How To: Disable IO APIC AFTER Windows Guest Installation

Discussions about using Windows guests in VirtualBox.
BrunoGontijo
Posts: 3
Joined: 27. Apr 2011, 14:08
Primary OS: Mac OS X Leopard
VBox Version: OSE self-compiled
Guest OSses: Win7

Re: How To: Disable IO APIC AFTER Windows Guest Installation

Post by BrunoGontijo »

sleewok wrote:How to force IO APIC to disable after a Windows Install:
  • Boot the Guest OS
  • Go to Device Manager, and click on "Computers"~>
  • Select the Properties of ACPI Uniprocessor PC ~>
  • Click on the Driver tab, select Update Driver, ~>
  • Click on the "Install from list or specific location"~>
  • Click "don't search I will choose what driver to install" ~>
  • In the window find and click on "Advanced Power and Configuration Interface (ACPI) PC" then click next ~>
  • Click "finish" after Windows loads the new drivers. You may need your CD.(I didn't)~>
  • Now click Close to exit those property pages, Windows will tell you to Reboot. DO NOT REBOOT! SHUTDOWN THE GUEST

Once the guest is shutdown you need to change the settings of the VM. Changing the IO APIC Setting within VirtualBox will not work. It keeps re-enabling the setting.

  • Close VirtualBox and open your guest machine's XML configuration file in a text editor.
  • Find the setting <IOAPIC enabled="true"/>
  • Change value from "true" to "false"
  • Save the file and exit the text editor
  • Right-click on the XML file and open the properties.
  • SET THE XML FILE TO READ ONLY (this will not allow Virtualbox to re-enable IO APIC)
  • Start VirtualBox and Boot the guest OS
  • After windows boots it should install some additional drivers and ask you to reboot again.
IO APIC should now be disabled
I Can do that in the version 4.0.6, I need some help, please!
squall leonhart
Posts: 312
Joined: 21. Apr 2010, 10:39
Primary OS: MS Windows 7
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Windows XP, 8, 10, Android x86

Re: How To: Disable IO APIC AFTER Windows Guest Installation

Post by squall leonhart »

The guide in the first post is usually not correct as the uniprocessor device will not show.
BrunoGontijo
Posts: 3
Joined: 27. Apr 2011, 14:08
Primary OS: Mac OS X Leopard
VBox Version: OSE self-compiled
Guest OSses: Win7

Re: How To: Disable IO APIC AFTER Windows Guest Installation

Post by BrunoGontijo »

I worked a year with VB (Win7 64bit) without problem, but last month I sold my MacBook (i5) and Export Appliance. I bought a (i7) and Import this Appliance, but now is too slow! I don’t know if is because of the IO APIC, so I'm trying to disable to check, but I don't know how.

I have a MacBook Pro (i7), virtual box 4.9.6 (r71344) with Win7 (64 bit)
BrunoGontijo
Posts: 3
Joined: 27. Apr 2011, 14:08
Primary OS: Mac OS X Leopard
VBox Version: OSE self-compiled
Guest OSses: Win7

Re: How To: Disable IO APIC AFTER Windows Guest Installation

Post by BrunoGontijo »

Problem solved.

I just reboot my mac in a 32bit mode and everything is ok now.
Thanks
davnor
Posts: 1
Joined: 6. May 2011, 16:35
Primary OS: MS Windows 7
VBox Version: OSE other
Guest OSses: Windows XP, Debian

Re: How To: Disable IO APIC AFTER Windows Guest Installation

Post by davnor »

My Win XP guest was running very slowly, so I decided to try disabling IO APIC. I ultimately succeeded, but it was not a smooth process...

