Slow performance of shared folders XP guest

I have also found the same performance problems with Shared Folders (Ubuntu host, XP guest). It is not only opening files, but also saving (or autosave). My PC has Duo Core CPU + 2 Gb RAM, so don't think it's hardware resources.

The performance issue is causing other users (other PCs) to bypass Ubuntu and use XP directly via dual-boot, which defeats trying to increase security by minimising use of Windows.

I have the shared data area as entire partition rather than a folder. Will raw disk access be better in such a case? Thanks!

This is discussed on the forum, http://forums.virtualbox.org/viewtopic.php?p=33519

I can add that this is also an issue with VB 1.6.4 with the related version of Guest Additions.

On a hunch, I tcpdump'd my tun/tap interface while using shared folders. I see sporadic packets trying to resolve "VBOXSVR" over NMB/SMB:

tcpdump: listening on vbox1, link-type EN10MB (Ethernet), capture size 96 bytes
22:48:07.887550 IP (tos 0x0, ttl 128, id 791, offset 0, flags [none], proto UDP (17), length 78) 192.168.129.1.netbios-ns > 192.168.129.255.netbios-ns: [udp sum ok] 
>>> NBT UDP PACKET(137): QUERY; REQUEST; BROADCAST
TrnID=0x802F
OpCode=0
NmFlags=0x11
Rcode=0
QueryCount=1
AnswerCount=0
AuthorityCount=0
AddressRecCount=0
QuestionRecords:
Name=VBOXSVR         NameType=0x20 (Server)
QuestionType=0x20
QuestionClass=0x1

So I'm guessing the problem is that windows thinks 'vboxsvr' is / might be a NetBIOS name, and waits for the resolution to fail before passing the request on to the shared folder driver?

I've just checked the "Provider Order" settings in Windows, and Shared Folders is already at the top of the list, so that can't be the problem.

Disabling NetBIOS over TCP/IP seems to be an effective workaround, albeit a bit of a brutal one. The bogus look-ups stop and the stalls accessing the shared folders seem to go away.

That workaround works for me too. I disabled NetBIOS over TCP/IP and the delays are gone.

Marked #2256 as a duplicate.

After disabling NetBIOS over TCP/IP, none of my computers show up when I do a Network Neighborhood browse.

This problem was reported three months ago ... is there a fix in the works?

Replying to pablo:

After disabling NetBIOS over TCP/IP, none of my computers show up when I do a Network Neighborhood browse.

Uh, yeah, because you've basically disabled Windows networking altogether - I did say it was a brutal solution!

Replying to pablo:

This problem was reported three months ago ... is there a fix in the works?

The alternative of course is just to use samba on the host, and share the folders through that, like you did for your test in #2256. It's not a convenient solution for inexpert end-users, though ..

Replying to steved424:

Replying to pablo:

This problem was reported three months ago ... is there a fix in the works?

The alternative of course is just to use samba on the host, and share the folders through that, like you did for your test in #2256. It's not a convenient solution for inexpert end-users, though ..

The proposed solution doesn't work when using a laptop on a plane. There's no interface available. I did try using `lo' with samba but it didn't work. Perhaps I missed something obvious?

As for the `brutal solution' :) ... indeed ... brutal. heh heh.

I'm curious why Sun hasn't chimed in on a fix since it was broken back when 1.5.6 was released. Hmmm.

Ah, you're using NAT mode? I tend to run with "host interface networking", but don't bridge the interface to my real network, so I've got a fully functional private network between the host and guest. Still .. I would expect it to be possible to make NAT mode work with samba running on the loopback interface - is samba listening on it (netstat -tl)?

But yes, I would have thought that with an apparent regression in a fairly important feature it would be worth trying to find the culprit changeset. One of the vbox guys did chime in on the forum thread (which I've just read) at one point, so presumably the issue is being given some thought ..

Hi Steve,

Yes I run NAT mode because it's on my laptop. On my laptop, if I'm on a plane I turn off all wireless devices in order to conserve juice. Also, I don't believe wireless devices support bridging; perhaps they do now. I think a few months back madwifi was offering some experimental support.

I'll see if I can get samba to listen on localhost again. I'm in the middle of a tomato implementation.

Replying to pablo:

Yes I run NAT mode because it's on my laptop. On my laptop, if I'm on a plane I turn off all wireless devices in order to conserve juice. Also, I don't believe wireless devices support bridging; perhaps they do now. I think a few months back madwifi was offering some experimental support.

