I've researched this problem, and have found 200+ websites that have all discussed this problem, and how Workstation 6.5 networking is broken on Windows Vista x64 Host OS machines.
This problem has been discussed here:
http://communities.vmware.com/message/1191779#1191779
The problem is discussed here:
http://communities.vmware.com/message/1044985#1044985
The problem is discussed here:
"Slow network access from XP guest to Vista host"
http://communities.vmware.com/thread/151344
"Horrendously slow network connection between (Vista x64) host and guest"[http://communities.vmware.com/thread/151344|t-99579]
http://communities.vmware.com/thread/99579
I can confirm that this problem still does exist. Does VMWare plan on ever fixing it's broken product?
Some of these posts seem to date all the way back 9+ months! Some of these posts even date all the way back to August 2007! The problem still exists today, and there doesn't seem to be any solution! It seems like VMWare is sleeping on the job. The slow network transfers between guest and host is unbelievable. To transfer a 13MB file, between a Windows Vista Ultimate x64 host and a Windows Server 2008 x64 guest (using shared folders on the Windows 2008 server guest) and map the shared folder on the Windows Vista Ultimate x64 host, and then try to access the mapped folders using the host machine, and try to transfer a file between the host machine and guest (by moving a file onto the shared folder) it took 4 hours and 19 minutes to transfer a small 26MB file.
There is definitely something wrong with VMWare. When does VMWare plan on fixing it's broken product?
http://communities.vmware.com/thread/99579
Here are my system specifications (hopefully this will make sense or help the developers with debugging):
Host: Windows Vista Ultimate x64 SP1
Guest: Windows Server 2008 x64
When trying to use folder/file sharing on the Guest Windows Server x64 OS, if I try to transfer files back and forth over the Virtual network adapter on a shared folder (that is on the Guest Machine) and I try to transfer files or access shared folders (the shared folders from the Guest OS - Windows Server 2008 x64) and try to access the shared folders on the Host machine (by mapping the network share folders to the host machine) the transfer speeds between the Host
and Guest are incredibly slow (definitely broken).
My system specifications are this:
2008/2009 Apple Mac Pro with dual Quad-Core XEON 3.2Ghz processors,
32GB RAM, Vista Ultimate x64 SP1 (native boot), VMware Workstation
6.5.0 build-118166.
I have an Apple Mac Pro with dual Quad-Core XEON 3.2Ghz processors (8 cores), and 32GB of ram as my host machine, and certainly this is not a hardware performance issue with my machine being slow, or running slow. This is not a hardware issue. The problem seems to be a broken network bug in VMWare Workstation 6.5 with a Windows Vista Ultimate x64 host OS. (I have tried this on 5 other machines including a 2009 HP laptop with Windows Vista x64 and 8GB of RAM and all the machines are experiencing the same exact problem).
I'm having the same problem discussed in thse 2 older threads:
"Slow network access from XP guest to Vista host"
http://communities.vmware.com/thread/151344
"Horrendously slow network connection between (Vista x64) host and guest"
As well as what is being described by this post as well:
http://communities.vmware.com/message/1044985#1044985
I'm using VMWare Workstation 6.5.0 build-118166, and I've searched
Google, and have read hundreds of posts with uses complaining and
various hacks, but I've had no luck in resolving this issue.
It seems VMWare Workstation 6.5 is having a problem with Windows Vista Ultimate x64 SP1 host OS machines.
I've searched google and tried all the hacks mentioned including:
-- disabled IPv6
-- disabled "Receive Window Auto-Tuning Level" (netsh interface tcp set global autotuning=disabled)
-- disabled "Chimney Offload State"
-- disabled SMB 2.0
-- disabled SMB signing
-- deactived Remote Differential Compression (RDC)
-- 127.0.0.1 .host (should only relevant for Shared Folders but I put it in anyways)
None of those changes made any difference.