Configuration:
  • Host: Windows 7 (64-bit), on an Intel Core 2 Duo
  • Guest: Windows XP SP3 (32-bit) - using a VMDK image created from a physical machine
  • VB version: 4.0.6
My experience:
  1. I first tried the instructions at the beginning of this thread.
  2. Like others in the forum, I began having the continual reboot problem (regardless of the IO APIC setting).
  3. I successfully booted into Safe Mode, and used the Device Manger to change the driver to "Standard PC". This was a knee-jerk choice, and just made the problem worse - I couldn't even boot into Safe Mode after applying the change.
  4. Following the tip from samalex, I deleted "intelppm.sys" and "processr.sys". (I didn't have my Windows XP disk, so I used Hiren's BootCD, booted into "Mini Windows XP", and deleted the files.)
  5. I was now able to boot my Windows XP guest (but only with IO APIC enabled). In the Device Manager, my driver was listed as "Standard PC". The guest was now stable again, but I was still stuck with IO APIC, and the performance was still very poor.
  6. So, I pressed my luck and tried HALu. I selected the "ACPI PC" option.
  7. I then the shut down the guest, turned off the IO APIC setting in VB, and restarted the guest.
  8. Violà! Windows XP booted sucessfully, and the performance hasincreased dramatically. In the Device Manager, the driver is now listed as "Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI) PC".
In hindsight, I probably should have skipped the set of instructions from the beginning of this thread and tried HALu first. That's what I get for not reading the entire thread before attempting the change!
prometej1
Posts: 1
Joined: 19. May 2011, 09:45
Primary OS: MS Windows 7
VBox Version: OSE Debian
Guest OSses: Windows 7

Re: How To: Disable IO APIC AFTER Windows Guest Installation

Post by prometej1 »

There is no ACPI Uniprocessor PC option! Only ACPI x64-based PC.
The VM is terribad slow! Is it possible to install a VM Windows 7 without IO APIC enabled? How?
mpack
Site Moderator
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Re: How To: Disable IO APIC AFTER Windows Guest Installation

Post by mpack »

prometej1 wrote:The VM is terribad slow! Is it possible to install a VM Windows 7 without IO APIC enabled? How?
A 64bit guest you mean? I'm not aware that any 64bit PC existed without an IO APIC, so I don't know why MS would have written that HAL. Similar observations about the need for Win7 HALs to work on really old hardware.
Drew5316
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Joined: 15. Nov 2011, 23:06
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Guest OSses: XP, Lubuntu, Win10, Linux Mint, Debian

Re: How To: Disable IO APIC AFTER Windows Guest Installation

Post by Drew5316 »

Old thread, but still useful. Thanks. I was able to speed up my WinXP Guest on an Ubuntu 10.04 server host. Modification to script, below:
sleewok wrote:
How to force IO APIC to disable after a Windows Install:
  • Boot the Guest OS
  • Go to Device Manager, and click on "Computers"~>
  • Select the Properties of ACPI Uniprocessor PC ~>
  • Click on the Driver tab, select Update Driver, ~>
  • Click on the "Install from list or specific location"~>
  • Click "don't search I will choose what driver to install" ~>
  • In the window find and click on "Advanced Power and Configuration Interface (ACPI) PC" then click next ~>
  • Click "finish" after Windows loads the new drivers. You may need your CD.(I didn't)~>
  • Now click Close to exit those property pages, Windows will tell you to Reboot. DO NOT REBOOT! SHUTDOWN THE GUEST

Once the guest is shutdown you need to change the settings of the VM.
  • Close VirtualBox
  • From the Host Command Line:

    Code: Select all

    VBoxManage modifyvm <uuid|name> --ioapic off
  • Start VirtualBox and Boot the guest OS
  • After windows boots it should install some additional drivers and ask you to reboot again.
IO APIC should now be disabled

This method worked great for me. I did it this way, mainly because I couldn't find the appropriate virtualbox.xml file for my guest... ha!

Thanks!
Drew
mpack
Site Moderator
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Joined: 4. Sep 2008, 17:09
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
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Re: How To: Disable IO APIC AFTER Windows Guest Installation

Post by mpack »

Drew5316 wrote:mainly because I couldn't find the appropriate virtualbox.xml file for my guest...
VirtualBox.xml is where the global software settings are stored. There is only one copy of that file per PC (or, in theory, one per user of that PC). VM settings are now stored in a <vmname>.vbox file in the VM folder. In the past they were stored in the same place, but the file was called <vmname>.xml.
Ken Hagan
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Location: UK

Re: How To: Disable IO APIC AFTER Windows Guest Installation

Post by Ken Hagan »

I just tried this in the Win8 consumer preview. There is still an "Advanced Power and Configuration Interface (ACPI) PC" driver on offer and I'm currently using it. However, the VM won't actually boot unless I leave the IO APIC box ticked. I've also tried installing Win8-CP on a VM that starts out with the IO APIC missing but the installer just stopped about half-way through.
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