VMware VM Generates 100% Disk Activity

4

I have a fast new Windows desktop computer running Windows 8.1 with 32GB of RAM.

When I run a VM on this computer, the VM is extremely slow for about the first half hour or so of use. And if I look at the drive activity during this time, I see it remains close to 100%.

So I moved my VM to a SSD but I see the same result. I just now brought up a Windows 7 VM. All I did was open the desktop and did nothing else. But I still see the disk activity on my SSD is almost solid at 100%.

For the VM, I've allocated both 8GB and 16GB RAM, 60GB disk, and 4 of my 8 cores.

I have a similar configuration on a Windows laptop and don't seem to have this problem.

Can anyone suggestion where I should look to resolve this?

Jonathan Wood

Posted 2014-04-27T18:31:35.100

Reputation: 198

Heh, completely forgot about this question. It might also be worth noting that Windows will automatically run “maintenance” when it’s idle. This can produce quite a lot of disk load, especially because it includes defragmenting the disk (if needed). – Daniel B – 2015-01-31T17:50:32.973

this could be a lot of things, are these guest vms fresh clean installs? http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=1008885

– Logman – 2014-04-27T18:38:06.400

Well, I created a new VM using a Windows disk. But then I made copies and modified some of them. So mostly I would say the answer is yes. – Jonathan Wood – 2014-04-27T18:43:30.317

Is the virtual disk fixed-size or dynamically growing? – Daniel B – 2014-04-27T18:57:15.763

@DanielB: I'm not sure but whatever is the default. How do I tell. – Jonathan Wood – 2014-04-27T19:03:45.823

does the original vm (master) act the same way? – Logman – 2014-04-27T19:46:10.380

@JonathanWood That’s easy. VMware calls this a “preallocated” disk.

– Daniel B – 2014-04-27T20:35:25.267

@DanielB: No, mine doesn't say "preallocated disk". – Jonathan Wood – 2014-04-28T02:39:21.963

@Logman: It's no longer clear which would be called the original at this point. They all seem to perform okay when used on my laptop. They all seem kind of slow when used on my desktop. – Jonathan Wood – 2014-04-28T02:40:13.733

Answers

2

I was able to finally resolve this.

It turns out my new high end Dell had a problem in the BIOS that prevented USB ports from running at their optimum speed. Disk access became a major bottleneck that virtually brought the VM (which had plenty of resources) to a halt.

At one point Dell came and replaced the motherboard, which obviously did nothing. But a BIOS update did resolve the issue.

Jonathan Wood

Posted 2014-04-27T18:31:35.100

Reputation: 198

Asked: 2014-04-27T18:31:35.100

Viewed: 5 501 times

Active: 2016-02-11T22:12:11.123