I can confirm this and add details. Adding the Hyper-V role slows my system to a crawl on certain tasks, especially video. Opening a media file takes many seconds, as does switching video to full screen and back. I reinstalled thinking the installation was just damaged, but as soon as I installed the Hyper-V role again, this came back. I think it may have something to do with newer nVidia x64 drivers. When logging in after being connected remotely, it takes about 30 seconds to re-enable Aero. Ten seconds to unlock, ten seconds to show classic, and then ten more for Aero to kick in. Also, the taskbar is frequently missing except for the circular start button which hovers in the correct location. I've just removed Hyper-V for the second time and everything is back to full speed. This is a lightning fast computer, full specs here: http://dayah.com/computer.html

This topic is actively being discussed in the Hyper-V TechNet forums at the following link:-
http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/winserverhyperv/thread/4e1c53f5-0400-4ca9-8819-f942c10881c1/

I added this as a validation comment, duplicating it here for visiblity...

win2k8 Enterprise x64, Q6600, 8GB, SATA-II, nVidia 8500 512mb, ICH8-R chipset. Hyper-V role causes hard slowdowns with any media/graphics activity and any desktop switching for escalation, user switching, user logon, etc. Slowdowns can be up to a minute in some cases (full user switch), but typically 15-30 seconds (escalation). Video playback freezes and stutters for the same 15-30 seconds before smoothing out, but even then is still a bit edgy. State of virtual machines seems completely irrelevant, simply having the hypervisor enabled on boot is enough. Adding a boot option to disable the hypervisor helps, but then virtualization is unavailable so this is not a workable solution.

I am suffering from the same pain. I have a notebook running Windows Server 2008 standard edition. My notebook has 4GB DDR3 RAM and a Intel Core 2 Extreme X9100 CPU and a NVidia Geforce 9800M GTX with 1GB DDR3. I play Enemy Territory Quake Wars a lot and it runs fine on my notebook but when I install the Hyper-V role I can no longer play, the system freezes every few seconds for an entire second and the sounds in the game seem like they are stuck in a loop. Even in Windows with no programs running in the foreground I noticed that when I quickly move my mouse cursor around that it also freezes for a fraction of a second every few seconds or so. It has got nothing to do with my bluetooth mouse because the same happens when I move the cursor around with my touchpad. Maybe an issue with the NVidia drivers?

We haven't heard anything from Microsoft on this. It appears to only affect Nvidia cards using the Vista drivers, not XP drivers. Does anyone else suspect that the DRM polling done in Vista that is not done in 2008 is somehow interfering with the hypervisor? Is there a way to confirm this is the issue? Also, given Vista/2008 support DX10 and XP doesn't, is there a disadvantage to using the XP drivers?

Maybe you guys shouldn't be using Windows Server as a workstation....

Server Editions should NOT be used for playing multimedia, graphics activity, gaming or other consumer based activies because the Server Edition DOES NOT SUPPORT THIS FUNCTIONALITY or these types of consumer features...Yes they are available to install but Server Editions do not have the API`s or framework to support consumer applications the way you people are using it....

Hyper-V works perfectly fine here on a Pentium-D 2ghz with 2gb RAM running multiple VHDs because its not being used as a workstation...A server edition is for servers, if you want something as a workstation buy a workstation OS..

Its stupid and irresponsible to think Microsoft will support a server edition being used as a consumer workstation,...you idiots.

There are many reasons for using a server OS to do multimedia tasks, especially if it is the only OS currently out with Hyper-V. And besides... This problem affects the entire GUI, causing extreme lag and slowdowns.

This issue always gets taken out of context. It is not acceptable for even a production server environment. Everything hangs and there needs to be a fix. Because it also includes hang-time during ANY multimedia experiance people just jump at that statement. This includes RDP sessions (and that should be enough), web browsing, folder browsing in Windows Explorer!!! Don't think for a moment that these people are trying to use their machines as some type of media/game server (EVEN THOUGH THAT WORKED GREAT BEFORE RC1!!!)!

