virtualbox.org

I recently decided to use VirtualBox for my virtualization platform over VMWare. I had been using VMWare Workstation on an evaluation basis and also had used VMWare Player and found that only Workstation met my needs. However, I found out about VirtualBox and for free software, it offered everything that VMWare Workstation could.

I primarily use VirtualBox to setup a sandbox development environment. I prefer not to have development tools installed in my host OS (Windows Vista) and I try to keep that environment as clean and pristine as possible. So I have Windows XP SP3 installed in my virtual sandbox and I do all of my playing around in there.

I had initially set up this virtual machine using VMWare Workstation, so the disk format is still a .vmdk file. Other than that, when I converted to VirtualBox all I did was set up a new virtual machine, point it to the existing disk file and boot it up. I was very pleased with the performance in general, until I found one glaring problem.

Anytime I do anything that involves sound, both the guest and host OS’s report 100% CPU usage. Also, the sound performance in the VM is dreadful. If I try to do any multi-tasking whatsoever, the sound chops and glitches. I never had any issues with performance problems regarding sound when I used VMWare Workstation. I tend to use my sandbox guest OS for media format conversions and I also like to stream media in it. My hardware is not spectacular, but it should be more than sufficient. I have a 2Ghz Centrino (single core) with 2GB of RAM.

My host sound hardware is a Realtek AC’97 integrated audio controller. I have tried using both the ICH AC97 and the Sound Blaster 16 emulation drivers for my guest OS, but neither one has worked well. I have been using Windows DirectSound as the host driver as that is my only choice other than the Null Driver. As I said, I had no sound performance issues whatsoever when I used VMWare’s products and this is the only hangup I have had so far with a wonderful piece of software. Can anyone help me out here?

I'm starting to believe that this is a problem because I am using an OS that was installed on VMWare. I read a ton today about the whole IO APIC and ACPI options in the VirtualBox settings.

I think the issue probably relates to the fact that I installed this and had the kernel set up in a way that worked for VMWare just fine, but isn't optimized for the way VirtualBox runs.

I am really trying to discover what the best configuration is. I plan on re-installing XP SP3 from scratch today once I get an answer.

Should I enable ACPI but make sure IO APIC is disabled? That's the default. Does that provide the best performance possible?

If you have IO APIC disabled and the install you boot with VB had it enabled in VMWare, you need it enabled. It clearly says not to disabled it after you installed the Guest OS with the option on.

Yeah I realize that. I just also found the performance to be disappointing and now I plan on doing a fresh install. I copied all of the data I needed from the VM to my host and I want to go from scratch to get the best performance I can.

Should I keep ACPI enabled or disabled? I already plan to IO APIC disabled...

It's up to you to decide the settings. If you have ACPI disabled, the close option to send the shutdown signal won't work because it's the ACPI PowerButton Pressed event. This will not lose the ability to shut down the Guest in any means, just the VB option to send it won't work.

Will it have any other bearing on hardware configuration? I don't anticipate the need for anything complicated other than occassionally connecting my MP3 player or external HDD to the VB guest. If it means even marginally better performance without a tradeoff in functionality, I'll go for it.

Best to read more about it in the Manual and internet. I can't answer this one.

Yeah I've been perusing material all day and haven't been able to find a definitive answer. Guess I'll give it a whirl and see how things turn out.

I just upgraded to version 2.0.2 and this problem is now worse than ever. I cannot even listen to any type of sound in the guest OS because it is totally chopped up and distorted. It basically brings the machine to a standstill if I were to say, pull up a streaming video online or listen to an MP3. Even the Windows sounds at startup and sign-off are totally chopped up and distorted, as if there were some kind of buffering error.

I checked and I have the latest version of DirectX for Vista (since I have SP1) and the latest Realtek AC'97 audio driver installed. My one complaint about VirtualBox so far against VMWare is that the sound quality on a guest in VMWare was outstanding. I know my machine is capable of handling that, I just don't know if there is something I am missing with VirtualBox.

Anyone have any ideas?