VMware speed is really slow

[Nathan0987]

Hi, I use VMware Workstation 14. I recently factory-reset my computer. Before that I used Workstation 15. The issue started in 15, and still lasts after I factory-reset my PC and started using 14. It worked just fine before but all of a sudden boot speeds were awful. Using VMs are so slow to the point where it is unusable. Please help I like VMware and hate VirtualBox. Please answer this soon. Thanks!

(PS: It is NOT my hardware. Again, I've used VMware for a long time and it worked fine from May 2018-February 2019)

UPDATE: I just upgraded to 15, but I have the same issues

[a_p_]

How do the memory settings (Preferences -> Memory) look like?

How much memory do you have in your host system?

Maybe these need to be adjusted to allow VMware Workstation to use more of the host's physical memory.

André

[Nathan0987]

It is not my hardware. My host computer has 4GB of RAM. That may not seem like much for VMware, but I have used it for a while and everything worked great. It does not matter if it is a Windows 98 VM with 256 MB RAM or a Windows 10 VM with 2GB RAM, its still slower than it used to be. 2GB is the most I give any of my virtual machines. It says the VMware memory is 3006 MB. That probably is the most I can get because my PC has 4096MB (4GB) RAM and I believe you need at least 1GB to run Windows 10 x64

[a_p_]

It says the VMware memory is 3006 MB.

I assume that's the Reserved Memory setting. How about the Additional Memory setting, did you try to change this option to see whether this changes something?

What may also be worth trying is to exclude *.vm* files from virus scanning.

Do you see any unusual high resource usage in the host's Windows Task Manager while running the VMs.

André

[sjesse]

Try using this setting if your not already.

[Nathan0987]

None of that seems to work. It still is slow and has no change. Windows Task Manager has always shown a lot of my resources taken up whenever I run a VM, even before this issue happened. I have the same issue in Workstation Pro 14 as i do in 15. I could try Workstation Player, but I use features in Pro that are not available in Player.

[sjesse]

I really suggest getting more RAM if you can 4gb is pretty low, I wouldn't doubt your having peformance issues, You may want to check your harddrive, usually big performance drops are a sign of hardware failing, and after reformatting I can see the hdd being an issue

[Nathan0987]

I suppose you are right, 4GB has been more than plenty in the past, but I may need a new hard drive. It is making weird sounds and it sounds kind of like popping popcorn. My host machine works great, after the reset. Thank you, I will try Player and if that does not work, VirtualBox.

[sjesse]

Yeah, if you hear "popcorn", that's usually something pretty wrong with the drive. IF you can when you replace it, try a ssd instead, it may work better for your vms.

[Nathan0987]

Hello again! I got a brand-new computer and it is great. Processes are quick and snappy. The only issues is Windows takes FOREVER to install. I spent 2 hours installing Windows XP and I just got to the preinstallation screen. My two other VMs (Win 98/ME) take 15 minutes to boot, but after installing VMware Tools, the OS runs great.

Specs

Windows 10 Pro

8GB DDR4 RAM

1TB SSD

Intel Core i5 (8CPUs) (Quad Core)

I have been using this computer for 36 hours, there should not be any issues with it. Please help

Thanks,

Nathan