HDD solid at 100%

[Ohmu]

(EDIT: The problem was automatic updates running in the background, probably coupled with the fact that my .vdi is on a USB stick. Leaving it running overnight, I found it had cleared in the morning.)


Host: MacBook Air 2012 8GB RAM
Guest: Win10

Immediately I noticed everything was very slow in guest. Pulling up task manager shows pretty much constant 100% HDD:



Installing "Guest Additions" doesn't help.

I suspect maybe the problem is the fact that I am using a USB3 32GB SSD-dongle for my .vdi (seeing as I'm down to my last few gigs of inbuilt SSD). I don't see exactly why this should be causing such severe problems, but it's the only abnormal thing in my setup, and it seems to be an uncommon problem.

Even after half an hour it hasn't abated. It isn't doing upgrades, as network traffic is 0%.

Can anyone illuminate this mystery?

π

[socratis]

What makes you think that this is a VirtualBox issue? Have you tried to ignore the fact that you're running under VirtualBox and just focus on your guest?

Try to search the internet for "Windows 10 constant HDD activity". I came up with 181000 results. One or more of them should really help you. Unfortunately it is not clear which one, so you'll have to search on your own, based on your Windows 10 configuration and setup.

[loukingjr]

socratis is correct. there are multiple reports of the same problem with Windows 10 running on metal. Need to do some research.

[Perryg]

hahaha the one I like the best is they use your PC to push updates to other users. Now that was a stroke of genius! Bet you didn't know it either.

[loukingjr]

hahaha the one I like the best is they use your PC to push updates to other users. Now that was a stroke of genius! Bet you didn't know it either.

meanie

[Perryg]

Yup. MS knows that the average user will never check for running services, always select the defaults, and never question what is really going on under the covers. You would be surprised if you check them all out. One of the reasons that my Last Windows OS is Windows-7 and only as a guest.

[Ohmu]

I disabled all of that by doing a custom install and turning off every unnecessary service.

Has anyone successfully installed Windows 10 guest on a MacBook? I have a new SSD arriving tomorrow, so I will try with my .vdi on it.

[Perryg]

You sure you got everything? From the looks of it something in Windows is chewing away at the drive.

I would use a process explorer like sysinternals to see what is actually going on.

[loukingjr]

Okie doke. Here's what I know so far. Both my Windows 10 host and my various Windows 10 guests behave the same way. For the first few minutes maybe 5 mins?, disk activity reaches 100% and sits there for a couple minutes then drops back down to 0%. Then it will go back up to 100% for a bit, then drop back down. After about 10 mins, it sits at 0% at idle. I haven't disabled any services.

From what I have read, there is no way to disable check for updates in Windows 10. I also know It calls home on occasion. People have written programs to prevent Windows 10 from calling home but Microsoft has made changes to defeat that so those programs no longer function.

At any rate, my Windows 10 guest's disk activity has been at 0% for more than 10 minutes. So it seems the occasional 100% disk activity is a red herring.

The host and guests behave the same way.

edit: My Windows 10 guest disk activity has been a 0% now for more than 20 minutes.

[loukingjr]

Uh oh, it went back up to 100% again. Turns out Windows Defender is scanning the disk. Or that could just be a ruse and Microsoft and the NSA are in cahoots and are secretly looking for "stuff" on my PC.

[Ohmu]

ok finally I have got as far as executing RESMON from the command prompt (earlier today pressing the windows Icon -> shutdown was taking 15 minutes):



Can anyone decipher what is going on?

[loukingjr]

I'm not really a Windows person but my Windows guest takes less than 4 seconds to shutdown running on a OSX 10.11.2 host and VB 5.0.10.

If your guest always takes 15 minutes to shutdown there is something seriously wrong with the guest. I don't think it's a VirtualBox issue however. I have Windows 10 running on two OSX hosts, a Windows 10 host and two Linux hosts. None take more than a few seconds to shutdown.

[loukingjr]

You need to attach the vbox.log for your guest…
With the VM fully shut down, right click its icon in the VirtualBox Manager, select "Show Log" and save "VBox.log" to a zip file. Attach the zip here.

[loukingjr]

It just occurred to me who you are. Is this with the Tobii EyeX eyetracker attached to the guest?

[Ohmu]

It appears it was indeed due to updates. I left it running overnight and in the morning HDD activity has gone back down to 0.

I think the fact that I'm using a thumb drive for my .vdi doesn't help.

Irritatingly there doesn't seem to be any easy way to prevent updates from downloading, although googling finds a couple of methods.

The strange thing was that in Activity Monitor the 'disk activity' blue line was constantly ~ 100%, even when the actual read/write bytecount was close to 0.

Anyway, I guess this issue is closed now. Just patience was required.

Thanks for the input everyone.

π

PS @loukingjr, yes but I haven't yet attached the eyetracker