Slow Linux Mint 15 (Xfce) [win7]

[Kravante]

I installed Mint 15 on a windows 7 machine and it wasn't a very nice experience, the CD took YEARS to boot (about 5 minutes), and when it did it ran very slow. Dragging windows around was a pain, and even the mouse was not very responsive.
I already tried with the Cinnamon and KDE versions too (I actually ended up trying the Xfce because I heard it was the least heavy one, and I stuck with it), and they all run as bad, if not worst.
My suspicion is that Hardware Acceleration isn't being used by Xfce, but how can I make sure? I already enabled the option to use 3d hardware acceleration in Virtual Box tho, but saw little change.

Any ideas of what might be wrong?

Thank you in advance.

[Perryg]

Post the guests log file (as an attachment)
See Online Users Manual for the location of the file.

[Kravante]

I assume this is the file you're talking about.

[Perryg]

Code: Select all

00:00:02.945579 HWACCM: No VT-x or AMD-V CPU extension found. Reason VERR_VMX_MSR_LOCKED_OR_DISABLED

Enable hardware virtualization in your PC bios and see the improvement.

Edit also update your guest additions to match the version of VirtualBox you are running.

[Kravante]

Ok, I updated my VB guest and intel virtualization was already turned on. No improvements...

More info:
I installed Windows XP in a VM before with 0 problems. I didn't even had to get the guest additions or make any VM tweakings and it worked fine, I don't think it was in a much older version of VB as well. Why would it be working for windows and not for this?
My VMs memory is 1gb and 10 gbs disk space. The video memory however is only 9 MBs (I just realized this now), can that be a possible cause?

[Perryg]

If hardware virtualization is enabled in your PCs bios and you read the error I posted then it must be that you have something else using VMX. Common programs are XP mode or Hyper-V.
Microsoft does not allow anything else to use VMX if its programs are.

Note: I am talking about your host PCs bios

[Kravante]

you have something else using VMX.

Hmm, maybe that was the cause. I restarted my pc and now it seems to work fine (still a little jaggy, but my PC isn't that best and this IS a VM we are talking about), definitely usable at least. Anyway, thanks for the help.

[Perryg]

Your PC is good enough to run Mint 15 with ease. I prefer cinnamon but if you stick with xfce your speed should be just fine. As for your CPU M 370 it's more than adequate to handle the guests. I would suggest that you enable large pages since the CPU has EPT.
Some times the large pages are not set enabled by default. You can post the following and I can see.

From the hosts terminal/command window type VBoxManage showvminfo <VM Name> --details and post here. Replace <VM Name> with the actual name of the VM.
Use " " if the name has a space in it.

Note if the host is Windows you need to be in the directory that has VBoxManage.exe for the command to work.

[Kravante]

Here you go, attached. Ill look into the EPT deal since I'm not really familiarized with that.
One thing is still bothering me, why could I run windows XP easily if I didn't do any of these things? Is XP simply less "heavy", or does VB provide other kinds of "synergies" with windows guests on windows hosts?

[Perryg]

The info looks fine. The reason for the sluggishness without VMX is due to the Linux kernel optimisation. In older versions of VBox, they tuned every build against the Kernel in 32-bit (software virtualization) mode but that stopped some time ago since almost all PCs have hardware virtualization. XP is probably the only OS that will work halfway reasonable, but it will operate a lot better with VMX.

[Kravante]

without VMX

Wait, VMX? Virtual Machine eXtension, is this it? If yes, where can I get/enable that then? To my understanding what that basically does is allow the guest to use virtualization, right? Is it a host thing or a guest thing?

I'm sorry, but this is something I'm not familiarized with AT ALL.

[Perryg]

Vt-X (Intel) or AMD-v (AMD) = hardware virtualization or the processor VMX flag.
That is what you turn on in the hosts bios. It should be enabled now but you can post the guests log again to be sure.

[Kravante]

Alright, there you go, I was just asking since you said that my PC should handle it with ease, even tho it is still a bit jaggy.
I can't find the VERR_VMX_MSR_LOCKED_OR_DISABLED error in the log this time.

[Perryg]

Code: Select all

00:00:02.917306 HWACCM: 32-bit and 64-bit guests supported.
00:00:02.917307 HWACCM: VMX enabled!

There you go. Everything is as it should be.

[Kravante]

There you go. Everything is as it should be.

Ok good. Once again, thank you for all the help provided.