VMPlayer is very frustrating because whenever any other process on the host increases the CPU load, VMPlayer (vmware-vmx.exe) immediately spikes to match it. It is like a jealous child jumping up and down screaming look at me, look at me!
Here’s some observations:
- The guest’s CPU load spikes whenever this occurs
- This happens regardless of the guest’s previous CPU load (it happens even if the guest was completely idle at ~1%)
- This happens in Unity mode and non-Unity mode alike
- The guest’s CPU load returns to normal once the host’s CPU load returns to normal (e.g., the spiking process ends)
- Altering the affinity of the spiking process on the host and/or vmware-vmx.exe can cause the load on the guest system to drop, but vmware-vmx.exe remains high on the host
- (I haven’t tested, but I’m sure that if multiple guests were running and one did something to use the CPU, then all of the others would spike to match.)
This is very annoying because it renders VMPlayer useless in many cases since the host system can no longer be used for any tasks that put a load on the CPU because then VMPlayer’s load jumps to match which reduces the host’s CPU to half—for no reason.
This is a pretty critical bug that needs to be fixed.