I don't know what is different about Windows Vista x64 (network stack?) that makes the VMnet functionality broken. But the problem is definitely with Windows Vista Ultimate x64 SP1 machines.
Any ideas how to fix this?
If I read all the other posts, it seems that everyone seems to be
having these same exact problems on a Windows Vista Ultimate x64 SP1 Host, so
is there something different with Windows Vista Ultimate x64 SP1 that
is causing VMWare to break? Any ideas how to fix this?
As a previous poster (Sanjer) has stated:
+*I can verify that I also have this issue. Oddly, it seems to be SMB
specific. (XP 32 Bit "guest" O
+*It is specific to a "bridged" network connection from the "guest" OS to
the "host" OS and SMB mappings. When the network type of the "guest" OS
is set to "host only" the problem (unusable SMB performance between
"guest" and "host" OS) dissapears.*+
For a "bridged" SP "guest" network connection, SMB performance is entirely unusable (slow).
+ *Also strange is that even with the aforementioned "bridged"
host connection SMB performance being slow, the raw TCP/IP throughput
seems unaffected (500 Mbps using the Ixia throughput tool between
"guest" and "host").*+
I checked my settings, and I can confirm that yes... I'm definitely experiencing this same bug with VMWare Workstation 6.5. Yes, my network adapter is "bridged" on my Windows Server 2008 x64 guest OS.
I am running Windows Vista Ultimate x64 SP1 as my host and I am running
Windows Server 2008 x64 Enterprise as my guest OS. I am using VMWare
Workstation 6.5 build-118166, and I have my VMWare network adapter on
the Windows Server 2008 x64 Enterprise GUEST set to "Bridged". It seems to be related to the "bridged" setting on the network VMWare network adapter when running on a Windows Vista Ultimate x64 SP1 host machine.
It does definitely seem specific to a "bridged" network connection from the
"guest" OS to the "host" OS and SMB mappings (shared folders on the
"Guest" Windows Server 2008 x64 machine that when you map the shared
folders on the "Guest" Windows Server 2008 x64 machine and then try to
map those shared folders to your "host" Windows Vista x64 Ultimate
machine the network performance is unusable.
Sometimes it hesitates (lots of lag) just clicking on folders, but if
you try to transfer large files (26MB+) it can take well over 45
minutes or even an hour sometimes. If I do the same exact transfer
between my laptop, and a completely different machine (over the LAN),
the same transfer takes about 20 seconds, but when I do the transfer on
the Windows Vista Ultimate x64 "host" machine, between the host and the
Windows Server 2008 x64 Enterprise "guest" machine, the transfer speeds
between the host and guest are just completely broken.
Sanjer said in his previous post:
For a "bridged" SP "guest" network connection, SMB performance is entirely unusable (slow).
+ *Also strange is that even with the aforementioned "bridged"
host connection SMB performance being slow, the raw TCP/IP throughput
seems unaffected (500 Mbps using the Ixia throughput tool between
"guest" and "host").*+
This is true. The problem seems to be specific to shared folders (SMB)
performance being slow. It seems to be specific to Windows Vista
Ultimate x64 host machines, and I'm running a Windows Server 2008 x64
Enterprise guest OS and I can reproduce this exact same problem over
and over on several different machines.
Any ideas as to when this will get fixed? These posts are over 5+
months old, and I've found several hundred posts on various websites
all complaining/discussing this same problem/issue and there doesn't
seem to be any fix for it.
Could a developer please take a look at this, and please work on fixing
VMWare Workstation 6.5 so that it works correctly on Windows Vista
Ultimate x64 host machines?
Well, I figured out what the problem is. After 8-10 days of aggrivation, I finally figured out what is causing this problem.
It used to take 1 hour and 19 minutes to transfer a 19.4MB file
between my host machine (Windows Vista x64 Ultimate SP1) and my guest
machine (Windows Server 2008 x64).
