exremely slow going with Fusion/Win XP and Mac

[enucho]

I have been using Fusion for a good two years or so. Recently, I did a clean install of the latest version of Fusion (2.0.5) and then installed Windows XO SP2 and have downloaded all of the updates that get sent by MS. I was amazed to see how it slowed my machine. So, I uninstalled everything and started over again. Same results. Finally, I uninstalled and got rid of any vestiges of Fusion and/or XP and stareted again.

Frankly, I am ready to throw in the towel, give up on the advantages of Fusion and install Boot Camp (with all ITS disadvantages).

What is happening? Here is a partial list:

1. Opening Windows is exageratedly slow (much slower than when I had previous versions of Fusion...on the same computer with the same Mac and the same copy of XP). I wait and wait and wait and can, literally, go prepare myself a coffee and come back. And wait some more.

2. Once I am up, everything is slow (whether I am trying to open a document, save a document, open the net, and so on.

3. If I leave the computer and it goes into screen saver mode (not hibernating nor sleeping), and then I try to bring back to my desktop, I can basically go and make a sandwich while it is trying to get out of screen-saver

4. It takes its sweet time to shut down too. It actually even takes its sweet time BEGINNING the shut down process.

5. To make matters worse, the Mac side gets affected by this, because suddenly it too slows down on me as well. So, I end up with the worst of both worlds.

Now, I fully expect and know that some slowing down is expected and does happen (and that is without mentioning the fact that XP is slow anyway compared to what goes on in a Mac), but in this case, it is extremely frustrating.

FYI: I have a MacBook running on Leopard (not Snow) with all of its updates as they come. When I am running Leopard alone, it is lightning speed fast!

Is there anything I can do? or I am doing wrong? Or should I just give up and look somwhere else?

Thanks much.

Emile

[Mikero]

How much CPU and RAM have you allocated to Windows?

How much is available in total?

An ideal config for Windows XP would be 1CPU and 512-1GB of RAM.

If you have 2 CPU's assigned, it doesn't leave anything for the Host (Mac) to do the work it needs (like run your Virtual Machine...)

[richardlamsdale]

I realise this doesn't help but I have exactly the same problem. I've got a MacBook pro 2.8GHz with 4Gb RAM running Snow Leopard, with all updates installed (and all installed for XP). Booting or restoring XP takes about 5 minutes, and then another 3-4 minutes to reach a usable state. But it remains very slow to use (opening programs, even opening a window), and OSX becomes very sluggish as well. I have 1 processor assigned to XP, and 1024Mb RAM.

CPU usage on my Mac doesn't go above 25% at any time during this, so it doesn't look like CPU utilisation. I don't have many programs installed on Windows, and it only gets light usage, so as you say, the normal Windows slow-down over time doesn't explain this.

Would be great if someone had any ideas. Thanks.

[spreston2]

Emile,

Why don't you just downgrade to fusion v1.xx? Those were very fast

S

[pxlar8]

Same problem here. With latest Fusion versions, Windows XP constantly becomes unusable within a few minutes--it takes minutes to open a single window like notepad. It's behaving as if it's suffering a crippling memory leak.

IMac 2.8 Intel Core 2 Duo with 4gb RAM.OS: Snow Leopard 10.6.1 (although it was also same behavior under 10.5.

Windows XP Pro SP 3. The Windows XP VM has been assigned 1 CPU and 1520 MB of RAM. Fusion v.2.0.6

The iMac's CPU isn't going about about 25%.

[kitschcamp]

Another here in the extreme pain camp.

I've got a Mac Mini - the 1.83GHz version. It's got 2GB of memory. VMWare used to run lovely on Leopard. I have a Win2K and an XP virtual machine I use for a few work-related applications that will never be ported to OSX, much as I wish they were.

Now they are unusable.

Heck, even opening "My Computer" takes several minutes and pretty much locks up the Mac. My partner's iMac (2.6GHz version) is suffering just the same.

I've just received an email from Parallels offering me a beta test of their new version. At the moment I think I've got nothing to lose, and possibly lots to gain.

[jbmelby]

I have been a VMware Fusion user ever since it came out. I also have a copy of Parallels, which I've also had since it was first available. I have always much preferred VMware Fusion, since Parallels has been consistently flaky, not to mention the fact that they have a history of releasing half-baked versions of their software with lots of bugs.

