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I have a Windows 7 desktop on which I've installed Windows Virtual PC and have the following on the same host:

  • an instance Windows 7 running on Virtual PC
  • an instance Windows XP running on Virtual PC

The problem I am having is that copying files from the host to the Windows 7 Virtual PC is really slow. I'm talking 17KB/sec. The host machine has a gigbit NIC.

While using the Windows XP Virtual PC to do the same I didn't notice a huge difference. But on the Windows 7 Virtual PC, it is really slow.

Is there something I need to do (such as settings) to fix this?

I've attached an image of the Resource Monitor (of the Windows 7 Virtual PC) that shows my network traffic going in bursts rather than relatively steady.

The files are on a "public" folder on my host machine.

screenshot

slayernoah
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Shiv Kumar
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3 Answers3

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For me the issue was segmentation offloading.

The solution (Method 2) in the following Microsoft KB link worked for me. (I know the article states Virtual Server 2005; but this fixed the issue for me on Virtual PC on Winows 7)

Slow performance when you try to access resources on your Virtual Server 2005 host computer from a guest virtual machine

Basically, on the host computer:

  • Click Start, click Run, type regedit, and then click OK.

  • Locate and then click the following registry subkey:

    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters

  • Click Edit, point to New, and then click DWORD Value.

  • Type DisableTaskOffload as the entry name, and then press ENTER.

  • Right-click DisableTaskOffload, and then click Modify.

  • In the Value data box, type a value of 1, and then click OK.

  • Quit Registry Editor.

  • Restart your computer.

slayernoah
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MrEs
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  • It's worth noting that you can disable it for the just the nic (via several "offload" properties) as opposed to the whole machine (via registry). The linked kb explains it as the last option. – Praesagus Feb 16 '13 at 22:37
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I've seen this with dynamic disks. You might want to put your virtual machines in fixed size disks, I think there's an easy way to migrate from dynamic to fixed but it's escaping me at the moment.

The other thing to check would be that the integration components are properly installed, a removal/reinstall might be in order.

slayernoah
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ErnieTheGeek
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  • @Ernie I'll try setting the disk to fixed size. I'm currently installing someone on the VM and once I'm done I'll get a handle on the size I can set it to. As regards the integration components in the Settings windows, Integration Features says Not Available. And in the Tools menu when I click on Install Integration Features, nothing happens. – Shiv Kumar Feb 03 '11 at 14:33
  • Oh yeah, fix that before you do anything else. Once you fix the ICs you'll probably be fine. Without the IC functioning you're performance goes WAY down on everything. – ErnieTheGeek Feb 03 '11 at 14:37
  • @Ernie, the fixed size didn't help. The files transfered at the same rate even on a fresh virtual machine. I did find that internet transfers are almost normal speed and since I a really fast Internet here, I upload to an ftp site from the host and download it from th ftp site on the VM and I'm now able to move files in less then a minute as compared to almost 3 hours. As regards the IC thing, I'm not sure where/how to fix it. for Window 7 VM I don't see any info. – Shiv Kumar Feb 03 '11 at 18:44
  • 1. Make sure your user account has a password, the ICs wont load without it, 2. Remove the ICs by using the add/remove software control panel. 3. Reload them by leaving full screen mode, click tools at the top of the screen, and it should give you the option to "Insert Integration services Disk" if you dont get the option then you can manually mount the iso. Its usually stored in C:\Windows\winsxs\x86_microsoft-virtualpc-additions_{random hash}. – ErnieTheGeek Feb 03 '11 at 19:00
  • @Ernie, I have a user account with a password on the guest operating system (window 7). I don't see ICs in the add/remove (uninstall programs) control panel window. Well before our conversation in tried the Tools | Install ICs menu but nothing happened. Don't see the Inert Integration services disk either so I'll look at mounting the iso manually. I'll let you know how it goes. Thanks for the help and for taking the time. – Shiv Kumar Feb 03 '11 at 19:33
  • Found the iso on my host machine's folders as you mentioned. Since I don't see these folders from the guest operating system I'll move them to the public folders I do see. Then what? Do I mount them for/from the guest OS for the host OS? – Shiv Kumar Feb 03 '11 at 19:39
  • go into the VM settings on the host OS and you should be able to attach it to the VM. – ErnieTheGeek Feb 03 '11 at 19:47
  • @Ernie, I was eventually able to install the IC the normal way. That is, at one point I clicked the Tools menu (on the top of the window) and it showed me a dialog about the setup.exe and things but it installed the ICs automatically. Earlier I would not see a dialog. Just nothing would happen really. Anyway, the experience of working on the guest OS is far better. The speed of file transfers has greatly improved by orders of magnitude. Ftp upload/download is still faster though. Thanks for all your help. – Shiv Kumar Feb 04 '11 at 19:19
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You might take a look at this solution. It's due to some network parameter setting. I've applied this on a couple of PC's now and it cures the sloth every time.

Would you not thing though that all of these Microsoft products would coexist?!

Brian Frost
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