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Windows 9x Guest Operating
System Performance Tips
This document offers advice for configuring a Windows 95 or Windows 98 guest
operating system for better performance inside a virtual machine.
Note: This document pertains to the guest operating system that
is running inside a virtual machine. It does not describe actions that should
be taken on the host.
- Guest operating system selection
Make certain you have selected the correct guest operating system
in the Configuration Editor (Settings > Configuration Editor >
Guest OS).
- VMware Tools
Make certain VMware Tools is installed. VMware Tools provides an optimized
SVGA driver and sets up the VMware Tools applet to run automatically when
the system starts. Among other things, the VMware Tools applet allows you
to synchronize the virtual machine's clock with the host computer's clock,
which can improve performance for some functions. You can install VMware
Tools by choosing Settings > VMware Tools Install….
- DMA mode for IDE disks
Windows 95 OSR2 and later (including Windows 98) can use direct memory
access (DMA) for faster access to IDE hard disks. However, this feature
may not be enabled by default.
You can turn on DMA access using the Device Manager. Right-click My
Computer and choose Properties from the pop-up menu. Click the + sign
beside Disk Drives to show your virtual machine's individual drives.
Right-click the entry for each IDE drive to bring up its properties
dialog. Under Settings, check the box labelled DMA and accept any warning
Windows displays. Restart Windows for the new settings to take effect.
- Full-screen mode
Run your virtual machine in full-screen mode. Click the Full-Screen
button on the VMware Workstation toolbar.
- Swap file usage
In your system.ini file, in the [386enh] section,
add the following line:
ConservativeSwapFileUsage=1
- Disconnect CD-ROM, /dev/rtc
Using the Devices menu, disconnect your CD-ROM drive if you do not
need to use it. If you are using a Linux host, also disconnect
/dev/rtc. Disconnecting these devices will reduce CPU usage.
Note: The time synchronization feature in VMware Tools does not
rely on /dev/rtc.
- Visual effects
Windows 98 has a number of visual effects, designed to be
attractive, that place unnecessary demands on the graphics
emulation in VMware Workstation. Some users have seen performance improvements
when they turn off these special effects.
To modify these settings, right-click on the desktop of your virtual
machine, then select Properties from the pop-up menu. Click the
Effects tab and uncheck the item labelled "Animate windows,
menus, and lists." Also, if you have "Show window contents while
dragging" checked, try unchecking that item.
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