I tried hundreds of hacks, but nothing worked. I've read thousands of posts from hundreds of
websites, but nothing worked. After doing much research, and testing
everything I could, I believe I have found a solution.
My host computer is a 2008/2009 Apple Mac Pro with dual Gigabit ethernet
adapters. In my particular case, I have a Gigabit ethernet adapter in
my host machine. This is the ethernet adapter in my host (2008/2009
Apple Mac Pro) machine:
Intel(R) PRO/1000 EB Network Connection with I/O Acceleration
I was experiencing the same exact slow network performance problem
between the Vista x64 Ultimate host and guest OS machines that everyone
else was experiencing.
I solved the problem by doing the following:
I disabled "Checksum Offload" and/or "Large Segment
Offload" settings on the Properties -> Advanced Settings of your
physical Ethernet adapter. That seems to have fixed the problem for me.
The problem seems to be that VMWare Workstation 6.5
doesn't like the default settings on some Windows Vista x64 ethernet
adapters (Intel Pro/1000 EB Gigabit Ethernet adapter). I wasn't having
any problems until a Windows Update (December 2008?) and suddenly
something changed, and the network folder transfer speeds were
extremely slow. So Microsoft must have done something when they pushed
out their Windows Updates for Windows Vista x64 Ultimate machines.
This is how I fixed the problem with VMWare Workstation 6.5:
First, I went into the network properties on my HOST Windows
Vista Ultimate x64 machine. I right clicked on the Local Area
Connection Adapter and went into the Properties then I clicked the
"Configure" button then clicked on the "Advanced" tab settings of the
PHYSICAL Ethernet adapter on my host machine. After click on the
"Advanced Tab" I looked under the "Property" window and I had to
DISABLE the "Large Send Offload v2 (IPv4)" and DISABLE the "Large Send
Offload v2 (IPv6)" on my host machine's network adapter.
By doing this, and after disabling the "Large Send Offload" for my host
machine's network adapter it seems to have fixed the problem, and now I
can transfer files back and forth normally, and the speed is native and
extremely fast. So the problem seems to be with "Large Send Offload"
on the Windows Vista x64 host adapter.
That is what solved my problem and worked for me, I hope this helps!
I just moved 18.5 MB of data between my host machine, and guest machine
and it now takes 1 minute and 20 seconds (instead of 1-4+ hours!
Thanks,
Mark
Hello Mark,
I am trying to reproduce the issue on my setup. I have a windows vista host and a windows server 2008 guest and I have setup bridge networking on my machine.
I am using E1000 in my guest and I can copy a 500MB file in less than a minute from my guest to the host using network shared folder.
I tried copying from the guest shared folder and to the guest shared folder. Both of them needed about a minute to transfer the file completely. Can you provide detailed setup description so that I can reproduce the issue?
Rishi
Rishi,
The problem seems to be with any host machine that has a physical Intel Gigabit ethernet adapter in the host machine. I know this is common among Apple Mac Pro's, and Mac Book Pro's.
My hardware setup is a 2008 Apple Mac Pro (with dual Quad-core 3.2Ghz XEON processors, and 32GB of RAM).
I am running Windows Vista Ultimate x64 (natively) as the host OS. This seems to be a major factor in duplicating this problem. So make sure that you are running Windows Vista Ultimate x64 on a 2008 Apple Mac Pro (and booted directly into Windows Vista Ultimate x64 natively).
The problem seems to be that VMWare has an issue with extremely slow shared folder network problems, but I've discovered that this problem is related to "Large Send Offload v2" being enabled by default on the Apple Mac Pro's with the Intel Pro 1000 EB network adapters. (Other users with Intel Pro 1000 EB network adapters that are running Windows Vista Ultimate x64 have sometimes reported experiencing this same problem as well, but I can only confirm it on my setup and my system). My system is a 2008 Apple Mac Pro (8-core) system (with Windows Vista Ultimate x64 as the host OS).
