Tweaking virtualbox for better windows xp performance?

[Andy Price]

If you have lots of RAM then disabling services doesn't save you much. But I find that making XP run quickly requires a combination of things and turning off unneeded services helps, just as it does in VL. As GrannyGeek says, the main problem is knowing what you can safely turn off, but that comes with experience like all other computing skills. Maybe I've been lucky, but I've never had to reinstall XP because I turned of an essential service, though I've certainly caused myself problems! Some default services sound down-right dangerous to me - remote registry editing for one.

In this case, it sounds as if installing Guest Additions had the biggest effect and I'm curious as to how it achieves that. Does anyone know?

[haywire]

I'm not sure but I think it includes better drivers for running as a guest os on linux, and I'm not sure I had (or could have) 2d and 3d accelleration enabled before. (I do now) The screen displaying is certainly faster, programs launch faster and the whole thing feels alot more responsive. Right now I am continuing to remove anything I can (splash screens, logon screen, system sounds and so on) So the xp install will be as lean and mean as is possible.

I also figured out accessing shared folders tonight, which I'm really happy about, so I can share files between xp and vector easily by setting a shared folder for /home/steven I can get anything on the linux side and vice versa by copying stuff to a temp folder there from windows.

Trying to edit audio or video on the windows install is still out of the question, everything stutters badly (sigh) I guess I will have to keep a windows box around in the dungeon of doom. I hope vector gets kdenlive and cinelerra someday so I can just migrate to those. At least the xp virtual install works for microsoft word, paint shop and some other graphics apps I use alot.

Maybe setting up a windows xp box in the corner, without a keyboard mouse or monitor, but connected to the net, and using it through remote desktop would be a better solution for me than virtualbox? I'd be willing to give that a try I suppose when I have more time to experiment. For now, I have alot of running projects I need to work on.

Steven