High CPU usage with iTunes with Windows XP Guest

[Paul]

Host: Ubuntu 8.04 32 bit on AMD 2.4 Ghz, 2 gigs RAM running Virtualbox 2.1.4 Guest: Windows XP SP3 with 512MB RAM allocated

If iTtunes is running (idle) CPU usage on the Ubuntu host hovers at around 60%. CPU usage on the XP guest is minimal. If I try to do anyting with iTunes, CPU usage on the Ubuntu host if peaked at 100%, which maked iTunes very slow and unusable. If I close iTunes, CPU usage drops to nothing.

Same occurs on laptop with dual core 2.5Ghz and 4 gigs of RAM. running Ubuntu 8.04 64 bit as host. CPU usage hovers at around 40% when iTunes is idle in the XP guest

Tried the following without any success.

• disable iTineshelper (found this in another post)
• disable any additional apps/services such as antivirus

Had the problem since I 1st installed VB 2.0.6, hopped the newer versions would have fixed the problem.

Logs show the following at times when starting and closing iTunes

00:01:12.202 PIT: mode=2 count=0x4ad (1197) - 996.81 Hz (ch=0) 00:01:49.799 PIT: mode=2 count=0x2ead (11949) - 99.85 Hz (ch=0) 00:03:45.745 PIT: mode=2 count=0x4ad (1197) - 996.81 Hz (ch=0) 00:04:33.132 PIT: mode=2 count=0x2ead (11949) - 99.85 Hz (ch=0)

[Paul]

VirtualBox Log file

[Justin]

Hi. Just to confirm I have this as well.

My system

Host: Ubuntu 9.04 32 bit on Intel 3 Ghz, 1.5 Gigs RAM running Virtualbox 2.2 Guest: Windows XP SP3 with 768MB RAM allocated

[Jost Diederichs]

I can confirm high CPU usage with iTunes here, but mostly with nested paging turned on.

Linux Fedora 11 x64 host with AMD Phenom II X3 (AM3) Windows 7 guest x32

nested paging does noticeably improve Windows performance (including Media Player) but it does significantly degrade iTunes (8.2) performance to the degree that iTunes becomes totally unresponsive.

[Monty]

Hi,

I can confirm this issue as well. It especially happens when plugging in an IPhone. I also tried to switch Nested Paging on as well as off but that does not make any difference.

This issue is also happening using the new VirtualBox 3.0 Beta.

[Danie van der Merwe]

I have the same problem. Does not happen with other Windows apps. I'm running Win XP guest in Virtualbox 2.2.4 on Linux Mint 7. I'm pretty sure I did not have this problem with Virtualbox when I first installed ITunes with it. That would have been an older version odf Virtualbox though.

[RayCole]

Version 3.04 of VirtualBox. iTunes is indeed extremely slow with nested paging on, and it also was usually unable to sync my iPod with nested paging enabled (would hang while syncing - left it running for 3 hours and it never finished). Turned nested paging off, all was well.

IO-APIC off, ACPI on, Hardware acceleration on (AMD Phenom(tm) II X3 720 Processor, Windows XP Home Edition SP3. Running 1 VCPU.

With nested paging and iTunes running the CPU was pegged at 100% when merely playing back a song, response trying to navigate folders was horrific. Turned nested paging off and it cleared up immediately - 22% CPU usage during playback (which still seems a bit high in my mind just to play back a song, but far better than 100%).

[RayCole]

On previous post, I have 4G of memory on the host (Linux - Fedora 11 64-bit with latest patches). The guest has 1.5G of memory. According to 'top' nothing is being swapped

[Jereme Kramer]

I'm having this problem in Version 3.0.8 with Fedora 11 64-bit host. Disabling nested paging had no effect.

I have IO-APIC on, ACPI on, Hardware accelration on (Intel Core 2 Duo 2.6 gHz on a MacBook Pro 5,3), Windows XP Professional SP3 guest. One VCPU.

Playing a song in iTunes causes 100% guest cpu usage.

[Martin]

I'm running version 3.0.12 PEL on openSuse 11.2. As soon as iTunes is opened the cpu on the host peaks; synchronization of my iPhone takes hours. If I minimize iTunes the cpu usage drops significantly and the synchronization is done after a few minutes.

It seems that iTunes doesnt "like" the graphics driver of Virtualbox. I'm not sure if I enabled 3D support in the guest additions. Where can I check that?

[v1ncen7]

Same issue with iTunes on Virtual Machine on WinXP 32 bit on ESX. I found that minimizing iTunes allows cpu to drop to normal levels. Tried with or without graphic acceleration, it does not seem to be making any difference. See screenshots for cpu usage (shows 50% before as this VM has 2 vCPUs).

[v1ncen7]

VM cpu use before and after minimizing iTunes