VirtualBox VM Performance Test

📅 February 3, 2023
“Is a VirtualBox VM faster or slower than the real hardware on which it is running?”

This is a question that I wanted to measure using some common CPU benchmarking utilities, and I had the chance to test it out using the same VMs running on two separate systems: one running Linux (Ubuntu Cinnamon 22.04), and the other running Windows 10. I migrated the same Linux and Windows 10/11 VMs between the systems to benchmark the results.

Would there be any speed differences? What if a VM utilized the same number of cores as the host CPU? Will that affect performance? Is virtualization slower?

I ran a few informal tests of my own in case others would like some comparison material, and these are my results.

Installing Windows 11 in VirtualBox 7.0.2

📅 November 6, 2022
If, for some reason, you need to install Windows 11 inside a virtual machine running VirtualBox, it is now possible to do so without any registry hacks that bypass TPM (Trusted Platform Module) now that VirtualBox 7.0 supports TPM 2.0 for guest operating systems.

However, if you need to install Windows 11 on a test system (or any other system) where an Internet connection is not possible, you will find yourself halted during the OS installation. You might even encounter the EFI shell instead of the Windows installer. What to do?

A Windows 11 VM installation is more hassle than it is worth, so here are a few workarounds I tried to install the latest Windows 11 22H2 in VirtualBox 7.0.2 running on Ubuntu Cinnamon 22.04.

Fixing the Windows Setup “Missing Media Driver”

📅 September 8, 2022
“What? Windows is missing a media driver during Windows Setup? Why?”

There might be times when we need to install Windows 10 or 11 for testing purposes, such as benchmarking hard drives or running graphics software only compatible with Windows.

I needed to install a temporary Windows 10 lab system for experimentation, but I encountered a completely new (for me) and strange error reporting that Windows Setup was missing media drivers. How odd. What could have been the cause?

If you think that the solution is to install missing media drivers like I did because that is what the message is prompting, then you are completely misled and mistaken.

Here is what I discovered, and it involves Linux.

Run Windows93 in Linux!

📅 October 3, 2017
Windows Ninety-WHAT?

Do you idle your time away watching pointless cat videos on YouTube like most netizens?

Yes? Really?

Then, why not idle your time away while reminiscing the “good ol’ computing days” with the one and only Windows93 operating system?

“Windows93? Never heard of it. Is this a joke?”

Nope. It really exists.

“Which? The joke or Windows93?”

Both.

And the best part…it works in Linux!

Hard Drive Caching in Windows 7

📅 May 6, 2017
After experiencing good success in Linux using RapidDisk and Flashcache (on older kernels) to speed up mechanical hard drive reads, I thought it would be fun to discover if such software existed for Windows.

Is it possible to install hard drive caching software in Windows 7? How would it perform?

I tried four programs, PrimoCache, HDDTurbo, SuperCache 6, and eboostr, and tested reads using CrystalDiskMark. Here are my results.

Conserve Virtual Hard Disk Space in a Windows 7 Guest OS

📅 November 20, 2016
When running Windows 7 as a guest OS (with VirtualBox, for example), here is an apparently obvious tip that can be easy to overlook or forget about: Disable hibernation and paging in Windows 7.

This will conserve the amount of virtual hard disk space used by Windows 7 and result in a more space-friendly .vdi image on your real hard drive — especially important if using a solid state drive or NVMe storage.

SweetFX – Levels

SweetFX Levels sets new black and white points. This means every pixel whose value is below the black point will be converted into pure black, and every pixel whose value is above the white point will be converted into pure white.

Think of this as the equivalent of level adjustment in GIMP using the histogram. Used sparingly, Levels will trim off excess whiteness, and it will darken shadows and other dark areas that appear too “washed out” when they should be darker.

On the other hand, visual detail is lost when used excessively, and drastic scene changes can be produced. This is either good or bad depending upon the desired effect. In short, Levels is an effect best used for minor touchups to the resulting image.

SweetFX – Vignette

SweetFX Vignette darkens the corners of the image to produce a peephole or faded corner effect. This can be used with other effects, such as Sepia and Monochrome, to produce a variation of the old-time photo effect.

Of course, Vignette settings can darken an area greater than the corners alone until the entire image is obscured, so use sparingly for the best results.

SweetFX – Lift Gamma Gain

Regarding video and images, gamma is an exponential relationship between pixels and luminance. (Luminance is technically not the same as brightness.) The theory and mathematical formulae behind gamma is educational, so the Gamma FAQ might provide a useful introduction for those interested in grasping the technical principles.

For an inaccurate, simplified description related to video games, we can think of gamma as brightening the bright areas and darkening the dark areas without losing too much detail. Where a simple brightness effect would brighten the entire scene uniformly, gamma handles this with more “intelligence.”

The SweetFX Lift Gamma Gain effect provides a fine amount of control over how gamma is applied to an image. While the SweetFX Tonemap effect provides a basic gamma control for basic gamma application, Lift Gamma Gain allows for more precise gamma control over the brightness of shadow areas, midrange areas, and bright areas, and it can do so at the color level with RGB values.

SweetFX – Tonemap

SweetFX Tonemap is an effect that adjusts a variety of related image enhancements that include gamma, saturation, bleach, exposure, and color removal.

Tonemap is a useful “many-in-one” effect. Other effects might offer a greater degree of control over the image, but if only minor modifications are needed by using one effect, then Tonemap has its place.

Tonemap is an excellent effect for colorizing black and white images. The applied color is often better and more uniform across the image than other effects that attempt to colorize.