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_jfd_
Contributor
Contributor

vmware expert left the company - what do I do now?

I really need some help here. I am running ESX server 3.5 with VC 2.5 (I think those are correct versions anyway). I created a VM and installed W2K3 Standard x86. Still haven't installed SP2 due to problems. The problem is that when I start the VM and connect with the remote console, it acts like it is running in slow motion. The mouse moves in spurts and if you're not patient, it looks like it is locked up entirely. When trying to connect via web interface, it takes nearly 45 minutes to load the login screen.

I saw several posts in this forum saying to check the duplex setting. Unfortunately, I'm not 100% sure how to do that. On the ESX server I used ethtool and it appears to be set to 1000Mb/s Full duplex with autoneg off. I'm actually not sure if the NIC itself supports GIG. When I try to set it to 100Mb/s it says something like "Operation not supported". I used a command something like:

ifconfig ethtool -s vswif0 speed 100 duplex full autoneg off

...or something like that, I don't remember exactly

The other half of the issue is that my network administrator is also gone and I don't know how to check/set the speed and duplex settings on the switch ports.

I also saw mention of "VMWare Tools" that need to be installed on the VMs. I am familiar with installing these tools in the Beta 2 version but not this version. I can't seem to find the option.

Please help!

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8 Replies
jayolsen
Expert
Expert

For the VMware tools portion just go to your console and right click on the guest in the list. Select Install/Upgrade VMware tools. After it has installed rebooted do the following:

To enable hardware acceleration in a Windows Server 2003 guest, open the Control Panel, then open the Display Properties control panel. On the Settings tab, click Advanced. On the Troubleshoot tab, drag the Hardware acceleration slider all the way to Full.

Without hardware acceleration set to full you can have horrible mouse movement in the console.

_jfd_
Contributor
Contributor

I will give that a try tomorrow. My performance is so bad, it is a challenge to even get logged on. I'd say it takes 20 minutes to get the VM started and logged in. It'll probably take another half hour or more to install the tools and set hardware accelleration. I really hope this solves my problem but I'm skeptical. It's hard to believe it is normally this bad when a new VM is created.

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jayolsen
Expert
Expert

Yeah, that shouldn't impact the bootup time. Maybe try disconnecting the virtual network adapter in the settings of the VM and boot just to see if it makes a difference.

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_jfd_
Contributor
Contributor

The bootup doesn't take that long. Getting the cursor into the login/password fields, entering the login/password, and pressing the login button takes forever. Sometimes it takes minutes to see the results of a mouse movement.

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Jasemccarty
Immortal
Immortal

Sounds like you need to enable acceleration in the properties of the video adapter.

Jase McCarty

http://www.jasemccarty.com

Jase McCarty - @jasemccarty
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fraber01
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Install the vmware tools --> VM --> Install Tools, if autorun don't start, click My Computer then Cd-Rom then setup

chek the nic setting in the VM properties AND in the configuration tab on the VM server, then in Networking, then on your VSwitch

you CAN do this on the console, but it's painfully hard for nothing.

but I don't think the vswitch would be set to manual.. make no sense to me...

check the vmware tools

oreeh
Immortal
Immortal

FYI: this thread has been moved to the Virtual Machine and Guest OS forum.

Oliver Reeh[/i]

[VMware Communities User Moderator|http://communities.vmware.com/docs/DOC-2444][/i]

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_jfd_
Contributor
Contributor

Thank you to everyone who contributed. I tried several things but none resolved the problem, however I did figure it out. I'm ashamed to say, I now know the difference between a hub and a switch. Once we replaced the hub with a switch, everything got much better. Since this was a trick question, I am going to mark two replies as helpful. Lesson learned - leave your network administration to your experts. Thanks again.

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