I've researched this problem, and have found 200+ websites that have all discussed this problem, and how Workstation 6.5 networking is broken on Windows Vista x64 Host OS machines.
This problem has been discussed here:
http://communities.vmware.com/message/1191779#1191779
The problem is discussed here:
http://communities.vmware.com/message/1044985#1044985
The problem is discussed here:
"Slow network access from XP guest to Vista host"
http://communities.vmware.com/thread/151344
"Horrendously slow network connection between (Vista x64) host and guest"[http://communities.vmware.com/thread/151344|t-99579]
http://communities.vmware.com/thread/99579
I can confirm that this problem still does exist. Does VMWare plan on ever fixing it's broken product?
Some of these posts seem to date all the way back 9+ months! Some of these posts even date all the way back to August 2007! The problem still exists today, and there doesn't seem to be any solution! It seems like VMWare is sleeping on the job. The slow network transfers between guest and host is unbelievable. To transfer a 13MB file, between a Windows Vista Ultimate x64 host and a Windows Server 2008 x64 guest (using shared folders on the Windows 2008 server guest) and map the shared folder on the Windows Vista Ultimate x64 host, and then try to access the mapped folders using the host machine, and try to transfer a file between the host machine and guest (by moving a file onto the shared folder) it took 4 hours and 19 minutes to transfer a small 26MB file.
There is definitely something wrong with VMWare. When does VMWare plan on fixing it's broken product?
http://communities.vmware.com/thread/99579
Here are my system specifications (hopefully this will make sense or help the developers with debugging):
Host: Windows Vista Ultimate x64 SP1
Guest: Windows Server 2008 x64
When trying to use folder/file sharing on the Guest Windows Server x64 OS, if I try to transfer files back and forth over the Virtual network adapter on a shared folder (that is on the Guest Machine) and I try to transfer files or access shared folders (the shared folders from the Guest OS - Windows Server 2008 x64) and try to access the shared folders on the Host machine (by mapping the network share folders to the host machine) the transfer speeds between the Host
and Guest are incredibly slow (definitely broken).
My system specifications are this:
2008/2009 Apple Mac Pro with dual Quad-Core XEON 3.2Ghz processors,
32GB RAM, Vista Ultimate x64 SP1 (native boot), VMware Workstation
6.5.0 build-118166.
I have an Apple Mac Pro with dual Quad-Core XEON 3.2Ghz processors (8 cores), and 32GB of ram as my host machine, and certainly this is not a hardware performance issue with my machine being slow, or running slow. This is not a hardware issue. The problem seems to be a broken network bug in VMWare Workstation 6.5 with a Windows Vista Ultimate x64 host OS. (I have tried this on 5 other machines including a 2009 HP laptop with Windows Vista x64 and 8GB of RAM and all the machines are experiencing the same exact problem).
I'm having the same problem discussed in thse 2 older threads:
"Slow network access from XP guest to Vista host"
http://communities.vmware.com/thread/151344
"Horrendously slow network connection between (Vista x64) host and guest"
As well as what is being described by this post as well:
http://communities.vmware.com/message/1044985#1044985
I'm using VMWare Workstation 6.5.0 build-118166, and I've searched
Google, and have read hundreds of posts with uses complaining and
various hacks, but I've had no luck in resolving this issue.
It seems VMWare Workstation 6.5 is having a problem with Windows Vista Ultimate x64 SP1 host OS machines.
I've searched google and tried all the hacks mentioned including:
-- disabled IPv6
-- disabled "Receive Window Auto-Tuning Level" (netsh interface tcp set global autotuning=disabled)
-- disabled "Chimney Offload State"
-- disabled SMB 2.0
-- disabled SMB signing
-- deactived Remote Differential Compression (RDC)
-- 127.0.0.1 .host (should only relevant for Shared Folders but I put it in anyways)
None of those changes made any difference.
I don't know what is different about Windows Vista x64 (network stack?) that makes the VMnet functionality broken. But the problem is definitely with Windows Vista Ultimate x64 SP1 machines.
Any ideas how to fix this?
If I read all the other posts, it seems that everyone seems to be
having these same exact problems on a Windows Vista Ultimate x64 SP1 Host, so
is there something different with Windows Vista Ultimate x64 SP1 that
is causing VMWare to break? Any ideas how to fix this?
As a previous poster (Sanjer) has stated:
+*I can verify that I also have this issue. Oddly, it seems to be SMB
specific. (XP 32 Bit "guest" O
+*It is specific to a "bridged" network connection from the "guest" OS to
the "host" OS and SMB mappings. When the network type of the "guest" OS
is set to "host only" the problem (unusable SMB performance between
"guest" and "host" OS) dissapears.*+
For a "bridged" SP "guest" network connection, SMB performance is entirely unusable (slow).
+ *Also strange is that even with the aforementioned "bridged"
host connection SMB performance being slow, the raw TCP/IP throughput
seems unaffected (500 Mbps using the Ixia throughput tool between
"guest" and "host").*+
I checked my settings, and I can confirm that yes... I'm definitely experiencing this same bug with VMWare Workstation 6.5. Yes, my network adapter is "bridged" on my Windows Server 2008 x64 guest OS.
I am running Windows Vista Ultimate x64 SP1 as my host and I am running
Windows Server 2008 x64 Enterprise as my guest OS. I am using VMWare
Workstation 6.5 build-118166, and I have my VMWare network adapter on
the Windows Server 2008 x64 Enterprise GUEST set to "Bridged". It seems to be related to the "bridged" setting on the network VMWare network adapter when running on a Windows Vista Ultimate x64 SP1 host machine.
It does definitely seem specific to a "bridged" network connection from the
"guest" OS to the "host" OS and SMB mappings (shared folders on the
"Guest" Windows Server 2008 x64 machine that when you map the shared
folders on the "Guest" Windows Server 2008 x64 machine and then try to
map those shared folders to your "host" Windows Vista x64 Ultimate
machine the network performance is unusable.
Sometimes it hesitates (lots of lag) just clicking on folders, but if
you try to transfer large files (26MB+) it can take well over 45
minutes or even an hour sometimes. If I do the same exact transfer
between my laptop, and a completely different machine (over the LAN),
the same transfer takes about 20 seconds, but when I do the transfer on
the Windows Vista Ultimate x64 "host" machine, between the host and the
Windows Server 2008 x64 Enterprise "guest" machine, the transfer speeds
between the host and guest are just completely broken.
Sanjer said in his previous post:
For a "bridged" SP "guest" network connection, SMB performance is entirely unusable (slow).
+ *Also strange is that even with the aforementioned "bridged"
host connection SMB performance being slow, the raw TCP/IP throughput
seems unaffected (500 Mbps using the Ixia throughput tool between
"guest" and "host").*+
This is true. The problem seems to be specific to shared folders (SMB)
performance being slow. It seems to be specific to Windows Vista
Ultimate x64 host machines, and I'm running a Windows Server 2008 x64
Enterprise guest OS and I can reproduce this exact same problem over
and over on several different machines.
Any ideas as to when this will get fixed? These posts are over 5+
months old, and I've found several hundred posts on various websites
all complaining/discussing this same problem/issue and there doesn't
seem to be any fix for it.
Could a developer please take a look at this, and please work on fixing
VMWare Workstation 6.5 so that it works correctly on Windows Vista
Ultimate x64 host machines?