Slow Performance Under Virtualbox

Questions about Grub, the liveCD and the installer
Forum rules
Before you post read how to get help. Topics in this forum are automatically closed 6 months after creation.
Locked
supertallrich

Slow Performance Under Virtualbox

Post by supertallrich »

I've installed LMDE3 as a guest OS under VirtualBox 5.2.20 on a Windows 10 Host.

With software rendering, it's very laggy. After installing the Guest Additions on the Linux guest so that it uses hardware rendering, performance improves but it is still quite laggy, to the point of being too detracting to use.

Computers Specs are decent enough: i-7 4770K, 16 GB RAM, SSD, NVidia GTX 1070.

VM gets 4/8 CPUs, 8 GB RAM, 128 GB Video memory w/3D acceleration. Cinnamon just runs like a dog under VirtualBox. I installed XFCE4 from the repos and it is much more usable.

Anyone else finding LMDE3 unusable under VirtualBox?
Last edited by LockBot on Wed Dec 28, 2022 7:16 am, edited 2 times in total.
Reason: Topic automatically closed 6 months after creation. New replies are no longer allowed.
mediclaser
Level 4
Level 4
Posts: 490
Joined: Tue Mar 20, 2018 2:28 pm

Re: Slow Performance Under Virtualbox

Post by mediclaser »

Recently, I only use VirtualBox to see what features are present and how intuitive the GUI is in a particular distro. If I want to see how the distro perform, I install it in my multiboot machine. VirtualBox does not give you the whole truth about the Linux distros, especially their performance.
If you're looking for a greener Linux pasture, you won't find any that is greener than Linux Mint. ;)
ajgringo619

Re: Slow Performance Under Virtualbox

Post by ajgringo619 »

supertallrich wrote: Fri Nov 02, 2018 6:26 pm I've installed LMDE3 as a guest OS under VirtualBox 5.2.20 on a Windows 10 Host.

With software rendering, it's very laggy. After installing the Guest Additions on the Linux guest, performance improves but it is still quite laggy, to the point of being too detracting to use.

Computers Specs are decent enough: i-7 4770K, 16 GB RAM, SSD, NVidia GTX 1070.

VM gets 4/8 CPUs, 8 GB RAM, 128 GB Video memory w/3D acceleration. Cinnamon just runs like a dog under VirtualBox. I installed XFCE4 from the repos and it is much more usable.

Anyone else finding LMDE3 unusable under VirtualBox?
Why are you using Software Rendering??? Are you being forced to, by chance?

I have an LMDE3 VM and it runs great; actually boots faster than my host machine (Mint 19 XFCE). While I agree that XFCE is less resource-intensive than
Cinnamon, it could be an issue with the host. My system has very similar specs to yours - see my signature - and all of my Linux VMs runs just fine (Fedora 29, Xubuntu 18.10, LMDE3).
User avatar
catweazel
Level 19
Level 19
Posts: 9763
Joined: Fri Oct 12, 2012 9:44 pm
Location: Australian Antarctic Territory

Re: Slow Performance Under Virtualbox

Post by catweazel »

supertallrich wrote: Fri Nov 02, 2018 6:26 pm Computers Specs are decent enough: i-7 4770K, 16 GB RAM, SSD, NVidia GTX 1070.
Did you enable Intel VT-x in BIOS?
"There is, ultimately, only one truth -- cogito, ergo sum -- everything else is an assumption." - Me, my swansong.
supertallrich

Re: Slow Performance Under Virtualbox

Post by supertallrich »

ajgringo619 wrote: Fri Nov 02, 2018 9:25 pm Why are you using Software Rendering??? Are you being forced to, by chance?
I should have been more clear, once I installed the VirtualBox Guest Additions and restarted it was no longer using software rendering. I expected performance to go up using hardware, but it was still noticeably laggy. I'll update my post.
supertallrich

Re: Slow Performance Under Virtualbox

Post by supertallrich »

catweazel wrote: Fri Nov 02, 2018 10:09 pm Did you enable Intel VT-x in BIOS?
It is indeed enabled.
User avatar
smurphos
Level 18
Level 18
Posts: 8501
Joined: Fri Sep 05, 2014 12:18 am
Location: Irish Brit in Portugal
Contact:

Re: Slow Performance Under Virtualbox

Post by smurphos »

What does inxi -G say in the guest system?

Here is one from LMDE3 on Vbox 5.2.20 r125813 (Qt5.9.5). Host is Mint 19 Cinnamon, Intel 2nd generation integrated graphics.

Code: Select all

Graphics:  Card: InnoTek Systemberatung VirtualBox Graphics Adapter
           bus-ID: 00:02.0
           Display Server: X.Org 1.19.2 drivers: modesetting (unloaded: fbdev,vesa)
           Resolution: 1360x768@59.80hz
           GLX Renderer: Chromium
           GLX Version: 2.1 Chromium 1.9 Direct Rendering: Yes
It's not as responsive as the host system and never will be but it's perfectly usable.
For custom Nemo actions, useful scripts for the Cinnamon desktop, and Cinnamox themes visit my Github pages.
Locked

Return to “Installation & Boot”