VM Workstation - Windows Slow Performance

[9Lucas]

Hello,

I have problems with the performance of my virtual machines. They are especially slow in simple tasks such as typing, moving the mouse, opening and closing tabs, ...
The software I'm using is TIA Portal V17 by Siemens.

It is not clear for me where the issue is coming from as both on the host and the guest, CPU and RAM resources are not at their limits.

Host:

CPU: 13th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-1355U 1.70 GHz
RAM : 64,0 GB
Host OS: Windows 11 Enterprise, 64-bit

VMware® Workstation 17 Pro 17.5.0 build-22583795 (With Admin permission)

CPU Use: 60%
RAM Use: 40%
GPU Use: 20%

Guest:

CPU: 6 core
RAM: 16,0 GB
Accelerate 3D graphics (8GB)
Host OS: Windows 10 Pro, 64-bit

CPU Use: 10%
RAM Use: 40%

[degvm]

have you vmware tools installed inside the VM?

[BarrieS3004]

Have you got any kind of Malware scanners running ( or have you tried to scan for Malware) ?

Either can be contributors to slow performance.

here's a bit more info that might assist that's application specific, it looks like a known issue with your app: https://support.industry.siemens.com/forum/au/en/posts/slow-operation-of-tia-portal/272467 

[BarrieS3004]

Also how many guest OS's are you trying to run? You mentioned virtual machine(s) but listed the specs for only 1 ?

[9Lucas]

@degvm : Yes, I got vmware tools installed.

@BarrieS3004 : I have tried disabling windows defender antivirus (which is the only antivirus installed on the system) but I have not seen any improvement.

I Have 2 virtual machines (with different versions of Siemens software) but never running at same time.

Thanks for your help

[bluefirestorm · Accepted solution]

There are two possible issues:
(a) the i7-1355U CPU has e-cores and only slow e-cores are being used
(b) Hyper-V or features that require Hyper-V such as WSL2 are enabled on the host and the slower hypervisor is being used

For (a), possible workarounds is to set the
1 - set the host power plan to "High Performance" or
2 - disable power throttling to the vmware-vmx.exe or
powercfg /powerthrottling disable /path "C:\Program Files (x86)\VMware\VMware Workstation\x64\vmware-vmx.exe"
3- set CPU affinity of the vmware-vmx.exe process only to the p-cores

You can use Task Manager or set it by adding the following lines to the vmx configuration file (see spoiler); this assumes processors 0-3 are the p-cores with hyperthreading and processors 4-11 are the e-cores on the i7-1355U CPU. Shut down the VM BEFORE editing the vmx file.

Spoiler

Processor0.use = "TRUE"
Processor1.use = "TRUE"
Processor2.use = "TRUE"
Processor3.use = "TRUE"
Processor4.use = "FALSE"
Processor5.use = "FALSE"
Processor6.use = "FALSE"
Processor7.use = "FALSE"
Processor8.use = "FALSE"
Processor9.use = "FALSE"
Processor10.use = "FALSE"
Processor11.use = "FALSE"

For this issue, given there are only 2cores/4threads that are p-cores, it does not make sense to assign a VM with more than 4 vCPUs on this particular laptop.

For (b), check the vmware.log and look for the text Monitor Mode, if it says ULM instead of CPL0, see this long post, some steps may or may not apply. It is also possible if the host machine is joined into a AD domain, some of items like Device/Credential Guard, Memory Integrity can be enforced by domain policy; so you might have to talk to the domain admins for that.

https://communities.vmware.com/t5/VMware-Workstation-Pro/Disabling-Hyper-V-hypervisor-on-Windows-11-...

[9Lucas]

@bluefirestorm 

I checked the power plan and it was already on "high performance", so case (a) is not the problem.
For case (b) I have seen both, the "ULM" value in the log file and the virtualization based security enabled in the system information. So this seems to be the problem.

I followed @svenmerget post and after doing phases 1 and 2, VBS is still enabled, so I moved on to phase 3.

At this point for some reason the script doesn't seem to be running for some reason. I am not proficient with powershell so I would appreciate more help.

[bluefirestorm]

Personally, I haven't tried the steps. But that post is probably more comprehensive that pointing you to other threads that can be quite piecemeal in presentation.

Anyway, svenmerget replied in the same thread to the same problem, his suggestion is to put a .\ in front so Powershell knows it is referring to a file and not a built-in command/object.

.\DG_Readiness_Tool_v3.6.ps1 -Disable

[mark-reijerkerk]

I am very very disappointed the way VMWare acts, April last year I bought a license for rel 17. Now I find out that an EOL is scheduled, that is not possible, you only can set a product on EOL path 2 years after the latest update, which is in this case is 17.5.

I do not get technical support only a f*cking arrogant bod, I am that furious that I will claim my license fee paid on 18-04-2023, back since this a complete and utterly wrong doing.

