Ubuntu guest on WinXP host very slow

[xerces8]

I have installed Ubuntu desktop i386 10.10 into a newly created VM in VirtualBox 3.2.12 on Windows XP Pro SP3.

Physical RAM is 1GB, I set 512 MB for the VM.

The problem is, it runs very slow. Host CPU useage jumps to 100% each times something is happening in the VM, even little things, like opening a menu.

The CPU is Athlon XP2200+.

I used everywhere default settings.

Any idea what is wrong?

[xerces8]

I reinstalled VirtualBox (previously it was an update over an older version).

I also installed the guest additions.

No change.

Login takes like 30 seconds and the login sound is broken twice.

[xerces8]

I updated Virtualbox to 4.0.0
Is it slightly better, but still slow.

[clau]

I have noticed a huge slow down after upgrading from 3.2.10 to 3.2.12. Win XP guest is much slower (ie. boot time is longer, every operation after boot is slower), while the host CPU usage is greater.
I have tracked it down to "Enable VT-x/AMD-V" settings. Just disable it and give it a try again. It seems there is a regression regarding VT-x/AMD-V technology.
Some details: I am running a FreeBSD 8.1 host on an Intel i5 (which has VT-x).

Edit: Maybe someone has some time to spare and write a full bug report on VirtualBox Bugtracker.

[abcuser]

Physical RAM is 1GB, I set 512 MB for the VM.

I had similar problem. 1.5 GB physical RAM, Windows XP sp3 as host, Ubuntu 10.10 as guest, VirtualBox v3.2.12. I have been having "out of memory problems", slowing down computer etc. Then I just went to computer shop and bought 2 GB additional RAM for my notebook, it was just 40 €. If you are using PC it is probably even less. Don't know if this helps, but RAM is not expensive anymore like it was years ago.

[xerces8]

I have tracked it down to "Enable VT-x/AMD-V" settings. Just disable it and give it a try again. It seems there is a regression regarding VT-x/AMD-V technology.

My CPU has no VT feature.
Also I don't see that option anywhere. Where would it be?

[stefan.becker]

You need more RAM. 1 GB is not enough to reach good performance. Buy more RAM or use Dual Boot instead of virtualization.

[xerces8]

To me it looks like a CPU problem, not RAM problem.

[stefan.becker]

No, its a RAM problem.

Google for "trashing wikipedia".

You can start virtualization with more than 2 GB Host RAM. Else it makes no sense.

[xerces8]

Funny, we did virtualization on 256 MB RAM in the old days...
Not counting Amiga, which had 1 MB ...

[stefan.becker]

Or Sinclair ZX81 with 1KB/16KB Extended.

What do you expect?

New Version, new Features, more RAM.

The alternative is not to update, use old software.

[abcuser]

CPU jumps up if there is not enough RAM, because it must manage swap space. From your Task Manager you can also see that Commit Charge | Peak was greater then Physical Memory | Total. Not good.

If you don't want to buy new software, then check if there is some software on host and guest that you don' need. Check Control Panel - Services and see if there is some service you can stop.

If you are compering solutions to old systems, then you also need to make your system more light. For example change your host operating system to Linux minimal installation distribution like Ubuntu Minimal: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Insta ... /MinimalCD and then you install x-org if you need it. But more you install, less you will profit.

[xerces8]

CPU jumps up if there is not enough RAM, because it must manage swap space. From your Task Manager you can also see that Commit Charge | Peak was greater then Physical Memory | Total.

Peak is historical data.
It is clear on the screenshot that only about 770 MB of 1 GB was used. With 200-400 MB free or used as disc cache.

Is there an official documentation saying vbox needs 2GB RAM?

[stefan.becker]

No, that are my experiences. And from thousands other people.

What do you expect? A modern OS like Vista/Win7/Linux with Gnome/KDE needs at the absolute Minimum 1 GB to run and not to walk.

So forget, you can ask thousands of times, it doesnt help since you have more RAM.

[abcuser]

What I would check is the following:
1. is there any program running on host that is using CPU,
2. is there any program running on guest that is using CPU.

Something has to be doing in one of them, unless it is not logical a high CPU usage.

Or just like I suggested, use some other system like minimal Linux on host. Try do disable as much services etc that you are not using (on both guest and host). But this is probably not going to help unless you are using some CPU intensive application.

Have you also checked virtual memory on both guest and host OSes?