Host Memory Used vs. Base Memory (Guest Memory) assigned

Discussions related to using VirtualBox on Mac OS X hosts.
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MacDawg
Posts: 3
Joined: 4. Mar 2020, 23:12

Host Memory Used vs. Base Memory (Guest Memory) assigned

Post by MacDawg »

Hello,

I have assigned my WIndows 10 vm 4GB of Base Memory, however, Activity Monitor reports that VirtualBox VM is using 8.37GB.

Why is this more than double?

Thanks for your help.

Host:
MBP 13
2.8 quad-core i7
16GB memory
Virtualbox Version 6.1.4 r136177 (Qt5.6.3)

Guest:
Windows 10 Pro
scottgus1
Site Moderator
Posts: 20965
Joined: 30. Dec 2009, 20:14
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Windows, Linux

Re: Host Memory Used vs. Base Memory (Guest Memory) assigned

Post by scottgus1 »

On my Windows hosts, I see Process Explorer report exact expected usage on Virtualbox guests. (I don't have a Mac.) Can you post evidence to the forum to support your assertion?
MacDawg
Posts: 3
Joined: 4. Mar 2020, 23:12

Re: Host Memory Used vs. Base Memory (Guest Memory) assigned

Post by MacDawg »

Attached image of VirtualBox settings for the running VM in front of Activity Monitor.
Attachments
VirtualBox.png
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granada29
Volunteer
Posts: 690
Joined: 3. Mar 2015, 07:27
Primary OS: Mac OS X other
VBox Version: OSE other
Guest OSses: Linux, macOS, Windows

Re: Host Memory Used vs. Base Memory (Guest Memory) assigned

Post by granada29 »

MacDawg wrote: I have assigned my WIndows 10 vm 4GB of Base Memory, however, Activity Monitor reports that VirtualBox VM is using 8.37GB.
I can reproduce this value (I have a Windows 10 VM with 4096MB of RAM allocated) but I think what you are seeing here is the virtual memory allocation for the process. Or some other random value that Apple has chosen to display and never document.

If you right-click the table header in 'Activity Monitor', or select the menu View/Columns/, you should be able to select a column labelled 'Real Memory'. In my case, this column displays 4.77GB as the memory usage for my VM - and I think is a truer indication of the actual memory usage of a process.

I hope that helps
MacDawg
Posts: 3
Joined: 4. Mar 2020, 23:12

Re: Host Memory Used vs. Base Memory (Guest Memory) assigned

Post by MacDawg »

Much appreciated, granada29
rsc
Posts: 2
Joined: 20. Apr 2020, 19:20

Re: Host Memory Used vs. Base Memory (Guest Memory) assigned

Post by rsc »

Just noticed the same thing here (MBP host, Windows 10 Guest).

Funny that I have been using VirtualBox for more than 3 years with MBP host / Win guest and don't remember ever seeing this issue before. Maybe was something introduced in a recent version of Virtual Box?
sygibson
Posts: 2
Joined: 17. Jul 2020, 16:38

Re: Host Memory Used vs. Base Memory (Guest Memory) assigned

Post by sygibson »

Confirmed on my side. Since 6.1.3 and through 6.1.12 - any VM assigned memory will end up with actual consumption on host (Mac OS X 10.14.6 Mojave) consuming just over 2x the amount of memory.

Downloading and installing the 6.1.2 version, and restarting the VM returns to just a touch over 1x memory usage.
vboxgps
Posts: 3
Joined: 20. Jul 2020, 17:04

Re: Host Memory Used vs. Base Memory (Guest Memory) assigned

Post by vboxgps »

Yup, I concur. Uninstalling 6.1.12 and installing 6.1.2 fixed the problem for me as well.
Mark0P0L0
Posts: 1
Joined: 23. Feb 2021, 02:28

Re: Host Memory Used vs. Base Memory (Guest Memory) assigned

Post by Mark0P0L0 »

NOTE: ok, so- please move my post to according thread, but I haven't found related in "Windows Host" or "Linux Guest", but the issue is exactly related to this thread, so I am leaving it here>

The Issue: despite assigned 5 Gb of RAM, VirtualBox allows Linux CentOS Guest to use 10Gb of RAM causing extreme slowdown on the system, eating up memory.

Setup: Host- Windows 10 64 bit, Guest- Linux CentOS 7 (SecurityOnion 2.3.21); VirtualBox Version 6.1.18 r142142 (Qt5.6.2)
JGCamarena
Posts: 1
Joined: 15. Apr 2021, 19:36

Re: Host Memory Used vs. Base Memory (Guest Memory) assigned

Post by JGCamarena »

Same problem to me
Running Virtuabox 6.1.18 on MBP early 2015 with 8GB RAM with Big Sur.

The host machine (Lubuntu 20.04) with 2GB uses 4GB
Captura de pantalla 2021-04-15 a las 19.18.04.png
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Captura de pantalla 2021-04-15 a las 19.18.25.png
Captura de pantalla 2021-04-15 a las 19.18.25.png (63.08 KiB) Viewed 11026 times
I've read that downgrading virtual box to 6.1.2 the problem solves, but I think that because Big Sur I can't use 6.1.2 :(

Thanks
scottgus1
Site Moderator
Posts: 20965
Joined: 30. Dec 2009, 20:14
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Windows, Linux

Re: Host Memory Used vs. Base Memory (Guest Memory) assigned

Post by scottgus1 »

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