virtualbox.org

Overview:
I have a Ubuntu host (dual boot with Vista X64). When I boot into Buntu I'm using Virtualbox (2.1.2) to access my needed windows apps while working out of linux. The VM is a Win 2K pro running with 1 GB Ram, and 100 Megs of video Ram. I have a TrueCrypt partition that gets mounted in both Vista (the other OS in the dual boot) and in Buntu.

Machine specs and environment:
The machine is an HP DV5-1160us. It has 4 gigs of Ram and a P7350 Core 2 duo Intel processor. Vista X64 runs very crisp with multitasking on the dual boot. Ubuntu X64 also runs crisply.

The problem:
When I boot up the win 2K guest, it causes problems. When in the Windows guest, I notice when typing it is VERY slow. Also in general the guest OS is sluggish and very slow. Additionally, when I switch over into buntu to surf the web, it is very unresponsive and slow. Consistently, when in buntu - while Vbox's Win 2k guest is running - I can't type anything. For example, if I select a google search and try to type something into the search dialogue, no text shows up. Windows can be moved around and resized. But everything is sluggish and I can't type anything. If I switch back to the Win 2K guest, everything is still very sluggish. Once I close the guest, Buntu isyst back and running normally. So it's clearly related to booting up the Win 2K guest. Once o that Vbox Win2k guest is running, I'm hosed in both Operating systems. The only solution is to whack the Vbox guest, then buntu is usable again.

What I've tried:
I went into the guest and altered the host file in winnt/system32/drivers/etc and appended Vmsvr and my machine name - had no effect. I switched off of Nat networking and switched over to Host - no effect. I've browsed around the forums but have yet to find a solution that renders the guest into a workable solution.

Conclusion & Thoughts:
I don't think the VM was causing this guest and host wide sluggishness when it was first installed. So I suspect that something was added or changed along the way. It MAY be the truecrypt drive, but I can't confirm that. I hope I can get this to work, because when I first ran the win2k guest, it was very fast and responsive. I could have several apps running in seamless and it was really very usable. The possibility of realistically using linux exclusively and only using Windows for the must-have apps was within my grasp. Unless I can get this sluggishness resolved, I'll have to keep booting into Vista to get my work done. So I'm hoping there is a clear solution.

Incidentally I had to use a truecrypt partition as a workaround for two things: When I'd try to run programs from shared host directories, the guest would hang and become completely frozen - had to reboot. The other issue is that Quickbooks wouldn't run off the shared folders. So having a true crypt partition solved both problems. It made the needed files appear local to win2k, which make QB happy AND wasn't hosing the guest OS. So everybody was in happyland. Hopefully some of you brilliant buntu or linux wizards can figure this one out. Thanks for your help.
Peace

Modedit: we are not blind, no need to use a font size 18. If we want to get a larger font, we zoom our browsers.

An update.
The problem is fixed. for those that have had this problem, it appears fixed with version 2.1.2. I got a response from sunlover in the ticket on shared folder problems with win 2000. He suggested I simply re-install guest additions. That totally solved the problem, so now shares are working great. The reference is: http://www.virtualbox.org/ticket/2764
peace

Well, again problems. The fix of re-installing the guest additions DID solve the share problem. However, now, the guest (Win 2K) is so slow, it can't be used. It takes minutes to boot, and minutes to do any simple task. The whole time it's being so slow, the guest hard drive icon appears to be running. But I notice the host drive is not running @ all. So somehow, the guest THINKS it's running it's drive, but nothing happens. Then after a long delay, there is a short burst of Host Hard drive activity and the guest progresses to the next step.
So it appears that any time the guest needs to spin it's disk, it ends up spinning it's wheels, but doesn't actually do any disk reading from the host. So I don't know what this is a symptom of. But I hope that someone has a solution.
Peace

There have been more reports on low performance in 2.1.2, some mentioned it happened after they installed the 2.1.2 GA. You can install older versions if you want. Please remove the GA you have now, download an older ISO with the GA from http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox and see how that helps with your performance.

Hi Sasquatch,
Thanks for your reply. I rolled Vbox back to 2.1 and Win2K is working reasonably well. It occasionally aborts itself spontaneously (I mentioned this in another post), but otherwise the other issues are not prominent. I think what you mention is I can upgrade back to 2.1.2 and keep my GA's from 2.1. That sounds like it could work. I may try that later but for now, I'm appreciative of a working guest and host.
Again, I appreciate you taking the time to post a response.
Peace

Check out the new 2.1.4 release. It should give you the advantage of less bugs, better stability and the same performance as 2.1.0, compared to the sluggish behaviour from 2.1.2 .

Sasquatch wrote:Check out the new 2.1.4 release. It should give you the advantage of less bugs, better stability and the same performance as 2.1.0, compared to the sluggish behaviour from 2.1.2 .

Thanks Sasquatch, I'm downloading and installing it now. Hope it is better. Sure is great they are working behind the scenes to make this Virtualization so great.
Peace