Specifications

CHAPTER 10 Performance Tuning for Virtual Machines
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performance for some functions. You can install VMware Tools by choosing VM >
Install VMware Tools.
DMA Mode for IDE Disks
Windows 95 OSR2 and higher (including Windows 98) can use direct memory access
(DMA) for faster IDE hard disk access. However, DMA may not be enabled by default.
You can turn on DMA access using the guest operating system’s Device Manager.
1. Right-click My Computer and choose Properties from the pop-up menu.
2. Click the + sign beside Disk Drives to show your virtual machine’s individual
drives.
3. Right-click the entry for each IDE drive to open its Properties dialog box.
4. Under Settings, check the box labeled DMA and accept any warning Windows
displays.
5. Restart the Windows guest 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 Virtual Machine Console toolbar.
Swap File Usage
In your system.ini file, in the [386enh] section, add the following line:
ConservativeSwapFileUsage=1
Disconnect CD-ROM
Using the Removable Devices submenu, disconnect your CD-ROM drive if you do not
need to use it. Disconnecting the CD-ROM drive reduces processor usage.
Visual Effects
Windows 98 has a number of visual effects, designed to be attractive, that place
unnecessary demands on the graphics emulation in GSX Server. 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 deselect the
Animate windows, menus, and lists check box.
Also, if Show window contents while dragging is checked, try deselecting that check
box.