Windows 7 VM slow after suspending and resuming...

[RogerSC]

I use my Windows 7 VM on my work VPN with Windows remote desktop, essentially all day, and then disconnect the VPN and exit the VPN client, and suspend the VM.  Then the next time that I bring up the Windows 7 VM, say a day or two after that, the time that it takes to resume the VM is normal, but the VM runs slowly enough that I always need to reboot it.  After a reboot it runs fine.  I'm wondering if anyone out there has experienced this and has some advice what might be causing the very slow VM performance after resuming it?  I don't mind re-booting the VM, I'm just mystified why I should need to.

Some specifics...I run VMware Workstation on a Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit OS.  It is version 7.1.3 of Workstation.  The Windows 7 VM is a 32-bit Professional OS, with a 16GB. virtual disk, using about 12GB. of that currently.

Any ideas on why the VM runs so slow after resuming it?  It wasn't always that way, this slowness just suddenly started after several months of normal behavior.  Anything to look at in the VM or VMware Workstation?  It did start after I started using version 7.1.3 of Workstation, but I don't think that it was immediately after that, but my memory isn't anywhere near perfect *smile*.

Thanks for your help.

-Roger

[Cooldude09]

What is the total memory on ur system and the one assigned to the VM. Also all the operations work slow or anything specific or any specific app.

[RogerSC]

Hey Anil, thanks for replying...I should have included that.  The desktop system has 8GB of memory, the Windows 7 VM has 2GB. 

The apps that run slow are the VPN client, and the remote desktop client.  By the time I've waited for the VPN client to come up, and then waited for the remote desktop client to come up on the VM, I'm ready to reboot the VM, so haven't tried anything else.  I guess the bottom line is that this is usually in the morning, and I'm need to get online to work ASAP.  So I don't have time to waste.  I should try it on the weekend when I have more time to play around.

Thanks again.

-Roger

[continuum]

try WS 6.5.5 instead - that usually does not have that kind of problems

[RogerSC]

Hi,

I really would like to make the version of VMware Workstation (7.1.3) work...Workstation is so huge, I hate to remove and re-install it, it leaves stuff all over after being removed, like most large software apps.

Thanks for the suggestion, though.

Any ideas about this for version 7.1.3?

Thanks.

-Roger

[Cooldude09]

increase the guest memory to 3 GB and see if it helps.?

Also do we have vmware tools installed properly?

[rajkumarjm]

i am sorry to interupt the conversation.

i am new to vmware and ubuntu.

i have installed vmware workstation on windows7.

and i have installed ubuntu 10.04 as guest os in vmware.

i am able to connect through wired internet.

but i do not know how to create an ad hoc network.

i need to connect to wireles network (wifi) too

can you guys please help . please.. please..

[RogerSC]

I could try more memory for the VM...I did update vmware tools when I updated the Workstation, and when I bring up vmware tools, the "update" box is stippled.

Thanks for the thoughts.

-Roger

[Cooldude09]

rajkumar u can always create the new thread for it. anyways

firstly u using wifi using inbuilt card or thru some ecternal card?

[continuum]

adding more RAM to the VM is contra-productive.

The less RAM a VM has the faster it suspends and resumes

[louyo]

PMJI It could well be network related. Any problem results in 45 second timeout. If you are DHCP, try doing a release before shutting down and and maybe even a ipconfig /flushdns after resume. Should say suspend, not shut down. iPad does not do well on this forum.  Lou

[RogerSC]

I've also thought that the network is probably involved, but usually a timeout just happens once, and then the system speeds up after the system gets over it.  That isn't the case, the VPN client comes up very slowly, and it connects slowly.  Then when I bring up remote desktop, that comes up very slowly, and about that time I reboot. 

Could it be thatthe VM is getting a timeout every time it touches the network?

I can certainly try a dhcp release before shutting down, and see if that helps.

Thanks.

-Roger

[rajkumarjm]

i am using both lap top where it is in build. and desktop with netgear as a external card.

priority is how to use external card .

please help sir.

[0WayneH0]

I'm using the work-flow you describe all the time; Win 7 x64 host, Win 7 x86 guest(s), workstation 7.1.3. About the only difference is that I don't even bother disconnecting VPN before I suspend. I don't notice any slow down after resumes. I rarely restart a VM anymore to be honest.

I would recommend, however, that you disable certain guest services that are likely to kick into action after a suspend of certain duration. These include the hopeless Windows Search service (especially) and Superfetch (unless you have a specific reason to keep it enabled; e.g., you have a decent amount of RAM assigned to the VM and memory page trimming is disabled). Another candidate is system restore. Unless you really need it on your VM I'd recommend turning it off and sticking to snapshots (in careful moderation) and full system back-ups. You may have other software on your VM that may also need tweaking.

Here's a check-list that I have put together based on personal experience with VMware 7.1.x over the last 10 or so months.

Virtual Machine Check-List
o System protection OFF (host and guest)    --> (I've never had much luck with system restores so just don't use them anymore; I prefer system images).
o A/V on host set not to scan VM path
o No shared folders (use network shares)
o 1 CPU for a VM (although I haven't run into any trouble using 2 cores per VM).
o Windows Search disabled on host and guest.
o SuperFetch disabled on host.
o Disable memory page trimming on guest (host of course needs enough memory for this).
o Floppy start disconnected on guest.
o CD/DVD start disconnected on guest.

Maybe there is something useful here for you, maybe not.

Cheers.

[RogerSC]

Wayne,

Thanks very much for the list...I do have superfetch  and Windows search disabled on the host system (because it's using an SSD), however I haven't yet turned off system restore on either the guest or the host...although for the host, I do keep system restore down to 1 restore point.  For the guest, I don't have any reason for system restore, since I occasionally clone and backup my VM's on an external disk.  Just to save time if, as happened recently, the VM I was using "couldn't be restored due to an error", which apparently makes that VM useless.

Anyways, I'll take a closer look at the list and check it out.  My system is usually suspended from COB Friday to Wednesday morning (I work from home on Wednesday and Friday).  I hadn't considered that might be a problem, but now that you mention it, that might bear on the problems I'm having.

Thanks again.

-Roger

[RogerSC]

It's a few months later...since I have an SSD on my Windows 7 desktop, shutting the Windows 7 VM down and powering it back up again instead of suspending and resuming is quick enough.  Even though there is more visual clutter that way, I only do it once a day.  I've also switched to using VMware Player instead of VMware Workstation since I'm not doing much with the VM other than running it.  And using VMware Player (which I think is essentially included inside VMware Workstation) seems to make the VM run a little better due to its lighter weight.  Could be perception, but the VM seems crisper with Player than it did with Workstation.

Also, having the VM powered off when I'm not using it is a better state for backing it up.  I brought back VMware Workstation recently (Workstation 😎 to set up a shared folder, and it didn't seem as solid yet as Workstation 7 was.  The desktop background on my VM was very badly/choppily rendered using Workstation 8, even after upgrading vmware tools.  And the shared folder didn't help in my downloading a 2.5GB DVD ISO image on the VM, I tried that about 5 times and the VM never completed the transfer using a shared folder on my host system.  So I'm doing that another way, and have gone back to using VMware Player, and my desktop background is normal again *smile*.

So it goes.