VM settings: 8GB RAM; using 16GB

Discussions related to using VirtualBox on Mac OS X hosts.
vboxuser799
Posts: 111
Joined: 20. May 2009, 09:43
Primary OS: Mac OS X other
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Windows 10

VM settings: 8GB RAM; using 16GB

Post by 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
Mac specs
Screen Shot 2020-03-07 at 14.26.05.png (26.97 KiB) Viewed 24704 times
Guest: Windows 10 Home 10.0.18362.
Win10 memory
Win10 memory
Win10_memory.JPG (28.32 KiB) Viewed 24704 times
Activity Monitor
Activity Monitor
ActivityMonitorSays16GBusedByVB.png (66.51 KiB) Viewed 24704 times
Thank you for any help you can offer.
vboxuser799
Posts: 111
Joined: 20. May 2009, 09:43
Primary OS: Mac OS X other
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Windows 10

Re: VM settings: 8GB RAM; using 16GB

Post by 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
Real Memory = 8.96GB
RealMemory=8.96GB.png (32.48 KiB) Viewed 24697 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
Posts: 11
Joined: 18. May 2019, 14:38

Re: VM settings: 8GB RAM; using 16GB

Post by 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
Site Moderator
Posts: 20965
Joined: 30. Dec 2009, 20:14
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Windows, Linux

Re: VM settings: 8GB RAM; using 16GB

Post by scottgus1 »

Take a look here, seems the same issue viewtopic.php?f=8&t=97149
vboxuser799
Posts: 111
Joined: 20. May 2009, 09:43
Primary OS: Mac OS X other
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Windows 10

Re: VM settings: 8GB RAM; using 16GB

Post by vboxuser799 »

scottgus1 wrote: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
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Posts: 20965
Joined: 30. Dec 2009, 20:14
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
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Re: VM settings: 8GB RAM; using 16GB

Post by 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
Posts: 111
Joined: 20. May 2009, 09:43
Primary OS: Mac OS X other
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Windows 10

Re: VM settings: 8GB RAM; using 16GB

Post by vboxuser799 »

scottgus1 wrote: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_MacMojaveHost_Win10PersGuest
6.1.2_memory_real-memory_around8GB.png (73.81 KiB) Viewed 24562 times
scottgus1
Site Moderator
Posts: 20965
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Re: VM settings: 8GB RAM; using 16GB

Post by 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
Posts: 1
Joined: 18. May 2020, 16:43

Re: VM settings: 8GB RAM; using 16GB

Post by 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
Posts: 3
Joined: 20. Jul 2020, 17:04

Re: VM settings: 8GB RAM; using 16GB

Post by 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?
Attachments
gps-ubnt-vm-2020-07-20-07-08-57.log
logs with double consumption. 6GB allocated, yet 12GB occupied, causing the MBP to basically slow to a crawl.
(86.05 KiB) Downloaded 21 times
fth0
Volunteer
Posts: 5661
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Primary OS: Mac OS X other
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Linux, Windows 10, ...
Location: Germany

Re: VM settings: 8GB RAM; using 16GB

Post by fth0 »

yetanothervboxuser wrote: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
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Re: VM settings: 8GB RAM; using 16GB

Post by fth0 »

vboxgps wrote: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
Posts: 3
Joined: 20. Jul 2020, 17:04

Re: VM settings: 8GB RAM; using 16GB

Post by vboxgps »

fth0 wrote:
vboxgps wrote: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.
Attachments
gps-ubnt-vm-2020-07-20-10-43-08.log.zip
6.1.12 after clean shutdown.
(36.05 KiB) Downloaded 18 times
ncj
Posts: 14
Joined: 30. Nov 2017, 23:40

Re: VM settings: 8GB RAM; using 16GB

Post by 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).
Attachments
Win10Dev-2020-07-22-14-07-19.log.zip
(39.26 KiB) Downloaded 17 times
multiOS
Volunteer
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Re: VM settings: 8GB RAM; using 16GB

Post by multiOS »

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