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irvinehooi
Contributor
Contributor

Which execution mode to choose for Workstation 6.5.2 ?

Hi,

I just want to ask which execution mode to select for my PC Pentium4 HyperThreading with 2GB RAM.

Which one will provide faster performance ?? Can my PC able to use "Binary Translation", because I've read the forum that someone claimed that the "Binary Translation" will perform better performance than the default "automatic" mode.

Or which is the right mode for virtual machine running a Linux guest ? and which is the right mode for running a Windows guest ?

Can somebody explain.

Thank you very much.

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rbphilip
Contributor
Contributor

I actually didn't claim that BT performed better than "automatic". I reported that BT performed better than "automatic", which picked VT-x, for ME.

I suspect that a P4 old enough to do hyperthreading might not even support VT-x. But why not give it a try and see?

Here's a good paper that talks about the difference between binary translation and Vt-x: http://www.vmware.com/pdf/asplos235_adams.pdf

Once you've read and understood the paper you'll understand that the best thing for you to do is try out each mode and figure out for yourself which one performs best in your situation.

Good luck.

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irvinehooi
Contributor
Contributor

Hi, I wanna check with you before I change the execution mode. Let's say my PC Pentium4 PC do not build-in support for hardware virtualization, if I set the execution mode to either "Binary Translation" or "VT-x" will it cause my PC to hang or damage my PC ?

Thank you very much.

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rbphilip
Contributor
Contributor

I don't have any machines that old so I can't test, but I imagine Workstation will just tell you if the processor doesn't support VT-x. Binary translation is, of course, supported by any processor.

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lifes0too0short
Contributor
Contributor

Hi, I wanna check with you before I change the execution mode. Let's say my PC Pentium4 PC do not build-in support for hardware virtualization, if I set the execution mode to either "Binary Translation" or "VT-x" will it cause my PC to hang or damage my PC ?

My machine has a processor that actualy includes hardware virtualization. My question would be where would I find the "execution mode" option you mention? I've searched the manual extensively and haven't found it. I've also searched in the forum with similar results. Thanks for any advice you can ofer!

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continuum
Immortal
Immortal

irvinehooi - as far as I know VMware will use binary translation on your CPU anyway - so no need to think about it - go with defaults

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admin
Immortal
Immortal

See http://www.vmware.com/resources/techresources/10060. Though this document discusses ESX 4, the choice of execution mode is largely the same for Workstation 6.5.x.

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admin
Immortal
Immortal

My machine has a processor that actualy includes hardware virtualization. My question would be where would I find the "execution mode" option you mention? I've searched the manual extensively and haven't found it. I've also searched in the forum with similar results. Thanks for any advice you can ofer!

VM->Settings->Processors.

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