Having said that, however, I have to say that after comparing the speed of XP SP3 under both VMware Fusion 2.0.6 and Parallels 4 (I'm running Mac OS 10.6.1), Parallels is, at least on my system, the clear winner: it flies compared to Fusion. I'm still going to hang on a while longer with Fusion to see if VMware will come out with a new version, but I'm afraid that if it doesn't come soon, I may have to reconsider. I'm not among those making nasty remarks about VMware -- I'm sure that they're working as hard as they can to come out with a new version that's stable and fast, and I appreciate their caution in not deliberately releasing buggy software -- but I hope that it's not going to be too long.

[CJConline]

Having been an early beta tester of Fusion even before it was first released, I have to agree with everyone about thedisappointment with the constant degradation in performance of Fusion with successive releases to its current appalling performance on the whole machine (both Mac and XP). I stayed with 1.01 until late last year then upgraded to 1.03 about 6 or 7 months ago. I was finally, forced to upgrade from 1.03 to 2.05 because I had to upgrade to Snow Leopard (from Tiger) due to some network printing issue I was having on other Leopard machines. Like many, I also switched from the Parallel betas (& early release) because of the great product it was then but it seems like VMware and Fusionhave slipped to the same standard as that Parallels was back then and I stopped recommending the product over a year ago and tend to use it only very minimally now. I used Bootcamp for anything serious.

It seems that VMwave have stopped really listening to the users like they used to previously on their early pre-release beta programme.

Chris

[ChipMcK]

My experience with v206

After a successful clean install of Snow Leopard and install of my favorite products, my impression of Snow Leopard - unstable: spinning beach-ball-itis and Crash Reports by the dozens.

Software Update of 10.6.1 came along and yes, an increase in stability. Still, spinning beach-ball-itis and Crash Reports.

Decided to try again: Downloaded the stand-alone 10.6.1 Update and applied it.

Whoa! What an improvement! Spinning beach-ball-itis cleared 80-90% (a certain application with problems) and Crash Reports from a few applications (beta tests of Snow support).

VMware Fusion v206b and v206 have also benefitted from the stand-alone version of 10.6.1. My impression is that now both are comparable to v205 under 10.5.8.

Best of Luck!

[scottmk]

ChipMcK:

Tried your suggestion to d/l the stand-alone 10.6.1 Update and apply it (I installed the stand-alone Update over the Software Update of 10.6.1). Then, I uninstalled Fusion v2.0.5 from the 2.0.5 installer, then installed v2.0.6 and VMWare Tools after that. So far, Fusion is performing as 2.0.5 did under 10.5.x.

Last night I tried the suggestion of another Communities member to revert to v2.0.5 under 10.6.1, which seemed to work OK. Still, running 10.6.1, it seems preferable to run Fusion v2.0.6. I'll keep you posted if I have any problems, but so far, so good! Fusion's performing very well right now, restoring lightning-quick, and closing nearly as fast. Best performance yet since installing Snow Leopard.

Thanks for the suggestion to d/l and install the stand-alone 10.6.1 Update.

[enucho]

Hi there spreston,

I am sorry I have not replied until now. Thanks for your suggestion. I had thought about it but did not know whether it would work.

One question regarding your suggestion: would I have to eliminate everything and re-install XP all over again?

Thanks again,

Emile

[spreston2]

Hi Emle,

You might want to check out the board for instructions. The following thread seemed promising:

http://communities.vmware.com/thread/169547

Let us know how it goes.

S

[eyeless]

Seems like VMware 3 and a Windows XP virtual machine simply won't work on Mac OS X 10.6.2 -- it always uses 110% CPU and cannot even be force quit. /Jerry

[ColoradoMarmot]

Nope - that config works fine for me.

It sounds like your system is overloaded.

[eyeless]

Maybe, but it is a Core 2 Duo machine that runs OS X Server, IP Monitor and nothing much is going on there as it is not really used, but still it has crashed two times recently due to VMware. (everything was newly installed just a month ago) ... VMware seemed to work fine after the upgrade to vers. 3 at first, but now I am worried I will have to restart the machine every now and then ... . (Not sure if we are entitled to any support -- it says you have to buy it when one wants to go and and files a report, so just sent this off instead ... .) /Jerry

[Mel64]

Hi,

I find that Fusion runs really slow if I have any programs that were written for the PowerMac and using Rosetta. I try to avoid opening Macromedia Studio 8 or office 2004 when I have Fusion open.

[admin]

it has crashed two times recently due to VMware

Can you be more specific? See for the logs we need to debug any crash.

Not sure if we are entitled to any support

Fusion 3 customers are entitled to 18 months free email support.

[eyeless]

Ok, I'll try and get in contact with support -- guess I had to register first ... just too busy with other things right now, but I will get back via e-mail to the support. Thanks, Jerry