My point was you don't actually need a real interface, or bridging, even in "host interface mode." There's a package called "uml-utilities" (on Ubuntu, at least) that includes "tunctl", which allows the creation of TUN/TAP interfaces, then you can just ifconfig the host side with an IP. Alternatively I think VBoxAddIF will also do this.

Anyway, to get back on topic, here's a suggestion to the devs for an ugly hack: catch the name lookups in the network emulation code and fake a reply of some sort - does NetBIOS support negative responses?

You can't create a tunnel on a wireless device.

I'm not using the OSS version ... I'd really like for Sun to fix what they broke. :p

Shared folders network provider dll for VBox 2.0.x (experimental fix for large delays when opening files)

Please try the attached network provider dll. It fixes the problem here with MS Office applications.

To install: boot the guest to the safe mode with command prompt. Then copy the new VBoxMRXNP.dll to windows\system32 and reboot the guest.

Thanks!

Hi,

Thank you sunlover. I'm a bit wary on installing software when I don't have a valid sun/virtualbox.org e-mail associated with it.

Would it be possible sunlover to e-mail me (pablo blueoakdb.com) a quick `hey' to confirm yourself? :) Sorry about being paranoid.

pablo, your E-mail address is not set in the trac database so sunlover cannot send an E-mail to you. I can confirm that sunlover is a Sun staff member as I am. If you have any doubts please give me a short note to frank _dot_ mehnert _at_ sun _dot_ com and I will reply you immediately. It would be nice if you could verify if this version works for you.

Hi Frank and Sunlover,

First off, thank you for your patience. Second, thank you for the quick turn-around on making an experimental fix available.

I just tested it and it works wonderfully well.

Also, my e-mail address wasn't set in the Trac system initially (I'm not sure why) but when I discovered it last week, I set it.

Please try the attached network provider dll. It fixes the problem here with MS Office applications.

Doesn't seem to help with stalls while browsing files with Windows Explorer, though. I'm still seeing them (~5 secs every 30-45 secs), and I'm still seeing bogus NetBIOS lookups for "VBOXSVR" going out over the network.

Hi all, I've just done a quick check - Word, Excel, Quickbooks (XP guest, Ubuntu 8.04, VB 2.0.2) - and the files seem to open and save MUCH faster. I'll have a better picture when I work with the larger files, but so far it looks good. Thank you for the fixes and tips!!!

Yep, the new VBoxMRXNP.dll fixed it here as well.

Kubuntu 8.04, AMD64 Windows XP SP3.

Thanks! Will this eventually find its way into the guest additions?

Sure, the next version of VirtualBox will contain the fix.

After further testing, it seems the problem with slow file access operations is not completely fixed by this new dll. When saving a document with MS Word, if there are several levels of directory to open to get to the final directory in the \\vboxsvr shared folder where a file is to be saved, the operation slows down after traversing the first level in the directory hierarchy.

In my case, overwriting VBoxVRXNP.dll and restarting Windows does not change anything. I still get a long 10 second delays before it access the share.. I'm currently using guest additions 1.5.6 which does not have this problem.

In my case (Ubuntu Hardy Heron (Linux 2.6.24-21-generic) host, Windows XP client) overwriting VBoxVRXNP.dll breaks the installation: XP gets to the Welcome screen, and then the window crashes. Reinstallation of the guest-additions gets me back to where a started from. Is the dll file not valid for the latest Ubuntu kernel (this may be a silly question - know little about these things)? I ask this as I had to reinstall Virtualbox earlier after my linux kernel had been updated.

Please update to 2.0.4 (the guest additions as well!), reopen if necessary.

*Much* faster now, thanks!

--Doug

That did the trick. And all these reinstalls etc have left my Windows XP 'machine' intact. This forum is great - also got the sound to work after some searching. Thanks!

Johan

The last update (1.6.4) with guest additions does not fix anything for me. Each time that the computer boot and that I try to access //vboxsvr/share, it takes exactly 15 seconds to open. Once it has been opened, it opens without any delay, until the computer is rebooted.

Note : Last guest addition that works correctly is 1.5.6

From your post, it's unclear whether you're trying the latest MR: 2.0.4

Have you tried it? Same problem?

I'm sorry, I wrote 1.6.4, but I mean 2.0.4. Yes I tested this version with guest additions. My Windows XP installation does not have this problem with 1.5.6 and when I update to 2.0.4, the problem appears.

oxmosys, please could you attach the VBox.log file from that session?

Sure, attached.

FWIW, I am running a Kubuntu 8.04 host on an AMD 64 with XP guest, and the performance issues shared folder access with VB 2.04 have been completely fixed.

I've attached my log as well for comparison. I notice that oxmosys is running a newer kernel than me.

