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[solved] Performance Issues with Lion on Workstation 8

sirmasterboy
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sirmasterboy
sirmasterboy
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I had OSX Lion installed on my workstation 7 and used the unlocker to get it working. Performance there was very smooth. The only action that would lag was going to and from fullscreen apps.

 

I have since updated to Workstation 8 and used the new unlocker as well as installed VMWare Tools from Fusion 4.0.1. Everything works fine except GUI performance is very slow compared to Workstation 7. Keyboard presses are noticeably delayed and even simple things like dragging windows or minimizing/maximizing are sluggish and choppy.

 

Has anyone else see this problem or does anyone else have any suggestions as to how i can get the performancs back to the way it was in Workstation 7?

 

Thanks.

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Donk
Donk
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Same problem here. It became worse after updating the VMWare Tools, because the Shared Folders Icon disapeared from the Desktop.

 

Looks like we have to wait for an updated VMSVGA2 driver from zentith432...

Everyone needs to help us out here. Please post the details of your systems plus ATTACH the vmx and vmware.log files to a post. Do NOT put the text actually into the post as that doesn't help us.

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XaserIII
XaserIII
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Just did this Quiz to help out..

 

First of all, thanks Donk for this fantastic work!

 

So, I freshly installed Mac OS X 10.7 on vmware workstation 8 after this guide

Part A

Part B

 

works fine! On Worstation Seven however, as allready mentioned, performance breaks in. Files are attached.

 

Performance.zip

 

System is:

Intel i5

ATI 6600

4GB Ram

Win7 Prof. 64x

 

Xaser

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iMave.23
iMave.23
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Everyone needs to help us out here. Please post the details of your systems plus ATTACH the vmx and vmware.log files to a post. Do NOT put the text actually into the post as that doesn't help us.

 

I attached my vmx and logfile.

 

My system:

 

- Intel i5

- 8 GB DDR3 RAM.

- Windows 7 (x64)

- Lion VM on a 500GB SATA II HDD cached by a 60GB SSD (OCZ Agility 3) with Intel Smart Response

- NVIDIA GeForce 9600GT attached to 30" Display with 2560 x 1600

 

Lion boots as fast as with Workstation 7. But moving a window on the OS X desktop or typing something is somehow delayed. Feels like using VNC...

 

I investigated more time on the slow windows and found out a strange effect. If I move the window horizontally in the lower half of the screen, I can move I fast, but if I move the Window in the upper half of the screen it moves sluggish. I have no idea, but it looks like the lower half of the screen has 2D accelleration but the upper half not.

 

Do you need any further information?

Mac_OS_X_Lion.vmx.zip

vmware.log.zip

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sirmasterboy
sirmasterboy
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I investigated more time on the slow windows and found out a strange effect. If I move the window horizontally in the lower half of the screen, I can move I fast, but if I move the Window in the upper half of the screen it moves sluggish. I have no idea, but it looks like the lower half of the screen has 2D accelleration but the upper half not.

 

Oh wow, I tried that and it's the exact same for me! The bottom half or so I can drag the windows perfectly smooth like Workstation 7 but the top half is very sluggish.

 

Intel i7

Nvidia GTX 480

6GB Ram

Win7 Ult x64

 

Thanks Donk for everything you do for the community and thanks for the updated 8 unlocker so quick.

 

Hope we can get to the bottom of this one.

Mac_OS_X_Lion_Workstaion_8_files.zip

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sirmasterboy
sirmasterboy
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I took a video for everyone of the slowness effect and how it doesn't seem slow on the bottom half of the screen.

 

But then after watching it i think I realized what going on.

 

I'm pretty sure it's faster because it doesn't have to render most of the window when it's off the screen like that. As you bring more of the window onto the screen it slows down and becomes slowest when it has to render the whole window.

 

So it just seems that video acceleration is just very poor in Lion on Workstation 8 in general until someone finds a fix.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9quH1n4SmmM&hd=1

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Nemes
Nemes
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I'm running into the same problem as sirmasterboy and the others: GUI performance is extremely poor in Lion under VMWare 8 using Zenith's driver. Logs and VMX are attached.

 

- Intel i7 920

- 6 GB DDR3 RAM.

- Windows 7 (x64)

- Lion VM on a 500GB SATA II HDD

- NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580 attached to a 1080P display

LionLogs.zip

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Zenith432
Zenith432
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First, XaserIII: you have neither VMware Tools with VMwareGfx nor VMsvga2 installed.

 

Other logs:

I didn't find any problem with the settings. One thing you can try is do install VMsvga2 1.2.4fc3.

 

Another thing you can try is to uninstall VMsvga2 and use VMwareGfx, see if it works any better. Alternatively, you can set the Kernel Flag "vmw_options_fb=1" for VMsvga2, which makes it work exactly like VMwareGfx.

