Windows 7 Shared Folders Performance

[adam.difrischia]

Hello All,

I've got an end-user with an issue running VirtualBox 3.0.12 on OS X 10.6.2, Windows 7 32-bit Guest. The performance when dealing with Shared Folders is appalling. I've seen a lot threads that pretty much say the same thing, so I'm going to try and give up as much information as possible. I'd like to assume this is due to the newness factor of Windows 7.

Guest Details:

Code: Select all

1536MB RAM
2 vCPUs
VT-x/AMD-V: Enabled
Nested Paging: Enabled
ACPI: Enabled
Display: 12MB
3D Acceleration: Disabled
Hard Disk: SATA Port 0, Normal, 60GB
Audio: CoreAudio, ICH AC97
Adapter 1: Intel PRO/1000 MT Desktop

I've tried using the /drivers/etc/hosts file fix that was posted for several Windows XP guests. While this does cut down on the level of waiting and freezing, it's still at a level that's unacceptable for this person's day-to-day work (editing documents, attaching pictures generated in OS X to e-mails in Outlook, presentation devleopment, etc.). I did some tests jockeying settings back and forth with the network adapters, hosts file, etc. 3 times each opening the file, averaged out. I then copied the file from the shared folder onto the Windows desktop and opened it there for a baseline native comparison. Keep in mind this is an 11KB Word Document, as well as the fact that these times do not include the initial Word startup lag. I also rebooted in between adding and removing the hosts fix. Here's the chart:



I've never seen performance this bad in a guest before. This issue was also prevalent in 3.0.10. I'm setting up a Windows 7 guest on my Windows 7 install to see what the comparisons are like. Is anyone else seeing numbers like this? Obviously the closest to native performance are the numbers with no Networking enabled, but for an end-user this is not acceptable to have to constantly turn networking on and off to work with files.

As sad as it is to say (I really hope not), if there isn't a fix for this soon I may be forced to switch these users back over to Parallels. Any thoughts? Should I file a bug report?

[Perryg]

@adam.difrischia,

I am afraid that I do not see this kind of lag or problem and I use shared folders between a lot of various OSes, Linux and Windows host/guests 32 and 64 bit.
It is possible that this may be a MAC thing and as such I would raise a ticket on Bugtracker (link is below my post). Please search for tickets that may already be open and add your self before starting a new one. Also the Log File of the offending guest will be needed as well as any supporting information that you can provide.

[vmmaestro]

The fastest way I could get it to work fast was to use bridged network adapters with the Intel drivers and then map a drive in Windows 7 that connects to the VM shared folder... after clicking in Windows it takes about 2 seconds to connect and then it works fast.

You only have to map the first time, after that just click.

[adam.difrischia]

Well, the problem is not the speed of the actual shared folder when browsing. I've mapped the drive, and browsing works great; the concern comes from reading/writing to the folder from any program, where I'm seeing the speeds indicated above. Most notably, this occurs in Microsoft Office 2007 applications.

[sonofjon]

I have the exact same problem with host Ubuntu 9.10 and Guest Windows 7. I'm using VirtualBox 3.0.12.

[vmmaestro]

I'm not seeing speeds anywhere close to what you are seeing; i.e. almost instantaneous.

Do you have an antivirus program running? You may want try try disabling it to see if that makes a difference.

[Daniel.D]

I have the exact same problem with host Ubuntu 9.10 and Guest Windows 7. I'm using VirtualBox 3.0.12.

Which version of the Guest Additions are you using?

For me the same problem (but with XP and Office 2003) went away after
upgrading the Guest Additions to 3.2.4.