Don't try to ignore this one. A big buy in is having the MS Partner consultant army go out w/ their notebooks fired up w/ Hyper-V installed. Within the past 10 days I could have shown huge medical industry co's Hyper-V however it runs so aweful on the notebook after RC1 was applied that my idea is more of a joke than anything.

Zac

We are using MS Server 2008 on QuadCore 4GB RAM Server with 4 MS Servers in Hyper-V running very fast. I wonder, why they are so fast, but Server 2008 and two 2008 Servers in Hyper-V with only 1024MB VRAM running really fast. I know, that's horrible hardware configuration. the 3dr Hxper-V.Server is also a 2008 server only running with 512MB VRAM. And it's really fast. Hyper-V get's thumbs up :)

Same issue with a Dell XPS 630i, E8400, 9800GT, Hyper-V role installed, 100% cpu usage starting pretty much any multimedia process and short "hanging" when scrolling web pages and moving windows. Works great without Hyper-V installed...I'm just going to swap with an ATI card and cross my fingers.

I can't bash Hyper-V as a whole though...I have dedicated servers at work running hyper-v and have had as many as 18 vhd's running W2K3x64 on a 2X dual core Opteron + 16GB ram machine withe useable performance for a lab environment.

Have to question someone mentioning running Hyper-V on a Pentium D ... with no native hardware virtualization support!!?? Wish that could be true, I have two old Pentium D computers sitting around at home I'd love to run with hyper-v enabled.

dmex is obviously starved for attention. I'll bet even his pets ignore him.

Read the Hyper-V documentation. One of only three scenarios presented for use is for Developers. Windows 2008 is a great OS for developers because not only can you work directly with server techonologies but your hypervisor is built right in. Hyper-V has direct access to hardware and runs 64-bit operating systems; Virtual Server is only superficial virtualisation by comparison.

Don't wade in when you don't know what you're talking about.

http://blogs.msdn.com/virtual_pc_guy/archive/2009/01/07/bad-performance-with-high-end-graphics-and-hyper-v.aspx
<snip>
Bad Performance with High-End Graphics and Hyper-V

If you have tried to mix Hyper-V and high end 3D graphics (in the parent partition - of course) you have probably noticed that the performance is bad. Unfortunately - for the time being - the answer to this problem is that Hyper-V has not been designed to be used on systems running high-end graphics.

It has been designed to be used for server consolidation.

However - we have just published a KB article (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/961661) that explains why this happens. If you need to run Hyper-V on such systems your best option is to either:

1. Put a lower end video card in your server
-or-
2. Use the standard SVGA driver


Cheers
Ben
</snip>

I can't believe someone at Microsoft ACTUALLY suggested putting a lower end graphics card in a production server. I guess this excludes Microsoft Windows 2008 and Hyper-V from about 90 percent of Film production scenarios for rendering, where virtualization and hardware acceleration go hand in hand. WAKE UP MICROSOFT...

Initially when attempting to install Hyper-V on a AMD X2, x64 FX-60 dual core processor I was told that it wasn't a supported processor. No reason was given but I suspect it was due to it being a consumer processor and not a 'supported' server based architecture proc. We have not retested as I'm not running a 1 year trial of win2k8 x64 (heroes happen here distro) and the intel Q6600 quad core processor which works fine with a Hyper-V installation iteself (no VM's configured yet).


Feature request- more support for *nix builds under Hyper-V, such as Free or Open BSD as opposed to packaged linux. We are in the process or testing of a BSD install as it provides the most stripped down build of a *nix system so this update is a work in progress. We'd like to avoid VM Ware 2.0 if possible but the winner takes all for linux apps we need on the infrastructure.

So far no issues described in this thread have been problematic.

It appears this has been significantly mitigated in 2008 R2, but the underlying issue remains. Creating a local or remote session with Aero enabled still takes longer than with the Hyper-V role removed. Can anyone confirm. Shall we create a new issue in the R2 feedback connect?

I had a similar problem with Server 2008 R2 RTM. Quad core, 8GB ram. It ran great until I installed Hyper-V and then the whole machine was like running through treacle.

I replaced the Nvidia 8400GS with an old ATI X1600 based on postings here, but it didn't make any difference, nor did using standard SVGA drivers (it is being used aa a business server, so graphics performance is not an issue).

