virtualbox.org

Hi,

I have 2 iMac running latest VirtualBox (6.1.34) :

iMac 27" mid 2010 with Mac OS 10.13.6 (High Sierra, the latest available release for this hardware): Windows 7 (32-bit) guest runs just normal considering the age of the hardware
iMac 27" end 2015 with Mac OS 12.4 (Monterey, latest release, updated on a regular basis), Windows 10 (64-bit) and Windows 7 (32-bit) run very slowly, Windows 10 is almost unusable as detailed below.

I have never experienced any issue before upgrading to Monterey 4 months ago.

Here are the behaviour I get in guest Windows 10 :

everything is slow : switching to another app, typing, moving windows around
keystrokes are sometimes (in fact often) repeated (I did remove VB out of Mac OS Security and Confidentiality > Input Monitoring, see screenshot attached)
when moving a window inside an app., the ghost contour is offset to the left
Windows Task Manager reports a normal resource consumption

For the past 4 months, I have tried all the tricks I could find on this forum, without success so far. I'm out of inspiration…

Can anyone help please?

Below are the links to zips for both iMacs ('High Sierra' and 'Monterey') containing:

system report
VBox configuration(s)
VBox log(s)
For Monterey, input monitoring screenshot

High Sierra: https://www.dropbox.com/s/8zhm85wej77wd ... a.zip?dl=0
Monterey: https://www.dropbox.com/s/l8gri5k4yspc6 ... y.zip?dl=0

The separate VBox logs are also attached.

Thanks in advance for any tip.

Please attach logs locally.

mpack wrote:Please attach logs locally.

Done on the OP… thanks for your help

Do you need tho other files as well?

Update : attached is another log where the Win10-64 virtual machine ended up completely frozen (Monterey-Win10-64_blocked.VBox.log)

For some reason I do not understand, you have limited the VRAM allocation in your Windows 10 VMs to 100MB and the Logs are repeatedly showing errors:

00:12:18.724269 VMMDev: Guest Log: VBoxMP::vboxWddmVModesAdd: WARNING! :resolution 5026x2830 too big for available VRAM (50790400 bytes)
00:12:18.724366 VMMDev: Guest Log: VBoxMP::VBoxVidPnUpdateModes: WARNING! :VBoxWddmVModesAdd failed -37
00:12:18.724471 VMMDev: Guest Log: VBoxMP::DxgkDdiEscape: WARNING! :VBoxVidPnUpdateModes failed Status(0xc0000001)
00:12:18.724520 VMMDev: Guest Log: vboxDispIfUpdateModesWDDM: VBoxTray: pfnD3DKMTEscape VBOXESC_UPDATEMODES failed Status 0xc0000001

Max the RAM allowance to 128MB (256MB in Windows if you enable 3D)

MacOS Monterey removed the previously existing option to run apps in low resolution mode and attempting to run your VMs at 5026x2830, even with maximum VRAM, may also impact negatively on performance. So, I would suggest you try adjusting the individual VM resolution to something 'more reasonable' using the VirtualBox View Menu > Virtual Screen 1 settings to see if it improves performance.

multiOS wrote:attempting to run your VMs at 5026x2830, even with maximum VRAM, may also impact negatively on performance.

Definitely, when there is no 3D acceleration. I.e. when all graphics are rendered using virtual hardware. Unfortunately I don't know if 3D acceleration is supported by this host - the log says not.

Since I suspect a graphic issue, I've tried several resolutions… you'll see later in the log

01:36:40.238197 GUI: UIDesktopWidgetWatchdog::sltHandleHostScreenWorkAreaResized: Screen 0 work area is formally resized to: 0x0 x 2560x1440

I end up using:

VBoxSVGA
2560x1440 (half of the Retina resolution 5120x2880)
200% scaling
no 3D acceleration

AFAIR, the same settings with the same Virtual Machine (Win10-64) worked perfectly well before upgrading to Monterey.
Now the Windows machine ends up frozen; I sometimes need to shut it down, even ACPI no longer works because Windows can't close the apps currently running.

The response time is almost normal when starting the session, then slows down until blockage.

The last log you posted showed the quoted error with only 100MB VRAM allocated. VRAM needs to be increased to the maximum possible before attempting to start the VM.

It did register a number of 'attempted' screen resolution changes (6) being applied rapidly resulting in:

01:36:40.238197 GUI: UIDesktopWidgetWatchdog::sltHandleHostScreenWorkAreaResized: Screen 0 work area is formally resized to: 0x0 x 2560x1440
01:37:02.267839 VMMDev: Guest Additions capability report: (0x5 -> 0x0) seamless: no, hostWindowMapping: no, graphics: no
01:37:02.551990 GUI: UISession::sltAdditionsChange: GA state really changed, notifying listeners
01:37:02.552064 GUI: UIMachineLogicFullscreen: Additions-state actual-change event, rebuild multi-screen layout
01:37:02.552080 GUI: UIMultiScreenLayout::update: GUI/AutomountGuestScreens is disabled
01:37:02.552104 GUI: UIMachineViewFullscreen::adjustGuestScreenSize: Adjust guest-screen size if necessary.
01:37:02.552112 GUI: UISession::sltAdditionsChange: GA state change event came, notifying listeners
01:37:02.552118 GUI: UIMachineLogicFullscreen::sltCheckForRequestedVisualStateType: Requested-state=0, Machine-state=5
01:37:04.923011 VMMDev: Guest Log: VBOXNP: DLL unloaded.
01:37:04.927818 VMMDev: Guest Log: VBOXNP: DLL loaded.
01:37:05.535339 VMMDev: Guest Log: 14:57:35.873627 control Guest control service stopped
01:37:05.697914 VMMDev: Guest Log: 14:57:36.029861 control Guest control worker returned with rc=VINF_TRY_AGAIN
01:37:05.698045 VMMDev: Guest Log: 14:57:36.029861 main Session 0 is about to close ...
01:37:05.698487 VMMDev: Guest Log: 14:57:36.045449 main Stopping all guest processes ...
01:37:05.698580 VMMDev: Guest Log: 14:57:36.045449 main Closing all guest files ...
01:37:05.701120 VMMDev: Guest Log: 14:57:36.045449 main Ended.