 

The other possible causes are:

1) Not enough ram on the host side which causes too much swapping.

2) Too many virtual CPUs/virtual cores. This seems to slow it down.

 

I'm not experiencing the slowdown so :)

 

Edit:

iMave.23: Set

virtualHW.version = "8"

sound.virtualDev = "hdaudio"

guestOS = "darwin11-64"

Comment out

#monitor.virtual_mmu = "software"

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iMave.23
iMave.23
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@Zenith432

 

Thank you for your hints.

 

OK I tried the new driver built for Lion, but the slowness remained.

 

As I have 1.25GB RAM available in OSX (2GB reserved for VM/8GB in host) memory shouldn't be the problem.

 

I didn't change the settings of my (2) virtual cores form Workstation 7 to 8. My i5 has 4 Cores.

 

I also edited the VMX file with no success.

 

I checked again the CPU usage when moving a window horizontally on the screen.

 

Moving a specific window in the upper half of the screen takes about 10% CPU usage.

 

Moving the same window in the lower half of the screen - while the window remains fully visible - takes about 40% CPU usage.

 

It looks like the upper half of the screen is not handled by the GPU (VideoMemory). Could it be that the upper half located in SystemMemory being handled by the CPU?

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XaserIII
XaserIII
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First, XaserIII: you have neither VMware Tools with VMwareGfx nor VMsvga2 installed.

 

Well, on Workstation 7 it worked fine with the same real and virtual hardware as I use now with 8 and with or without vmware tools installed. On Workstation 8 as well with and without vwware tools installed it still "lags"!

 

Regards,

Xaser

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Akai92
Akai92
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It's been a long time I started joining the hackintosh community. I had been stuck at 10.5.8 because of my 3870, and now I wonder if I install Lion on Workstation 7/8, could I get good performance + ci/qe. Just a silly question, I hope someone could answer.

 

One more thing, my hardware spec is: Core 2 Duo E8400 + HD 3870.

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Zenith432
Zenith432
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I noticed something else, which is that the logfiles say

vmx| I120: SVGA: Maximum display topology 3840x1920.
vmx| I120: SVGA: Maximum display topology 3840x1920 with 2 displays.

 

In my VMX file I have

svga.autodetect = "FALSE"
svga.vramSize = "33554432"

 

and I get

 

vmx| I120: SVGA: Maximum display topology 2560x1600.
vmx| I120: SVGA: Maximum display topology 2560x1600 with 1 displays.

 

So you could give these settings a try. Though I did comment out my svga settings and booted with max display topology 3840x1920/2 displays, and I still didn't experience the slowdowns mentioned. :D

 

Just a silly question, I hope someone could answer
If you're looking for good performance, OS 10.6.8 is your best bet. Snow peaked in performance. Lion is Apple's "Windows Me III." If you want Lion, you should wait for OS 10.7.2 first, they might have unscrewed it up a bit.

In any case, no QE/CI.

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iMave.23
iMave.23
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Hi Zenith432,

 

the 2 svga.* settings didn't change anything.

 

To be 100% sure that it is a Lion only issue I reactivated my old Snow Leopard installation and - guess what - it has partly the same problems now.

 

Typing is fast and fluent under Snow Leopard, but moving a Window now has the same problems as Lion.

 

So I assume that this must be at least partly also a Workstation 8 problem....

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vins78
vins78
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Hi guys,

I have the same performance issue.

The "prebuilt image" i was using was a lot responsive under Workstation 7.1

Now workstation 8 it drags the windows with a lot of lag.

In the bottom area of the screen it goes fast.

In the top area of the screen it is a lot lagged.

 

I will follow this thread to catch some sort of solution :D

 

P.S. workstation 8 asks me to update vmware tools but I ignore the message

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Donk
Donk
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There has always been a know problem with the Energy settings in Mac OS X and VMware. You should always go into the Energy settings and set everything to never sleep. Also install the Caffeine app and make sure it is enabled. Don't worry it won't affect the host as VMware will independently monitor idle states in the guest.

 

Can you now see what the performance is like?

 

Also make sure you give the VM enough memory and the SVGA adapter has a reasonable amount of VRAM associated with it. For Lion you really need minimum of 2048K memory, anything less and I have seen performance problems on Workstation 8 and ESXi 5.

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XaserIII
XaserIII
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hi!

 

I just reinstalled literally everything: Workstation, Patch, Mac OS X Lion, VMware Tools, still the same problem. Real hardware should be fine, as well as the virtual hardware. Where can I increase the SVGA mem? Do I need to install any extra drivers??

 

Xaser

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Donk
Donk
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hi!

 

I just reinstalled literally everything: Workstation, Patch, Mac OS X Lion, VMware Tools, still the same problem. Real hardware should be fine, as well as the virtual hardware. Where can I increase the SVGA mem? Do I need to install any extra drivers??

