ThisWorldAndI

I've noticed that out of multiple VMs with different Windows OSs, Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2008 R2 seem to always experience display performance issues (slow and choppy mouse reaction time), even when the VMware Tools have been installed as recommended. I finally had some time to troubleshoot these VMs and figure out why these OSs seem to have poor performance via the vSphere Client Console connection.

With Windows Server 2008: I've noticed that installing the VMware Tools does not prompt you to increase the Hardware Acceleration. After checking the Hardware Acceleration and noticing that it had not been increased, I changed the setting for 'Full' Hardware Acceleration, and the display performance issues were resolved.

With Windows Server 2008 R2: The Hardware Acceleration does seem to be utilizing the 'Full' setting after the VMware Tools are installed but the VM (in vSphere Console) still suffers from the poor display performance. After doing some research, I found a VMware KB article that explains the cause and resolution: http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd...

SOLUTION:

The supplied SVGA driver from VMware Tools is a legacy Windows driver that is not supported on Windows Server 2008 R2. To correct the issue:

• Shutdown the VM and edit the settings of the VM (right-click vm, then click 'Edit settings...')
• Select 'Video card' under the 'Hardware' tab, and make sure the 'Auto-detect video settings' option is selected in the 'Display Memory' section. Click 'Ok' and start the VM.
• In the VM, open the device manager and update the driver software for the current video card. Choose the 'Browse my computer for driver software' option, and select the driver from C:\Program Files\Common Files\VMware\Drivers\wddm_video
• Install the updated driver and restart the VM.