any help you can offer.

[vboxuser799]

I did find that if I right click on Activity Monitor in the "Memory" column (or anywhere, I think, at the top), I can select "Real memory". I did that, and it shows that VB is "only" using 8.96GB of whatever "real" memory is.

Real Memory = 8.96GB

RealMemory=8.96GB.png (32.48 KiB) Viewed 2935 times

But the fact remains that now my Mac is extremely sluggish and unusable when the VM is running, so something changed. Any ideas how to help this problem?

[PikeSandwich]

I have the same issue. Each hosting proc grows to double (and never seems to go beyond). MacOS 10.15.3, VB 6.1.4. Across 4 different kinds of guest VMs. This was not the case before upgrading from 6.0.x . I have rebooted since upgrading.

example: VBoxHeadless using 12.25 GB for a 6144 MB VM

[scottgus1]

Take a look here, seems the same issue viewtopic.php?f=8&t=97149

[vboxuser799]

Take a look here, seems the same issue viewtopic.php?f=8&t=97149

Thank you, scottgus1. I had seen that and it gave me the tip as to real vs. non-real (?) memory. However, the fact is that my VM actually eats up memory now and slows down the host. The host has 32GB of RAM. I had 8GB allocated to the guest and all was well. After something happened (upgrading to 6.1.4?), it brought my host to a halt. So I lowered the RAM allocated to the VM to 6GB. Now I can use the host OK, but the VM is hampered.

[scottgus1]

If you revert to your previous version and the full 8GB can be used without the extra memory being used, then upgrade back to 6.1.4 and the issue returns, this process would pin the problem on some change in Virtualbox between your last version and 6.1.4. If you would like to try it, please let us know what happens.

[vboxuser799]

If you revert to your previous version and the full 8GB can be used without the extra memory being used, then upgrade back to 6.1.4 and the issue returns, this process would pin the problem on some change in Virtualbox between your last version and 6.1.4. If you would like to try it, please let us know what happens.

Thank you, scottgus1. I did revert to 6.1.2, and the problem is gone. That's good, but I don't know what that means going forward. Here's a screenshot that shows that now the "Memory" and "Real Mem" are now both closer to 8GB (VM RAM is set to 8192MB).

6.1.2_memory_real-memory_around8GB_MacMojaveHost_Win10PersGuest

6.1.2_memory_real-memory_around8GB.png (73.81 KiB) Viewed 2800 times

[scottgus1]

If the problem is gone in 6.1.2, post a Bugtracker ticket with a 6.1.4 log and a screenshot with evidence of memory double-usage, and a 6.1.2 log with no issues. The devs would like to know.

[yetanothervboxuser]

I can confirm this is an issue as described above because I literally went through the exact same issue and and reverting to 6.1.2 resolved it.

Host is a brand new MacBook Pro 15-inch 2019 16GB ram & 8-core Intel i9, running macOS Catalina 10.15.4
A couple weeks ago I performed a fresh install of VirtualBox-6.1.6-137129-OSX.dmg and extension pack 6.1.6.
Just this weekend I built a Linux Mint guest VM with 8GB ram & 4 CPUs. Under moderate workloads (not heavy) it would cause memory consumption on the host to balloon up to 16GB (will spare you the screenshots, they are identical to the previous post).
Upon discovery of this thread (thank you OP for posting it), I uninstalled 6.1.6 and installed 6.1.2 with extension pack for 6.1.2.
Fired the same guest up, put it under load and it is holding rock solid steady at 8.30GB in macOS Activity Monitor (exact same as screenshots in previous post). Which confirms falling back to 6.1.2 resolves the problem.

Nothing specific for this issue in the bug tracker but 19582 seems pretty closely related. I'd link to it but forum won't let me.

I will not have cycles to heavily document this if devs want a step-by-step reproduction with screenshots, but I can confirm reverting to 6.1.2 resolved it and I will happily test a beta/fix & provide feedback.

[vboxgps]

Can definitely confirm this is the problem as described. Sadly, I can no longer downgrade to 6.1.2 to get the alternate logs, or work around the problem.
I am currently using 6.1.12 along with its extension pack, on MacOS Catalina 10.15.6 and loading Ubuntu 20.04
Is there any plan on addressing this?

[fth0]

Nothing specific for this issue in the bug tracker but 19582 seems pretty closely related.

No, 19582 is not related:

If you provide a VM running a Linux guest with a specific amount of RAM (e.g. 16 GB), the memory will sooner or later be completely in use and allocated in the host OS. A Windows guest will even use the whole RAM right from the beginning. If you then reboot the guest OS, the VM keeps running and doesn't free the host memory.

[fth0]

Is there any plan on addressing this?

I don't know.

But I can offer to take a look at a complete VBox.log file. The file you've posted is missing the important statistics at the end. Please post a zipped VBox.log file of a VM after it has been properly shut down from within the guest OS.

[vboxgps]

Is there any plan on addressing this?

I don't know.

But I can offer to take a look at a complete VBox.log file. The file you've posted is missing the important statistics at the end. Please post a zipped VBox.log file of a VM after it has been properly shut down from within the guest OS.

Thanks! Attached.

[ncj]

Here is another log with the "double RAM" use. Host macOS 10.15.6, VirtualBox 6.1.12, guest Win10 x64, 3GB RAM (consumes over 6G).

[multiOS]

There's a Bug Ticket here: https://www.virtualbox.org/ticket/19726