I had this issue on VMware Server 2.0, then got ESXi installed on the box. Had to create new VMs and install XP on them and get them up to date (Microsoft update). Here's my post from before:
This is perplexing me... I have VMware Server 2.0 running on a Vostro
200 with a Core2 Duo proc and 3.0GB RAM. The host runs fine.
I have three guests, all running XP Pro SP3, all up to date. One
was originally created in Fusion on my Mac. One was created on the host
in question, the third was a copy/clone of this one. All have 2 CPUs
and 512MB RAM, and are bridged to the NIC of the host.
All three have the Cisco VPN Client and RoyalTS installed. RoyalTS is a
Terminal Services/RDP consolidation application, which I use frequently
as I do IT outsourcing, and have about 300 client servers I connect to.
After starting the Cisco VPN Client, connecting to a client site, then
opening RoyalTS, some random process will jump to 50% CPU usage.
Sometimes it will be one of the SVCHOST.EXE processes, sometimes it's
WINLOGON, sometimes LSASS, sometimes EXPLORER.EXE, sometimes
SERVICES.EXE and less frequently the process for RoyalTS or the Cisco
VPN Client. I use Sysinternals Process Explorer to check this.
This situation only seems to happen after I open the VPN
client. If I successfully close the VPN client and RTS, this odd
behavior continues until I restart. After restarting, the guest OSs
seem to run fine. I use the same applications on VMs running on
Microsoft Virtual Server, and they run fine (relatively, since MVS
sucks).
