VMware Workstation 7 - 100% CPU

[Zoom7000]

I'm trying to install XP SP3 on a new VM I created. My specs are as follows:

Toshiba Qosmio F50-10z
Intel Core2Duo P8400 2.26Ghz
4Gb RAM
500Gb HDD
nVidia GeForce 9600M GT
Windows 7 x64

The VM I am creating is:

1 CPU (2 Cores)
2Gb RAM (Shared)
80Gb HDD (Dynamic)
Windows XP SP3

All I am trying to do is install Windows XP, but it's taking forever, and my host PC CPU is at 100%. Any reason why it should be killing my CPU?

[Richbrown]

Hey there.

as you are using a core2duo (with 2 cores) try configuring the VM to use 1 core and see if this helps.

alternatively look at Sun virtual box or Dare i say it Ms Virtual pc (Both free)

Hope this helps a little

[DMcCoy]

Because windows install doesn't issue the halt command to the CPU so it stays at 100%.

[DMcCoy]

Oh and don't assign 2 vCPUs to a VM if you only have 2 cores on the machine, you need a quad core for that really, or at minumum 2 + HT.

[Zoom7000]

Right, changing it to use 1 core did relieve the 100% CPU usage, bringing it down to around the 50-60% mark. However, Microsoft Security Essentials on the VM was using 100% CPU constantly. No idea why. I uninstalled it and it seems OK for the time being. Not sure why MSE was completely killing my brand new clean VM.

[bewlay51]

Check what is running on the host machine. My host machine run's very little and most of my virtual machines run at very low CPU rate. Also make sure you only dedicate one CPU and dont leave your host machine short of memory.