So, unless anyone has any better idea, which is quite possible, it seems that the series of resolution changes may have caused the Guest Additions control functions to fail.

Please apply the suggested VRAM change; and if the VM still fails to launch, then submit the latest log produced.

Hi @multiOS,

Thanks a lot for your help.

In the attached log, VRAM is at the max. available (128 MB)

I still had repeated keystrokes and slow execution.

Another possible hint: I use a file synchronization program (syncBackSE V 9); I noticed that after a while running this program (about 15 '), executions keeps slowing down until the VM becomes irresponsive.

I hope we can find a rational reason

TIA,

I know you are wanting near full screen for your VM but I would suggest you try using 1920x1080 with 200% scaling. If it works OK at this resolution then move to the next higher resolution until you strike problems.

Also, you could try removing VirtualBox from System Preferences->Security & Privacy->Accessibility

I note that you have already removed it from Input Monitoring which is how I have also configured my VMs.

The concerning messages have all gone from the latest log, so increasing VRAM seems to have cleared that problem.

The only other performance limitation previously identified by mPack and highlighted in the log is:

00:00:17.093798 VMMDev: Guest Log: VBoxMP::DriverEntry: WDDM: 3D is not supported, hardware type 1
00:00:17.093876 VMMDev: Guest Log: VBoxMP::DriverEntry: 3D is NOT supported by the host, falling back to display-only mode..

I was thinking along similar lines to granada29, i.e. the next step is to find an acceptable compromise point which gives you a combination of satisfactory performance and screen resolution/size, bearing in mind that your Windows installation is using a virtual graphics processor that can't really be expected to perform close to a dedicated hardware graphics card. 'Acceptable' performance does, of course' depend upon the intended use of the Windows VM.

@multiOS, @granada29

Thanks a lot for your help!

'Acceptable' performance does, of course' depend upon the intended use of the Windows VM

In my case it's barely usable: repeated key strokes, everything is slow even with a low resolution, in many cases the VM hangs and ACPI (or even power off) is my only savior.

My initial point was:

High Sierra on a 12-year old iMac, 1 CPU, 2560 x 1440, 128 MB VRAM -- OK
Monterey on a 7-year old iMac, 2 CPU, 2560 x 1440, 128 MB VRAM -- dead slow until hanged, repeated keystroke

Maybe an issue with VirtualBox on Monterey…

VMMDev: Guest Log: VBoxMP::DriverEntry: 3D is NOT supported by the host, falling back to display-only mode.

I use Windows 10 standard settings, I'll check this out; definitely not a 3D user anyway.

From my own experience, your "initial point" is already a high demand for VirtualBox on a macOS host with a Retina display. To make sure that the perceived slowness really depends on the graphics, please do the following for a test: Set the Scale Factor to 100%, knowing that it gets difficult to read, and use a small window like 1920x1080 or even 1600x900 or even smaller. Do the problems still occur then?

I have been experiencing the same issues. My previous workaround was to use low resolution mode, but it has since been removed in macOS 12.4

Today, I found the following settings that seems to improve my virtual Win 10.
1. Virtualscreen 1 @ 100%
2. Inside the virtual Windows: Display Settings > Scale and Layout > 200%

I'm still testing it out, but for now but it seems to be improved a lot judging from my mouse cursor movement.

My Machine:
MacBook Pro 16
2.6GHz 6-Core i7
32GB RAM
AM Radeon Pro 5500M, 8GB

Virtual Machine:
Windows 10 (64)
Memory = 16GB
Processor = 6
Chipset Type = ICH9
Acceleration = VT-x/AMD-V, Nested Paging, Hyper-V Paravirtualization
Video = 256MB, VBoxSVGA, 3D-enabled

I'm having the same issue.
I have 2019 Macbook pro i7 6 core, 32GB.
windows guest run smoothly with very small screen (not usable), it is very slow with large screen.
Seems to be a graphics issue.

virtualbox.org

Windows Guests very slow on Monterey Host

Windows Guests very slow on Monterey Host

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Re: Windows Guests very slow on Monterey Host

Re: Windows Guests very slow on Monterey Host

Re: Windows Guests very slow on Monterey Host

Re: Windows Guests very slow on Monterey Host

Re: Windows Guests very slow on Monterey Host

Re: Windows Guests very slow on Monterey Host

Re: Windows Guests very slow on Monterey Host

Re: Windows Guests very slow on Monterey Host

Re: Windows Guests very slow on Monterey Host

Re: Windows Guests very slow on Monterey Host

Re: Windows Guests very slow on Monterey Host

Re: Windows Guests very slow on Monterey Host

Re: Windows Guests very slow on Monterey Host