 

Xaser

 

Zenith432 recommends adding this t the VMX file

 

svga.autodetect = "FALSE"

svga.vramSize = "33554432"

 

Other than that I can't see anything wrong on the various logs here. Maybe it is just an artefact of different processors being used that Mac OS X isn't fully optimized for? Really just guessing and I can't think of any other diagnostic tests. You did change the energy settings and add Caffeine tot he guest?

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XaserIII
XaserIII
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Thanks Donk, fo rthe reply,

 

unfortunately, this didn't help at all, eventhough I installed that app and changed energy settings. Could it help to make vmware log debugging information? I can't believe that it's due to the processor, as I have a normal i5 which is actually the one a normal Mac uses as well.

 

Xaser

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sirmasterboy
sirmasterboy
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There has always been a know problem with the Energy settings in Mac OS X and VMware. You should always go into the Energy settings and set everything to never sleep. Also install the Caffeine app and make sure it is enabled. Don't worry it won't affect the host as VMware will independently monitor idle states in the guest.

 

Can you now see what the performance is like?

 

Also make sure you give the VM enough memory and the SVGA adapter has a reasonable amount of VRAM associated with it. For Lion you really need minimum of 2048K memory, anything less and I have seen performance problems on Workstation 8 and ESXi 5.

 

Thanks for more suggestions.

 

I set all the energy settings to never sleep, etc, and installed and ran caffeine. Still no luck. I have tried 1-4 cores on my VM as well as 1, 2, 3, and 4GB of ram with no effect on performance whatsoever.

 

I have also ran my VMSvga with 32mb ram like Zenith suggested as well as the full 120mb with no effect either.

 

Finally I have also copied my virtual machine to my laptop with completely different hardware and a intel core 2 processor with VT tech. I still get the same slowness there in Workstation 8.

 

I really think it's a video card problem and not anything to do with ram or CPU. I also really think it's a VMWare 8 problem as it works so great in 7 on both of my computers.

 

Donk or Zenith, would you be willing to download my VM and try it yourself to rule out guest/vm configuration issues?

 

Does everyone that isn't having performance issues have an AMD video card? Because it looks like everyone with a problem is using NVidia.

 

Thanks again

 

 

*EDIT*

 

OK, how do you guys like this one:

 

When I edit my Lion VM and uncheck "Accelerate 3D graphics" in the Display device and boot it up, I get the same exact sluggish performance as when it's checked. Clearly 3D acceleration just isn't working for me in Workstation 8.

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Nemes
Nemes
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Thanks for the advice Zenith432, but as with everyone else it hasn't changed anything. VMWare seems to be purposely disabling all hardware acceleration and running it in software regardless of how the VM is configured. Which means the problem probably isn't Lion.

 

You said hardware acceleration is working for you. What GPU do you have and what drivers are you using? I'm wondering if perhaps VMware blacklisted certain hardware/driver combinations if they were causing problems.

 

EDIT: Eureka!

 

I was browsing the VMWare forums and came across this gem: http://communities.vmware.com/thread/32866...5&tstart=15

 

ps/ If multiple WS instances are not convenient then based on all the intel to date switching to console view, hitting F8 twice (to display and then un-display the thumbnail view) and then returning from console view isn't too much overhead to recover either. Learning to execute this sequence of steps quickly will also cover the resume from suspend use case.
Following those instructions fixed the problem. Now Lion zips right along - I'm not sure if it's quite as fast as VMWare 7, but it's certainly fast enough.

 

1) Switch to Console view (View-> Console View)

2) Turn on VM thumbnails (F8)

3) Turn off VM thumbnails (F8 again)

4) Switch back to your view of choice and enjoy

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sirmasterboy
sirmasterboy
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Thanks for the advice Zenith432, but as with everyone else it hasn't changed anything. VMWare seems to be purposely disabling all hardware acceleration and running it in software regardless of how the VM is configured. Which means the problem probably isn't Lion.

 

You said hardware acceleration is working for you. What GPU do you have and what drivers are you using? I'm wondering if perhaps VMware blacklisted certain hardware/driver combinations if they were causing problems.

 

EDIT: Eureka!

 

I was browsing the VMWare forums and came across this gem: http://communities.vmware.com/thread/32866...5&tstart=15

 

Following those instructions fixed the problem. Now Lion zips right along - I'm not sure if it's quite as fast as VMWare 7, but it's certainly fast enough.

 

1) Switch to Console view (View-> Console View)

2) Turn on VM thumbnails (F8)

3) Turn off VM thumbnails (F8 again)

4) Switch back to your view of choice and enjoy

 

You are the winner!

 

I can confirm these steps make my Workstation 8 work just as fast as it did in Workstation 7. I knew it had to be some sort of Workstation 8 bug.

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