--Doug

Since everybody except me confirms that this bug has been fixed, I'm probably getting another bug, so I re-open ticket #2076

So I will close this one.

I recommend that this bug be reopened. After extensive testing, I conclude that there is still a problem with how VirtualBox accesses shared \\vboxsvr folders.

Here's a scenario that can be used to repeatedly reproduce the buggy behavior:

Using Microsoft Word or Powerpoint, open a file. Put something in it. Select File->Save As, and choose a directory that is several layers deep in a \\vboxsvr shared folder. It takes about 45 seconds to a minute to open each subsequent subdirectory location to eventually arrive at the desired "Save To" directory.

The same performance issue can be experienced when inserting an image into a Powerpoint file, where the image file is several directories down inside a \\vboxsvr shared folder. Navigating to the desired subdirectory takes an inordinate length of time.

I am using VirtualBox 2.0.4, Linux Kubuntu 8.04 host, Windows XP SP3 guest on an AMD64 machine.

--Doug

Same issue one one of our systems. STILL

cornbread, please attach the VBox.log file of such a WinXP session.

I'm running VirtualBox 2.0.6 with a GNU/Linux host (Gentoo) and a Windows XP SP3 guest. Attempting to view the shared folders causes explorer to hang for a rather lengthy period. The NetBIOS workaround appears not to be working, although completely disabling the virtual network adapter and restarting the VM lets them work correctly. I can attach a VBox.log if desired, someone will need to point me in the right direction as to how to create an attachment here, however. That's if there is a separate method for attaching files, otherwise I can just dump it somewhere and link back.

VirtualBox 2.1.0 contains another fix for shared folders of Windows guests. Please could you check if this fix works for you (upgrade the guest additions)?

I'd be happy to, can I use the 2.1.0 Guest Additions with 2.0.6, or will I need to upgrade VirtualBox completely? If I can, where can I find the Guest Additions iso for download separate to the full download?

Ubuntu 8.10 VBox 2.1.0 Guest additions 2.1.0r41146 Problem still there for me - fixed by disabling netbios over tcpip. Had I not found this page I'd have given up on VB!

I'm also seeing this behavior on 2.1.0 and WinXP SP3.

Howdy,

I'm seeing the slowness as well on 2.1.0 with the 2.1.0r41146 Guest Additions.

Host O/S: openSUSE 11.1 Guest O/S: Win XP SP3

Oddly enough, if I add vboxsvr to the localhost line in %windir%\system32\drivers\etc\hosts the problem goes away for me. Eg: my changed line looks like this:

127.0.0.1 localhost vboxsvr

Thus, this appears to me to be a networking-related issue.

Appending vboxsrv to the hosts line also fixes the issue for me on VBox 2.0.6.

vboxsrv to `hosts' fixes the issue for me on VBox 2.1.

Guest O/S: Win XP Host O/S: openSUSE 11.1

kronenpj - good show!

Thanks for your reports. We have reproduced the problem. However I can't promise a quick fix. (BTW, this is actually the same problem as http://www.virtualbox.org/ticket/2076 )

Why not just poke 'vboxsver' into 'hosts' as part of the guest additions installation?

BTW, the fix works for me too.

--Doug

I have applied the workaround suggested by kronenpj (include "127.0.0.1 localhost vboxsvr" in Windows hosts file) and it improved performance a lot. Thanks, kronenpj. However folder sharing is still appreciably slower than explicit Samba sharing of the same folders. I'm running XP SP3 guest on VirtualBox 2.1 on Ubuntu 8.04.1.

I have tested this bug with the new VirtualBox 2.1.2 and it continue happens.

I have a Windows XP SP3 guest running in a Windows XP SP2 host. The access to host share folders from the guest is very slow.

The network adapted used by the guest is a PCnet-FastIII running as host interface (Broadcom NetXtreme? 57xx Gigabit Controller).

I don't know if this is a fix or not because I have tried several combinations of the suggestions above, but I added the VBOXSVR to the host file initially without any speed improvement. I then deleted the share folder from my network places and instead of adding it with network places wizard or the command line I used the map network drive in the tools dropdown in windows explorer and it seems to be working fine now. I tried it both ways and mapping definately works much faster than the other method. I put a shortcut on my XP desktop and it opens very fast.

When I use one of the INTEL Pro/1000 NICs, there's a huge delay in everything involving the network shares via "vboxsvr" (unusable slow!). When I use one of the PCNet NICs, it's blazingly fast. Host: ubuntu 8.10 Guest: XP SP2

If you need more information (driver details, logs, etc), I would be happy to post them.

