Windows 7 Lazy redraws in XP VM on W7 host

[d8000]

I'm running a Win7 Pro x64 host on a fast machine with 16GB of memory, so I'm not suspecting the host.

The guest VM is an XPsp3 with 3GB of memory assigned to it.

I'm using Win 7's Virtual PC (not "XP Mode", this was an old VM I brought along from my old PC) to run this VM. I don't have the integration features enabled (because I don't like rdpclip.exe using 99% of CPU).

Any suggestions as to why I'd see redraw issues on this VM? As I move the mouse cursor over certain areas of the screen, I'll get a black rectangle appear for a fraction of a second there and then the background will redraw. Sometimes I'll look at my quicklaunch toolbar and see that half of the icons aren't there. They'll re-appear when I mouse over them (one by one). Also sometimes I'll see a square that didn't redraw properly. Maybe an icon on an app's toolbar that's distorted.

Neither the host or the VM are lacking in memory or CPU power.

It's almost as if I'm controlling it via VNC, where you often get these kind of redraw issues, but you kind of accept that with VNC.

 

[d8000]

Here's an example. Notice the black rectangles and how the systray icons are smeared. If I were to move the mouse cursor over those areas, they'd re-render properly. If I do nothing, they'll stay like that.

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[d8000]

This forum's really quiet. Guess I made the wrong Win 7 forum choice. Anyway, I resolved it by reducing the hardware acceleration in the VM by 1. Edit: Make that by 2, I needed one more reduction level of acceleration.

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[Joe S]

There aren't that many here using virtual PCs here. I used to use the Windows VM but always found them on the doggy side. Have you tried other free ones like VMware Player Link Removed or VirtualBox VirtualBox ? Something you might find useful is Go Virtual Link Removed You will probably be able to use the existing VM and convert it for the others
Joe

 

[d8000]

There aren't that many here using virtual PCs here. I used to use the Windows VM but always found them on the doggy side. Have you tried other free ones like VMware Player Link Removed or VirtualBox VirtualBox ? Something you might find useful is Go Virtual Link Removed You will probably be able to use the existing VM and convert it for the others
Joe

.
Downloading VMWare now. I haven't tried it since about 2006, at which time I decided I liked Virtual PC more (can't remember why).

I hope they still have a VHD -> VMWare converter.

 

[d8000]

Very disappointed with VMWare experience (again). Converting VHD files to a working VMWare virtual machine is a process that the VMWare player doesn't know anything about. There's a converter on the vmware website but it's so out of date it doesn't even understand Vista, never mind Win 7. I found some third party converters (e.g. WinImage) but they just produce a .vmdk file, no .vmx file. So I ended up having to create a brand new VMWare VM and choosing not to install an OS. Then I copied the converted vmdk file over and thought it would work. It didn't. Maybe brand new VMs with VMWare work great, but the migration process is a joke. Uninstalled it.

I'll stick with Virtual PC (again).

 

[Joe S]

I've used the Go Virtual to copy desktop tp VM. I don't know about converting a VM to different format.
Joe