XP Guest - Internet slow

[bdogi]

I am running Vista Ultimate 64-bit on the Host and XP SP3 on the Guest machine.

The internet is super fast on the Vista host and with VMWare I had no problems with internet speed.. however, since moving to Virtualbox (fresh install, no conversions) - there have been the following issues:

1. Have to retry going to almost any website 2-3 times before it will actually work (IE. Firefox, Chrome, all the same).

2. Sometimes sites take 2 minutes to load even though I can load them in under 1 second on the host.

I have done the following:

1. Change the adapter to Intel Pro/1000 MT Desktop (NAT) from the default.


I can't think of anything else to do It's been like this since install and is really frustrating. My next thought was to try a bridged connection, but I am not sure how that will help.

[Perryg]

Strange, I don't have these issues. Can you share with us the guest settings and also the host RAM?

[bdogi]

Guest Settings:



General
Name: BDogi
OS Type: Windows XP


System
Base Memory: 1054 MB
Processor(s): 1
Boot Order: Floppy, CD/DVD-ROM, Hard Disk
VT-x/AMD-V: Enabled
Nested Paging: Disabled

Display
Video Memory: 12 MB
3D Acceleration: Disabled
Remote Display Server: Disabled

Hard Disks
IDE Primary Master: BDogi.vdi (Normal, 40.33 GB)
IDE Primary Slave: NewHardDisk2.vdi (Normal, 60.00 GB)

CD/DVD-ROM
Image: VBoxGuestAdditions.iso

Floppy
Not mounted

Audio
Host Driver: Windows DirectSound
Controller: ICH AC97

Network
Adapter 1: Intel PRO/1000 MT Desktop (NAT)

Serial Ports
Disabled

USB
Device Filters: 2 (2 active)

Shared Folders
Shared Folders: 4


HOST:

OS: Windows Vista Home Premium - SP1
Processor: Intel (R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU P8400 @ 2.26 GHz
Memory (RAM): 4.00 GB
System Type: 64-bit OS

[bdogi]

And, BTW... It seems to me like it is not contacting the DNS server properly all the time.


That would be my first guess. Because I have to refresh 3 times before I can even get to Google (on the first attempt) and that should not be that way. It acts like it can't even find out where Google is.

[Perryg]

Look at the host configuration and specifically the DNS. Do you have a primary and a secondary DNS address?
If so switch them around and see if it helps. Usually when this happens it is because the primary DNS server was down or acting flacky. While this is not an issue for the host it is for the guest, because VBox has no way of telling or switching.

[bdogi]

The machine (host) is a laptop and using Wireless... The DNS server is just 1 because of that:

DHCP Enabled: yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled: yes
IPv4 Address: 192.168.1.132 (preferred)
Subnet Mask: 255.255.255.0
Gateway: 192.168.1.254
DHCP Server: 192.168.1.254
DNS Servers: 192.168.1.254

That about covers it

[Perryg]

I think it is possible to use an outside DNS source by using the Guest and selecting to use one you define. Try switching to a known good DNS source and see if that helps.

[bdogi]

ok, thank you. I am now using OpenDNS and it seems to be blazing fast. I'll keep the thread updated in case anyone else is having similar issues.

[bdogi]

Still slow after the DNS change I don't have to refresh 2-5 times anymore to get to a domain, but sometimes websites that take less than a second on the host take about 10-30 seconds on the guest.

[bdogi]

It is sooooooo painfully slow I am now using my host OS to do any internet browsing ;( I can't hardly even believe the difference. I am starting to wish I didn't move from vmware to virtualbox. There has to be a setting that fixes this, but I just can't find it.

I changed both Host and Guest DNS settings to OpenDNS servers. I never get a 'server not found' error on websites anymore, but I am browsing a site right now that took 1 second on the host OS and is still loading after 3 minutes on the guest. It's insanity.

I'm not even sure what else to tweak at this point - I would have thought nothing needed tweaking. Should I change from NAT to Bridged? I don't know why that would help, but I'm willing to give anything a try before I give up and re-convert everything back to VMWare. (I DONT want to have to do that)

[praveenrao]

hi,
Change the Network Adapter to PCnet-PCI II (NAT). That should work. I had the same issue.
Check out http://forums.virtualbox.org/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=22158