Any change with 2.1.4?

Replying to frank:

Any change with 2.1.4?

I have upgraded to 2.1.4 and it still takes a long time when browsing vboxsrv folders.

The wierd thing is, I have previous clones of this machine, and they work totally fast.

I have virtualbox 2.1.4-42893_Ubuntu_intrepid on the host and 2.1.4r42893 on the guest (XP).

If I create a host network and add vboxsrv into hosts pointing to the guest-ip of the host network the delay is gone. Otherwise approx 10-15s every time I open a Office-document (xls, doc, vsd).

No idea if this is relevant, but I happened to be running Apache as a web proxy on my host last night, and using it from the guest. In the proxy logs I saw:

192.168.129.1 - - [02/Mar/2009:22:13:02 +0000] "PROPFIND http://vboxsvr/jennydocs HTTP/1.1" 502 501 "-" "Microsoft-WebDAV-MiniRedir/5.1.2600"
192.168.129.1 - - [02/Mar/2009:22:13:02 +0000] "OPTIONS http://vboxsvr/ HTTP/1.1" 502 482 "-" "Microsoft-WebDAV-MiniRedir/5.1.2600"
192.168.129.1 - - [02/Mar/2009:22:13:06 +0000] "PROPFIND http://vboxsvr/jennydocs HTTP/1.1" 502 501 "-" "Microsoft-WebDAV-MiniRedir/5.1.2600"
192.168.129.1 - - [02/Mar/2009:22:13:06 +0000] "PROPFIND http://vboxsvr/jennydocs HTTP/1.1" 502 501 "-" "Microsoft-WebDAV-MiniRedir/5.1.2600"
192.168.129.1 - - [02/Mar/2009:22:13:07 +0000] "PROPFIND http://vboxsvr/jennydocs HTTP/1.1" 502 501 "-" "Microsoft-WebDAV-MiniRedir/5.1.2600"
192.168.129.1 - - [02/Mar/2009:22:13:07 +0000] "PROPFIND http://vboxsvr/jennydocs HTTP/1.1" 502 501 "-" "Microsoft-WebDAV-MiniRedir/5.1.2600"
192.168.129.1 - - [02/Mar/2009:22:13:15 +0000] "PROPFIND http://vboxsvr/jennydocs HTTP/1.1" 502 501 "-" "Microsoft-WebDAV-MiniRedir/5.1.2600"
192.168.129.1 - - [02/Mar/2009:22:13:15 +0000] "PROPFIND http://vboxsvr/jennydocs HTTP/1.1" 502 501 "-" "Microsoft-WebDAV-MiniRedir/5.1.2600"

As far as I'm aware, I didn't do anything odd in the guest that should have triggered that. I was merely using a shared folder and running iTunes ..

VirtualBox 2.14 amd64 on Ubuntu Jaunty amd64 host, WinXP SP3 guest, Intel desktop gig-e NIC virtual iface attached to host's real Intel gig-e NIC, host is a Lenovo T500. Host and guest are both using jumbo frames (identical size). Using the Intel 13.5 NIC driver set on the guest. Access to network resources on attached real network seems normally responsive.

The only way I can access VBOXSVR is via Network Places, which takes a very, very long time to show VBOXSVR in Entire Network. Opening the one share (ext4-backed, if it matters, VM-dedicated, tried both ro and rw access) is slow to the point of uselessness. Any other attempted access is equally slow. Can't resolve VBOXSVR to an IP via ping or nslookup.

I have just started getting these symptoms too. It was working fine.

This may be a dumb question but why do shared folders go through TCP at all? Why can't they be "mounted" directly? Let the Virtual Machine settings handle permissions.

Virtualbox 2.14, latest guest additions are installed Windows XP SP3 guest, Vista32 host

I tried the localhost fix, didn't work for me I disabled netbios as recommended, worked (with obvious disadvantages)

to summarize: this problem is still there

(can't figure out how to edit previous post)

i found a site that recommended mapping the shared folder to a drive letter to make the problem (kind of) go away. that solution also worked http://blogs.sun.com/dups/entry/virtualbox_and_shared_folders

Sorry, I have implemented the last workaround proposed in previous message, but it doesn't work.

My virtual machine continues having serious performance problems with shared folders. If I copy the shared folder from the host system to the guest, the speed of access is very faster.

My host system is a Windows XP SP 2 and my guest system is a Windows XP SP 3.

I'm despaired with this bug, every new version of VirtualBox still has it...

There has been another regression in versions newer than 2.1.0. They'll get it eventually when they start caring about it and making it more of a priority, currently it is "major" priority (medium). +1 for critical

Second for critical. Shared folders are utterly unusable and should be taken off the feature list until they're usable.

