The other day, I created a Windows 2008 VM and installed VMware Tools on it. One thing I noticed upon reboot was that the console was extremely sluggish. Upon thinking about it, I realized that unlike in Windows 2003 VMware Tools did not prompt me to adjust the hardware acceleration for the display. As such, I decided to check and ensure it was properly set to full. As I expected, it was not. Upon setting it to full and rebooting the VM the console became much more responsive. (As a side note, if you want to adjust the hardware acceleration and have it take effect without rebooting the VM, change the resolution or the colors before adjusting the hardware acceleration, but do not apply the changes. Next, set the hardware acceleration to full and apply the changes. Finally, you can revert the resolution or colors back to the default setting. Once completed, you should notice the console is much more responsive without rebooting the VM, though you are still prompted to do so.)
I would be remissed if I did not also mention that you should also ensure the “VMware SVGA II” driver is being used. If you see “Standard VGA Display”, go to the properties of the device and select “Update Drive…”.
© 2010, Steve Flanders. All rights reserved.