If the "Large Send Offload v2" is enabled (which is the default) then the shared folder performance is completely broken in VMWare (with bridged networking enabled on the VMWare virtual adapter). It's extremely slow. If I disable the "Large Send Offload v2" on the host machine's Physical network adapter then it seems to fix the issue.
Could you please take the time to "enable Large Send Offload v2" on your host machine's network adapter (with VMWare setup for bridged networking on the VMWare virtual adapter), and then run your tests again. I believe you'll discover the same problem that I (and hundreds of others) are complaining about.
I believe this is a major bug/problem with VMWare and it really needs to be fixed. Whatever is causing this problem in VMWare needs to be addressed and fixed. It seems that VMWare has as problem transfering files back and forth (on shared folders) between the host and guest OS whenever "Large Send Offload v2" is enabled on the HOST machine's Gigabit Ethernet Adapter and the guest OS is using "bridged" networking between the host and guest OS. Not sure why this would affect the transfer speed between a host and guest OS (since it wouldn't even be going over the network) but it's a problem with the VMWare virtual adapter but something with Gigabit Ethernet adapters (in the host machine) that have "Large Send Offload v2" enabled and have "bridged" networking enabled in VMWare between the host and guest OS, causes a problem with the virtual network adapter in VMWare, and it seems to cause problems with SMB, and causes extremely slow transfer speeds with shared folders.
Again, if you want to experience the problem just get yourself a 2008 Apple Mac Pro (800Mhz FSB, with dual Quad-cores) and just toss Windows Vista Ultimate x64 on it, and I believe during the default installation (or after you install boot camp drivers?) that the Intel Pro/1000 EB network adapter has "large send offload v2" enabled by default, and if you try to transfer files between a shared folder on the Guest OS, and the host OS machine (I have Windows Server 2008 Enterprise x64 running as the Guest OS and I have Windows Vista Ultimate x64 running as the host OS and this is on a 2008 Apple Mac Pro with an Intel Pro/1000EB network adapter that has "Large Send Offload v2" enabled on the host machine by default.
If you try transfering a file with this similar setup (with an Intel Pro 1000EB network adapter with "Large Send Offload v2" enabled, and you should experience the problem that I'm (and hundreds of others) are complaining about.
The problem seems to be related to "Large Send Offload v2" causing some type of SMB problems with the VMWare virtual network adapter (and causing some crazy interference problems and causing the virtual adapter to transfer files extremely extremely slow.
Also make sure that the Guest OS virtual network adapter is in BRIDGED mode. It seems that this only happens on machines where the guest OS (Windows Server 2008 x64) is in "bridged mode" on the VMWare virtual network adapter, and that the host machine's physical network adapter has "large Send Offload v2" enabled on the host machine's physical network adapter.
I can reproduce this problem over and over and over again all day long. So please let me know if you need any further clarification, but the two things that seem to cause the problem (I believe) are:
1) The host machine must be running Windows Vista Ultimate x64
2) The host machine must have a physical gigabit Intel Pro/1000 EB network adapter in the host machine (2008 Apple Mac Pro's with 8-cores have two of the Intel Pro/1000EB integrated on the motherboard).
3) The "Large Send Offload v2" must be enabled on the physical adapter on the host machine
4) The guest operating system is Windows Server Enterprise x64
5) The VMWare virtual network adapter (between the host and guest) must be in "Bridged" mode.
Any machine that has those 5 things listed above, it causes the VMWare virtual network adapter to perform eratic, and SMB (Shared folders) between the guest OS and the host OS transfer extremely slow (about 1kbps), but if you go the host machine's Intep Pro 1000 EB network adapter's properties and click on the Advanced tab, and then scroll down to "Large Send Offload v2" and disable this, then for some reason the SMB transfers are fine.
So something with this setup and configuration (and the "Large Send Offload v2" must be enabled on the host machine's network adapter) and the virtual adapter between the guest and host OS must be bridged (in 'bridged' mode).
