VM running slow

[GTP]

I have a client with a computer running Ubuntu 18.04 LTS (host) with Windows 7 Home Premium running as a guest in Virtualbox.

The VM started running very slowly about a month ago. (Meltdown/Spectre updates?)

The host has the gumbo to run the guest.
6th Gen Core i5, 16GB ram 1 TB HDD.

Guest gets 2 Cores, 8GB Ram and 250GB of HDD space.

Win 7 runs accounting software only. (his version of the software is not supported with higher versions of Windows).

I've backed up and recreated the guest but the problem persists.
Any ideas?
Also he asked about upgrading to Win 10.
He is prepared to shell out for a version of the accounting software for Win 10, which leads me to ask a second question.

Can I upgrade this virtualised OS to Windows 10 or will It be in contravention of MS licensing?

TIA

 

[Slaters Kustum Machines]

Have you tested the speed/health of the host HDD? Are there any other virtual machines running? Is there a need to run this virtualized? As long as you have the Windows 7 key to enter it should still update to Windows 10 just fine. I am not sure with Virtualbox, but I know with Hyper-V and ESXi you can view host/VM performance stats. Might be worth seeing if that is available.

 

[GTP]

Yeah, host drive is fine. No other VM's.
Needs to be virtualised because his accounting software wont run on Ubuntu.
I could dual boot I suppose... but then he leaves the VB window open but minimised for convenience.
He uses Ubuntu for everything else.
Not a lot of "performance stats" in VB I'm afraid.

 

[NJW]

Have a play with the VM's System settings and make sure that the CPU virtualisation is enabled in the BIOS. Try running a copy of his VM on a different host to see if that points to a host problem or a VM problem.

Was the VM a clean install or a P2V conversion? The only time I had really poor VM performance was with a virtualised older Windows installation (that was running essential, obsolete software).

 

[GTP]

Have a play with the VM's System settings and make sure that the CPU virtualisation is enabled in the BIOS.

Was the VM a clean install or a P2V conversion?

Virtualisation is on in the BIOS. I'll have a play with the setting when I go back tomorrow.
It was a P2V conversion.

 

[NJW]

It was a P2V conversion.

I'll bet there's an install choice that Windows made which isn't playing well in the virtualised environment. I don't know if it can be (easily) rescued. A clean install is probably your best bet.

Just set up a second VM with a clean Win7 and see if that's any better (I bet it is).

 

[GTP]

If that works it will be a simple fix. There's nothing but the accounting software on it so I'll back it up (the accounting software) and transfer.

 

[MDD1963]

They might get better performance via QEMU-KVM virtualization with VMM vice using Virtual Box (which might have restrictions from business use anyway?)

 

[Moltuae]

Is the 1TB HDD shared with the host? Check disk I/O utilization if it is. Either way, I'd stick a 250GB SSD in there, exclusively for the VM.

 

[GTP]

They might get better performance via QEMU-KVM virtualization with VMM vice using Virtual Box (which might have restrictions from business use anyway?)

System was working great till about a month ago. Don't want to get too complicated.

 

[GTP]

Is the 1TB HDD shared with the host? Check disk I/O utilization if it is. Either way, I'd stick a 250GB SSD in there, exclusively for the VM.

Thanks, I'll check the disk i/o tomorrow. I already proposed an SSD. He said (quite emphatically) no!

 

[Moltuae]

Thanks, I'll check the disk i/o tomorrow. I already proposed an SSD. He said (quite emphatically) no!

Do you have a suitable SSD in stock? I think I'd be tempted to connect one up just to demonstrate the performance difference. It shouldn't take more than a few minutes to hook it up to a spare SATA port, copy the VM over and fire it up. My guess is he'll change his mind once he's seen the VM running on an SSD.

 

[GTP]

Thanks all, solved the problem with @NJW 's advice.
Created a new VM and just transferred everything over.
Quick and easy.
All good now!