Win7/Win8 Guests slow video redraw

Discussions related to using VirtualBox on Mac OS X hosts.
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cyclingkk
Posts: 2
Joined: 11. Jan 2014, 06:45
Primary OS: Mac OS X other
VBox Version: OSE other
Guest OSses: Win7, Win8.1

Win7/Win8 Guests slow video redraw

Post by cyclingkk »

I've been having issues with my VirtualBox setup and can't seem to get it to run smoothly enough to resize a basic Windows 7 Explorer (NOT Internet Explorer) without it flickering and causing my processor to get buried. Win8 is equally as troublesome, but I'd like to discuss Win7 for now.

Let me provide my config first:

HOST: MacBook Pro Retina Haswell Quad-Core, 16GB RAM
GUEST: Win7Ultimate latest updates including SP

VirtualBox settings:
I've installed Guest Additions using default settings
**SYSTEM>MOTHERBOARD**
Base Memory: 4096
Chipset: PIIX3
Pointing Device: PS/2 Mouse
Extended Features: Enable I/O APIC

**SYSTEM>PROCESSOR**
Processor(s): 6 out of 16
Execution Cap: 100%
Extended Features: Enable PAE/NX is checked

**SYSTEM>ACCELERATION**
Hardware Virtualization:
Enable VT-x/AMD-V is checked
Enable Nested Paging is checked

**DISPLAY>VIDEO**
Video Memory: 128MB
Monitor Count: 1
Extended Features:
Enable 3D Acceleration is NOT checked
Enable 2D Video Accerlation is checked

A three finger drag of the title bar causes the processor to get buried at times and jumpy at best. If I attempt to open up a youtube video...forget about it. I can't even close the tab in Google Chrome until the video is done playing and of course playing a video is choppy and ends up freezing...not really needed since I can four-finger over the Mac Chrome and view my video but would be nice to have so I wouldn't have to switch.

Another BIG issue I've been having is I can't access a USB drive at all from Win7 Guest. It shows up in the Devices Menu of VirtualBox but it's grayed out. I've ejected the drives from the Mac in hopes that the Win7 Guest would pick them up but to no avail.

I've read a lot about this but just can't quite figure it out. Since you've gotten further with your setup, could you please take the time to write me an email response and share your settings and/or ideas to get my video redraw issues and USB to work? I'd be very grateful for your help.
Thanks in advance for your help.
socratis
Site Moderator
Posts: 27329
Joined: 22. Oct 2010, 11:03
Primary OS: Mac OS X other
VBox Version: VirtualBox+Oracle ExtPack
Guest OSses: Win(*>98), Linux*, OSX>10.5
Location: Greece

Re: Win7/Win8 Guests slow video redraw

Post by socratis »

cyclingkk wrote:MacBook Pro Retina
That may be the source of your USB problems. USB 3.0 is not supported in VBox and your host seems to be one of the newer Mac models which has only 3.0 USB ports.

As far as the drawing problems, have you installed Guest Additions? Don't just answer with a yes/no but even better, read this and post the VBox.log. Zipped.
Do NOT send me Personal Messages (PMs) for troubleshooting, they are simply deleted.
Do NOT reply with the "QUOTE" button, please use the "POST REPLY", at the bottom of the form.
If you obfuscate any information requested, I will obfuscate my response. These are virtual UUIDs, not real ones.
cyclingkk
Posts: 2
Joined: 11. Jan 2014, 06:45
Primary OS: Mac OS X other
VBox Version: OSE other
Guest OSses: Win7, Win8.1

Re: Win7/Win8 Guests slow video redraw

Post by cyclingkk »

Hmmm. I thought USB3.0 was supported. In fact, I added the extension pack to support USB2.0 just in case for my one external USB 2.0 drive. Sounds like it's a USB 3.0 port issue. Thanks for the answer to that mystery. I assumed wrongfully. Hope that comes soon.:)

Yes, Guest Additions is installed on the Guest.

I've attached the log file zipped, as requested.
Attachments
Win7-2014-01-28-18-06-50.log.zip
(20.4 KiB) Downloaded 8 times
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