I hope this helps, let me know if you are able to duplicate the problem or not, and I can try to help you a bit more with duplicating this problem. I can duplicate this problem all day long (over and over) and I can see what seems to be causing it. The biggest factors seem to be the host machine's network adapter must have "Large Send Offload v2" enabled, and the guest OS "virtual network adapter" must be in bridged mode, and I believe that both of the operating systems must be 64-bit (Windows Vista x64 Ultimate on the host machine, and Windows Server Enterprise x64 as the guest OS machine).
These seem to be the easiest platforms to duplicate the problem on. Let me know if you need more information, and please let me know if you are able to duplicate the problem.
Thanks,
Mark
Thanks for posting this fix, Mark. I've been experiencing very similar problems with my Mac Pro, and your fix worked.
In my case, I'm running Windows Server 2008 (32-bit), and VMWare Workstation 6.5. I experienced the same marked slowness when trying to set up a Windows Server 2008 VM (32-bit) VM, using a "bridged" network. Disabling the "large send offload v2" for the Intel Pro 1000EB, as you suggested, has made a world of difference..
Thanks again,
David Jones
Wow! This worked for me too! Big THANKS.
More than a week spent trying many things from many forums till I found your article. It should be sticky and part of the Vista FAQ.
BTW I experienced this problem both with VMWare Workstation 6.5 and VMWare Server 2 on WVista Ultimate SP1 host.
I spent a few hours today wrangling with this issue, thanks for your concise summary. My particular details:
Host: Vista 64-bit on a generic PC
Intel 82574L Gigabit network adapter using the Intel driver (10.6.150.0)
Workstation 6.5 (build 156735)
Guest: FreeBSD 7.2 64-bit
Networking: Bridged
Transfer speeds were extremely slow between guest and host (with host->guest being particularly painful). Going to the network driver settings in Windows and disabling Large Send Offload did the trick. Has anyone at VMware acknowledged this issue? Seems like a pretty clear bug, but I can't find any official acknowledgement and the only knowledgebase entry (KB Article 1006619 -- http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1006619) isn't very complete or helpful.
Hi all,
I suffered the same problem and got it fixed by using the method as mentioned above (i.e. disable Large Send Offload and all the TCP/IP Offloading Options).
Here is my configurations:
Hardware: Dell Optiplex 960 (gigabit network Chipset = Intel 82567LM-3)
Host: Vista Ultimate 64bit
Guest: Windows 2003 Server
The problem initially I found out was that the network driver did not provided the settings for disable these Offload optionsin the GUI. I changed the registry values but still didn't work.
I installed the latest network card driver from Dell, but these options were still not avilable in the GUI.
I finally digged deep in the Intel website and install the latest driver. This time all the Offload options are avilable in the Advanced tab of the network card driver settings.
Turned all these options off, restart the system, start the VM, and thanks God the network traffic between host and guest is as fast as real network now....
Many thanks for the post. Just thought I would add my configuration since it differs slightly from those already listed:
NIC: Intel 82566 DC Gigabit (Intel driver ver: 9.12.36.0, dated: 12/4/2008)
CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad Q6700 @ 2.66GHz
RAM: 8GB
Host OS: Windows Server 2008 x64 (fully patched as of 7/13/2009)
Guest OS: Windows Server 2003 x32 (fully patched as of 7/13/2009).
VMWare Server 2.0.1 Build 156745
Incidentally, all guest to guest communication was fine.
A client of mine is having this issue. Has there been any fix?
I assume that disabling TCP offload has other negative side effects, such as increased CPU usage.
It would be best if VMware would patch it's software so as to not require this hack.
Any news?
The issue has been fixed.
TSO should fine with later releases of workstation. Thanks for noticing the bug.
Is there a patch available for WS 6.5.x ?
Or do we have to wait (and pay for) the 7.x version?
This problem occurs with vmware Server 2 -- is there a fix for it?
