Ubuntu 12.04 64-bit guest on Windows 7 32-bit host is slow

[praveensripati]

I have Windows 7 32-bit professional as host OS. Ubuntu 12.04 32-bit runs really fast as a guest, but Ubuntu 12.04 64-bit is very slow. I did apply all the patches, installed guest addons and enabled VT-x/AMD-V and using the latest VirtualBox (4.2.18).

64-bit guest was slow with the same resources as 32-bit guest, so I bumped up the resources to 64-bit guest. But 64-bit guest still runs slow when compared to the 32-bit guest which has less resources.I am using a 2nd Gen Ci5/8GB/500GB. It has 8GB, but the 32-bit Windows can address only 4GB.

Thanks

[Perryg]

Post the guests log file ( as an attachment )

Also from the guests terminal run the following and post the results.

Code: Select all

glxinfo | grep OpenGL

[praveensripati]

Code: Select all

glxinfo | grep OpenGL

OpenGL Warning: Failed to connect to host. Make sure 3D acceleration is enabled for this VM.
OpenGL vendor string: VMware, Inc.
OpenGL renderer string: Gallium 0.4 on llvmpipe (LLVM 0x300)
OpenGL version string: 2.1 Mesa 8.0.4
OpenGL shading language version string: 1.20
OpenGL extensions:

Attached is the VBox.log file.

Thanks

[Perryg]

You're running lean as far as memory, ( induces swapping in the host ) but you should see improvement if you install the 4.2.18 guest additions (in the guest) and make sure that you have enabled 3D acceleration in the guests settings.

[praveensripati]

Ubuntu comes with an old version of VirtualBox and the guest was prepared on it.

I upgraded the guest addons/enabled 3D accelaration and it made some difference. Also, when I increase the guest memory beyond 50% of host, I immediately get non optimal settings in VirtualBox panel.

Thanks

[Perryg]

I didn't mention increasing the guests memory. I said you need more on the host for optimal performance. Free up host memory or add some.
Does the glxinof show humper/chromium now?

Also keep in mind that running 64-bit guest on a 32-bit host does produce a performance hit.

[praveensripati]

>> Does the glxinof show humper/chromium now?
yes, after enabling the 3d acceleration.

>> Also keep in mind that running 64-bit guest on a 32-bit host does produce a performance hit.
Any metrics on how bad can it get.

Thanks.

[michaln]

Any metrics on how bad can it get.

Bad. Just how bad depends on what exactly the guest OS does. The additional overhead is anywhere from negligible to several times slower.

[Ramshankar]

Running 64-bit guests on 32-bit hosts will always be slower than on a 64-bit host, one of the reasons being the world switch overhead (from host to guest and vice versa) is very high.