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RENTO
Contributor
Contributor

VMWARE 6 poor mouse performance over RDP

Hello

I have a machine with Workstation 6 and various VMs on it. On a W2k and a RH machine I get poor mouse performance, but all is instead fine on the W2K3 machines.

I can see that the issue becomes more evident when the mouse assumes the "arrow" and the "finger"shape. INstead if it renders itself as a text cursor is very fast.

Does anyone why this is happening? Is there anyway I can make this better?

Cheers

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8 Replies
seanh1986
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

The only way to improve mouse performance is to install VMware Tools.

They improve a lot of features including:

Mouse performance, Keyboard responsiveness, and make guest VMs much more manageable, they also allow file sharing between the host/guest (and can be set up to share files between guest and guest)

To install VMware Tools on a Windows Guest O.S...

\- Power on the Virtual machine

\- Log-in as admin

\- After the guest Operating System has started, on the top, click:

“VM” --> “Install VMware Tools…”

The installation wizard will now pop-up. Click “Next” to begin.

Select “Typical” installation. Click “Next” to continue.

Click the “Install” button to begin installation. Follow any instructions.

Click “Finish” when the installation concludes.

Restart the Virutal Machine.

If There are any Installation Errors…

Ensure your guest Operating System has Microsoft Windows Installer runtime engine version 2.0 or higher. (This is automatically included in Windows Server 2003 and Windows XP).

To check version, open the file “C:\WINDOWS\system32\msiexec.exe”.

If you need to update your version, run “instmsia.exe”

(instmsia.exe for windows 95 or windows 98... for completeness).

After upgrading, repeat the above process.

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RENTO
Contributor
Contributor

Well sorry. I forgot to mention that I have in fact vmware tools installed.

Does it need addition graphic drivers?

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damoiselle_111
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Disable mouse shadow in guest improve a lot.

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KevinG
Immortal
Immortal

If you want to use RDP, RDP directly to the guest OS. Do not connect to the host first to interact with the VM's. You can also use the VNC feature of VMware Workstation 6 to access the VM's remotely. Connecting to the host can have poor performance with the VM's because both the Workstation application and the RDP are trying to control the MKS (Mouse, Keyboard, Screen)

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RENTO
Contributor
Contributor

Hi guys thank you for your input.

I have worked for ages keeping the resolution at 256 colours, this put things at a reasonable speed, I then got fed up of the grainy GUIs and played aroud with the mouse schemes.

I have now applied the Windows Black mous scheme and upped the resolution to 32 bit and it works!

The funny thing is that there was no scheme applied before hand (NONE selected) so I didnt think of changing that and thought I could make it worse..

Anyhow I actually like the black pointer and I am super happy I wont have to slow-mo click and drag anymore.

Cheers

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patrickds
Expert
Expert

you may also want to check whether you have acceleration set to full in the Display properties/settings/advanced/troubleshooting section of the Windows guests.

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Tune_Kamae
Contributor
Contributor

I have an HP-Compaq AMD Turion 64x2 laptop and am running Fedora Core 6 (64bit) in VMware Workstation 6 on WinXP (32bit). VMware-toolbox is installed and running. I have tried almost all options posted about USB mouse performance but with limited success. The mouse motion is not smooth and often cannot reach the upper part in the full-screen mode.

I also run RHEL4 in the same VMware Wrokstation. The mouse behaves much better there.

Does someone know how this problem can be fixed?

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RENTO
Contributor
Contributor

@ Patrick: Did try that and possibly anything else before. The mouse scheme is the culprit.

@ Tune: Had the same issue. Make sure you have "vmmouse" in the x server configuration. Look around there are many people with the same issue I cannot remeber wether this is intermittent or if there is a finite workaround. I think this is a Vmware bug though (one of the very few! :smileygrin: )

Mine is working, good luck!

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