Thanks
-Micah
The current workaround is to disable Large segment offload from the driver properties.
Rishi
Thanks bunches. Gateway DX4810 Quad / Intel 82567 Gigablt / Vista Ultimate Host / Patchs current 7/20/2009 host and XP SP3 / Patches current 7/20/2009 guest, VMware Workstation 6.5. I had horrible throughput. Disabled the Large Send Offload on the host adapter. Works great. Thanks again.
Hi,
First post in the VMWare community...apologies for bumping an oldish thread.
I'm still having issues with transfering files between Guest and Host.
It seems it is to du with my physical gigabit adapter.
A little about my setup...
I'm running VMWare workstation 6.5.2 on Win2k3 Enterprise Server R2, 32bit.
My on board physical NIC is a Marvell Yukon 88E8001/8003/8010 PCI Gigabit Ethernet Controller.
Up untill this morning I was having HUGE headaches with this problem.
I had read hundreds of links and threads to do with this issue.
I had made various changes as suggested by many people.
You know what fixed it?
I disabled the NIC completely, put in an old Intel PRO/100 Ethernet Adapter.
Problem solved.
Thing is I'm soon to be upgrading my swicth to a gigabit switch...so I guess I'll not be able to get full speed out of it to my host server.
But for the time being, I can now transfer files between gues and host.
To add to this post further - doesn't look like anyone cares anyway - I ditched VMW Workstation and installed VMWare server.
And I can use my Gigabit NIC with no issues.
So you pay for a full blown product in the form of Workstation, yet the free version in the form of Server works flawlessly.
Go figure
Can you guys help me out real quick? I'm running Windows 7 RTM and I'm having this issue (although I never did seem to have the issue. I'm trying to follow the instructions to fix the problem but I don't have a "Large Send Offload" option in my host adapter's advanced settings. What I show are as follows:
Adaptive Inter-Frame Spacing
Flow Control
Gigabit Master Slave Mode
Interrupt Moderation
Interrupt Moderation Rate
IPv4 Checksum Offload
Link Speed & Duplex
Locally Administered Address
Log Link State Event
Piority & VLAN
Receive Buffers
Receive Side Scaling
TCP Checksum Offload (IPv4)
TCP Checksum Offload (IPv6)
Transmit Buffers
UDP Checksum Offload (IPv4)
UDP Checksum Offload (IPv6)
Wait for Link
I did try disabling each of the Checksum Offload options just cuz that's the closest thing I see but that didn't seem to fix the problem for me. Any info would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
Hi Angeleye,
I had the same problem under 7. There's no Option for that in the Device Manager, but you can change it directly in the registry.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4D36E972-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}\ has varaious subkeys. Find the one for your NIC (for me it was 0007) and change *LsoV1IPv4, *LsoV2IPv4" and LsoV2IPv6to 0. (The first letter is a "", not "L")
That did it for me, I hope it helps you too.
The advice below immediately fixed the frustrating problem that hundreds of people have been posting about:
slow or non-existant file access, hanging apps while opening file share on windows 7 host from VMWARE session.
In my case it was Windows XP in a Guest OS trying to access a Windows 7 Host OS file share.
The network device is a Realtek PCIe GBE Family Controller on an Asus motherboard.
I disabled the Large send offload (both IPv4 and IP
v6) and immediately everything was back at expected network speed, no hangs at all.
not sure if it needed one or both, but I did both.
-
First, I went into the network properties on my HOST Windows
Vista Ultimate x64 machine. I right clicked on the Local Area
Connection Adapter and went into the Properties then I clicked the
"Configure" button then clicked on the "Advanced" tab settings of the
PHYSICAL Ethernet adapter on my host machine. After click on the
"Advanced Tab" I looked under the "Property" window and I had to
DISABLE the "Large Send Offload v2 (IPv4)" and DISABLE the "Large Send
Offload v2 (IPv6)" on my host machine's network adapter.