I know where this comes from and my fellow developers know that too. Dog Broadcom

I give you exactly 2 week for a solution that is behaving as it should for all of us.

If not, I will ask my Credit Card company, and I advise the ones that bought this bulls**t, to do the same

Since most of the credit cards give you a year money back guarantee if the product you bought does not comply with the advertised standard.

GAME OVER

[mark-reijerkerk]

I also just send a complaint to sales

I find it hard to believe, 18-04-23 I bought a home license which is already scheduled for EOL, what I already told a real customer support employee. This is an utterly act of wrongdoing, I will say, brace for impact, We developers always trusted VMware however what is happening now is pure evil they just let us row in the dagger.

[RDPetruska]

Where are you reading this?  VMware has never EOL'd a product before the next major version has been released and out for a while.

[Technogeezer]

Don't blame Broadcom. This is 100% VMware, and their EOL policy existed even before Broadcom had any thought at purchasing VMware.

VMware defines their EOL policy for desktop products in a pre-defined manner  https://www.vmware.com/support/policies/personal-desktop.html . You can find specific EOL dates for current (and the dates for versions that are already EOL) in their product lifecycle matrix https://lifecycle.vmware.com/#/?advancedFilter=checkbox_sup&filters=%7B%22name%22:%22workstation%22,...

<my opinion>

It's obvious that VMware would prefer you to stay current on desktop hypervisor versions by purchasing upgrade licenses when new major versions appear. They don't support old versions forever, but their perpetual licensing means that you can run the software as long as you'd like. The caveat is that you run the software on the configurations that the release notes say are compatible and run the guests operating systems that are deemed compatible with that release.  Deviate from those tested host operating systems and/or guests that are documented to be run on the Workstation version in question and you're on your own. 

You may like the "pay once get updates forever" business model, but developers across the industry have found that model doesn't keep the lights on. VMware by Broadcom has said that they're going to keep the current licensing model and not going to a subscription model, for whatever that's worth.

The support situation is also from VMware, not Broadcom. You get 30 days of free support with any license (initial or upgrade) purchase that allows you to open a Service Request. The only contact you have with a support tech is by email.  After that 30 days, you either have to pay a per-incident charge or have a support contract. 

That's particularly onerous and unacceptable when a problem is clearly VMware's fault. Like the performance issue with 12th Gen Intel Core processors and later. 

or

[Technogeezer]

---

@RDPetruska wrote:

Where are you reading this?  VMware has never EOL'd a product before the next major version has been released and out for a while.

---

The default lifecycle policy (EOL date) for VMware's desktop virtualization products is 15 months after release of the major version. They will extend that from time to time (for example, the EOL date of Workstation 17 is 2024-11-17 and I believe that's because of the release of 17.5).

Here's the info from the product lifecycle matrix

[mark-reijerkerk]

Hey Technogeezer,

I am using it as a single developer for Public Domain, I work for forty years with computing.

First I wanted to upgrade my existing license, which I bought too. That was an hacked license they sad, I told them where I bought them and they did not even care. The 17 rel. you can now buy on that site, so user protection or even there own name does not seem to bother them.

That matrix I found 7 months after I bought the license, and I was not amused!

It is indeed not BroadCom, since I already filed a complaint for the EOL track 7 months after I bought is, my excuses for that one.

Support however, is unforgettable, just let a bot do the work, with no option to get human support, that is in my opinion not a solution that should exist. If the bot can't handle the question it directs you to the Communities, that is not an escalation traject.

To say that they can't use the VX from Intel is not true, after bcdedit /set hypervisorlaunchtype off the VX from Intel is free, you can claim as many P cores as the processor has you want.

That support option does not hold stand, the support for a bought license as consumer is in al software the same, minimal one year, they can write in their policy what they want, consumer protection is above their policy, since I bought a home license I have my right as consumer, not as a business.

Regards, Mark

[Technogeezer]

---

@mark-reijerkerk wrote:

Hey Technogeezer,

Support however, is unforgettable, just let a bot do the work, with no option to get human support, that is in my opinion not a solution that should exist. If the bot can't handle the question it directs you to the Communities, that is not an escalation traject.

To say that they can't use the VX from Intel is not true, after bcdedit /set hypervisorlaunchtype off the VX from Intel is free, you can claim as many P cores as the processor has you want.

That support option does not hold stand, the support for a bought license as consumer is in al software the same, minimal one year, they can write in their policy what they want, consumer protection is above their policy, since I bought a home license I have my right as consumer, not as a business.

Regards, Mark

---

That's something we can both agree on. They need to find a way so that things we talk about here get put into the queue and fixed instead of what appears to be "silently ignored" under the excuse of "this is a user-to-user forum". 

[degvm]

https://williamlam.com/2023/11/heads-up-performance-impact-with-vmware-workstation-on-windows-11-wit...


William LAM explained the details behind that stuff, great article to read.