Hello,
I would like to know if there is a document somewhere that lists changes VMware makes to Windows OS (Registry/Dll etc) at install or tool Integration.
Failing this, any ideas ....
Scenario:
Prior to my time, a client had VMware Workstation 12 Pro on Windows 8.1 Pro running a virtual machine of Server 2012 R2.
The host had 64 Gb ram and ran three virtual's. (Windows 2008 - SBS 2008, Windows 8.1 pro desktop and Server 2012 r2)
The server 2012 R2 was a terminal server / RDS server allocated 27 Gb ram.
It ran fine, for a little while, then slowed down to a crawl (5-7 days). Checking CPU/Disk and Memory, CPU - 3 %, memory, 20%, disk queue fairly small.
Looking at processes for all users, nothing really showed anything consuming anything yet the servers bogs down and needs to be restarted.
It had the integration tools installed. The other virtuals and the host, showed no issues and only the VM for 2012 R2 needed to be restarted to give another 5 days good use .. then it would happen again. It feels like something has consumed all the resources, yet nothing shows as a problem in task manager. Even exposing Memory delta columns and running performance monitors showed nothing so it is unlikely a memory leak. Using Process monitor and looking at interrupts, they were not very high. Nothing seems out of place, except the slow speed.
If all users log off the server, it starts speeding up again. The main use of the server is Microsoft Office products and a SQL app (SQL on another server). No spyware/shareware or other tools installed. a handful of printers.
It was decided (again, before my time) to turn this virtual into a physical server to get around this issue. the previous IT somehow did a V to P conversion onto a fairly highly spec'd HP server.
It now has processors and 160 Gb ram dedicated to it (system managed pagefile). they uninstalled the integration tools.
It felt quicker. Then at 5 days, started to slow down again. Again it seems to have hit some limit, some wall. The 160 Gb ram was being managed with a 21 gb page file (Which seemed small).
Even opening Task manager takes ages.
We have ben trying to diagnose at a 2012 R2 level and then noticed that under device manager, many of the old VMware drivers are still there (as unplugged) and a few VMware services still running (even with the integration tools removed).
It got me thinking, could the old management tools in the VMware management tools, have modified anything in the system registry of the 2012 server and created any artificial limits ?
That is why I want to start trawling through the registry. I am also uninstalling the VMware devices and services.
Any ideas ?
When modifying the settings in the VMware management tool, does it speak to the child OS through the integration tool and force OS level changes ?
Before we continue to look at this at an OS level, I would like to rule out the old VMware links.
I suspect when this was a VMware child, it had the issue as it only had 27 Gb ram. 12 RDP users was physically pushing it too hard. Now with 160 Gb ram, it still feels like it is tuned for 27 Gb ram.
Thanks for any input.
