Virtual PC 2007 Performance Tweaks
Going For The One…
I’ve been head-down working on closing out Q4 CRM deals here in the UK, but wanted to share a couple of tweaks that have made a small improvement to the speed of my demos running on Virtual PC 2007.
1. Prevent your PC from entering a low power state
Some laptops will slow down performance of their CPUs and putting them into low power modes resulting in poor Virtual PC performance. Here are instructions on how to maximise CPU utilization to ensure that the laptop doesn't go into low power mode.
- Stop Virtual PC
- Using notepad, edit the file %appdata%\Microsoft\Virtual PC\options.xml
- Locate the <virtual_machines> section of the file and add the key <enable_idle_thread type="boolean">true</enable_idle_thread>
- Save the file and re-start Virtual PC
Virtual PC will now prevent the CPU from entering low power mode, however the downside is that it will drain you battery far quicker.
2. Apply the Virtual PC 2007 SP1 Hotfix Rollup.
Like most people I have been running what I thought was the most up to date version of Virtual PC (v6.0.192.0) - Microsoft Virtual PC 2007 SP1. However, I recently discovered a hotfix rollup was released in February 2009 which provides additional performance and stability fixes - Virtual PC 2007 Service Pack 1 Hotfix Rollup.
Because this hotfix rollup changes the Virtual PC version (v6.0.210.0), you have to make sure that you fully shut down your virtual machines instead of just saving state, otherwise you won’t be able to re-start them.
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.