And another one for critical. There are obviously two major bugs. One makes the whole shared folders thing unusable (yes: remove it from the feature list) and the other one slows down opening of Office documents very much.

We are aware of the problem. Technically, this is the Windows problem with UNC name resolution algorithm. Unfortunately we do not know how to work it around properly.

How bad it is depends on the network configuration, that is how long it takes for the guest to realize that there is no VBOXSVR machine in the network.

It is recommended to do not use UNC paths for accessing shared folders (\\vboxsvr\etc). Always access shared folders via a mapped drive letter (net use z: \\vboxsvr\path).

Obviously this is not completely corect, as there are cases where also the mapping to a drive letter didn't help. I am quite sure that this problem has multiple sources.

Any other obvious explanation is welcome as well as pointers to internal Windows details about UNC handling.

Not sure if this helps, but I added vboxsvr to my lmhosts/hosts files (in WINDOWS\System32\drivers\etc) pointing back to localhost and to the vbox side of the NAT. Both ways resolved the slowness issue for me...

Replying to gusbourg:

Not sure if this helps, but I added vboxsvr to my lmhosts/hosts files (in WINDOWS\System32\drivers\etc) pointing back to localhost and to the vbox side of the NAT. Both ways resolved the slowness issue for me...

No help here, but thanks for the idea.

It is much slower on our machine in 2.2.2 than it was back in 2.0.6. Anything after 2.0.6 has this issue. Please bump this to version 2.2.2

A fix is in work but it will not make it into the next maintenance release. Solving this problem might sound trivial (just drop all changes between 2.0.6 and 2.1.0) but things are not that easy, unfortunately.

I can confirm this with VBox 3.0 on MacOsX and Windows Xp as guest. Loading the same Powerpoint presentation from desktop takes around two seconds and from shared folder around 10-20. Even worse if I exit Powerpoint, Excel or Word 2007 after opening a document from shared folder they hang. The window is gone but the process is still there which happens every time a file is opened with MS Office 2007 from shared folder. This doesn't happen if I open a file from the virtual hard disk. The zombie processes prevents XP from shutting down properly. The general copying performance or installing of huge exe files from shared folder works fine though.

This should be fixed by VBox 4.0 or possibly 6.0. It isn't as big of an issue as all us users think, waiting 10-30 seconds to open a document won't kill us... :P

As I already said, the problem is not that easy to solve.

At least on MacOsX you can't really use it for Office 2007 because all instances hang on exit. After some time you have many office instances running which eating your mem and prevent XP form shutting down properly. Of course you can workaround it.

I have the same slow performance problem. My Virutalbox is 2.1.4_OSE. The host is Ubuntu904, the guest is WindowsXP ServicePack?3. My solution is "disable the below 2 services in windows": 1.TCP/IP NetBIOS Helper 2.WebClient? Remember to set them be 'manual start'.

@bob.yang: Interesting, I presume the "WebClient?" service is something to do with WebDAV? That would explain the log messages I reported seeing earlier in this thread (2009-03-03 10:53:02)..

@bob.yang Thanks man. Your workaround fixed the hanging of Office 2007 on my MacOsX Host. Opening the files is still extremely slow in MS Office but at least it doesn't freeze anymore

might be related to my other issue I posted recently: #4728

Replying to gusbourg:

Not sure if this helps, but I added vboxsvr to my lmhosts/hosts files (in WINDOWS\System32\drivers\etc) pointing back to localhost and to the vbox side of the NAT. Both ways resolved the slowness issue for me...

@gusbourg: can you give details of the exact changes you made?

Thanks.

Applying the local host modification proposed here: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1266909&page=2 improved significantly speed of opening files located in shared folders.

OS host=Ubuntu 9.04 64-bit, guest=Windows XP SP3 VirtualBox 3.08 PUEL

FYI, the host file mod linked to by VladimirCZ above doesn't work for me: OS X host, vista x64 guest, vbox 3.10.

I have this same problem. See ticket 5353 which was ruled a duplicate.

Things I tried (and didn't work) include:
* upgrading to 3.0.10 guest additions
* adding vboxsvr to hosts file
* disabling netbios on the adapter
* accessing via UNC path instead of mapped drive letter

I benchmarked XP vs Win 7 on vboxsvr. The problem is much worse for Win 7. SMB access is still the fastest.

tcdumps are included in my ticket of NETBIOS & DNS traffic attempting to resolve vboxsvr.

OS=Ubuntu 9.04 32 bit, guest=Windows 7