2 equal CPU driver: Can't deinstall one

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Plagrö
Posts: 140
Joined: 27. May 2018, 14:57

2 equal CPU driver: Can't deinstall one

Post by Plagrö »

Hello,

I have a VM of Windows 7.
As CPU in the VM settings I chose 2 CPU's, because my old computer from where this Windows 7 image was produced was a dual core.

It worked fine. All drivers were replaced.

So in the meantime I decided to change the number of CPU's from 2 to 8. I thought: "Why leave 6 CPU's unused. Maybe when I choose 2 CPU's, then these 2 CPU's are overused. It might be better for the lifetime of my hardware if I select all CPU's for the virtual machine. This way, all CPUs are stressed equal." (No idea.)

So I changed the CPU setting in my VM to 8 CPU's. But again. Booting fells still a little bit slower as before. (Edit)

This worked great. A new driver was installed.

But I did not find any differences. The different CPU's are used quite similar as before. And it feels like booting is slower now as before. So I changed back the CPU setting to 2 CPU's. Edit: But booting feels still a little bit slower as before.

In the meantime I had a look into the device manager. There I found, that 2 equal drivers are installed.

I tried to delete one of them:
I deleted it, started the VM again. Then during booting it automatically installed a driver again, and I have again 2 equal drivers installed. I also tried to delete the other of the two. But the same thing happens.

Question: How can I get rid of the second driver? Thank you.
Last edited by Plagrö on 25. Feb 2020, 00:38, edited 1 time in total.
scottgus1
Site Moderator
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Joined: 30. Dec 2009, 20:14
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: VirtualBox+Oracle ExtPack
Guest OSses: Windows, Linux

Re: 2 equal CPU driver: Can't deinstall one

Post by scottgus1 »

Plagrö wrote:So I changed the CPU setting in my VM to 8 CPU's. But again. Booting fells still a little bit slower as before.
.... And it feels like booting is slower now as before.
This is expected. The more processors in a guest, the more scheduling overhead to assign tasks and threads to the processors, which takes up some of the processor time. And if there isn't enough tasks & threads to go around, the tasks & threads that are there get a little slower.

What exactly do you mean by "the second driver"? Maybe a screenshot, cropped & resized appropriately & posted using the forum's Upload Attachment tab.
Plagrö
Posts: 140
Joined: 27. May 2018, 14:57

Re: 2 equal CPU driver: Can't deinstall one

Post by Plagrö »

Thank you.

Here is the requested printscreen:
CPU Treiber VM.PNG
CPU Treiber VM.PNG (39.43 KiB) Viewed 1105 times
mpack
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Joined: 4. Sep 2008, 17:09
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: VirtualBox+Oracle ExtPack
Guest OSses: Mostly XP

Re: 2 equal CPU driver: Can't deinstall one

Post by mpack »

As I expected, the i5-4570 is in fact a 4 core CPU, not 8 core. So a fair division of resources with the host implies a maximum of 2 cores to a single running VM. If the VM has already been reverted to two vCPU (which is what the screenshot also says) then I suggest: stop messing with it.

FAQ: Cores vs Threads.
Plagrö
Posts: 140
Joined: 27. May 2018, 14:57

Re: 2 equal CPU driver: Can't deinstall one

Post by Plagrö »

Thanks.
I misinterpreted the two entries in the device manager. I thought there were two drivers installed, one old and one new. But it seems to require an entry for each core.

Thank you also for the link.
scottgus1
Site Moderator
Posts: 20945
Joined: 30. Dec 2009, 20:14
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: VirtualBox+Oracle ExtPack
Guest OSses: Windows, Linux

Re: 2 equal CPU driver: Can't deinstall one

Post by scottgus1 »

Plagrö wrote:require an entry for each core
Yes, that's common to all multi-core Windows PCs. the quad-core Atom tablet I'm typing on has four 'drivers' showing.
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