Then I saw a separate issue about TCP Large Send Offload:
http://www.opensourcec.org/blogs/bill_bosacker/archive/2009/03/05/4141.aspx

There are two onboard Ethernet controllers on the Asus P5Q Deluxe motherboard. One is a Marvell Yukon 88E8001 on the PCI bus and the other is a Marvell Yukon 88E8056 on the PCI-E bus. I was using the PCI-E one, with the other disabled. I switched over to the PCI one (which appears first in Device Manager) and disabled the PCI-E controller and suddenly, the whole machine sprang back to life!

Hope this helps.

Gordon

Hi!
I have
Intel Quad Core Q9550, 8GB RAM
1xSATA, WD Caviar Blue, 250GB (for system and boot (C:))
2xSATA, WD Caviar Black, 1.5 TB (windows software RAID mirror in disk management), for machines
I don't have graphic card onboard, and after installing OS, I have removed graphic card.
A always work over RDP

Windows Server 2008 R2, RTM, 64bit, Standard

I have installed HyperV role and added one machines:
- Windows 7 RTM, 64bit, Professional

it is also very slow, same with aero or with windows classic theme, also i am connected over RDP, not localy..

explorer block, internet explorer blocks, i don't know why... :(
reinstalling host, and/or guest did not fix the problem..

i am watching always resource monitor and i don't see any problems with resources nor disk nor cpu nor ram nor network :(

also i must say that i have deployed few hyperV servers, and few standard editions with hyperV role, and live migration, and all works perfectly.., but in this situation I don't know what to say..

i have tried with one virtual cpu and with four of them.. always - same thing , guest is very slow
also Linux guest (Debian) has very bad hard disk perfomance, but in host i don't see large compsuption of resources..

(sorry on my bad english)

anybody have solution ?

My scenario is got a new laptop, fresh install of Windows Server 2008 R2, added Hyper-V role... using SVGA drivers... all working well, but a) can't switch to external monitor (i.e. projector), and b) resolution is limited. Of these two issues, (a) is the most severe as I cannot make presentations. I see a distinct need for 2008 R2 on this machine: as a developer, I will use VS 2008 / SQL 2008 in my host, but I do require sandboxes for new beta-ware such as VS 2010, SQL 2008 R2 CTP, etc. (I'm not crazy here, right??) Would prefer to use Hyper-V instead of VPC under say Windows 7, due to benefits - but will consider alternatives.

When I try to install the proper nVidia drivers for my machine (GTX 280M), I get BSOD on reboot. STOP 116 in video driver. I go into BIOS settings and disable the "Execution protection" option (sorry, don't have the full text for it, but to me it seemed related more to security than virtualization). Now the nVidia drivers are working... but Hyper-V is NOT working!

I am satisfied to hear if this is an nVidia issue - but I raise this issue here as well in case they are related.

In the meantime I will consider reverting to Windows 7 or possibly buying a USB/VGA dongle to support doing presentations until this can be addressed.

Installing the XP x64 drivers clears up the stuttering issues. Hyper-V RC0 did not have the problem; something was changed in RC1 where the Vista video drivers cause this stuttering. I would like a hotfix developed so that Vista\2008 drivers can be used again without the performance hit.

Most reports here indicate Server Edition being used as a Workstation Edition...

A server Edition Shouldn't be used as a workstation, You should be using Server edition as a Server and a workstation edition as a workstation...

Server Edition does not have the APIs or framework to support workstation use...

Same problem as most of these posters. Q6600, nVidia 9600GT, 6GB RAM, IP35 Pro, latest Vista 64-bit nVidia drivers. Fast machine until I installed Hyper-V, then I noticed big performance hit. I'll try the XP driver workaround for the time being.

@dmex

What kind of solution is this? If you show me a "Workstation" OS that supports Hyper-V I'll take it, but unfortunately Hyper-V isn't included with Vista, nore will it be with Windows 7, so I have to use Windows Server as workstation OS or use VMWare which works fine on Vista and Server 2008 which still can be used as workstation without stuttering then. I don't want VMware though because I have a Server 2008 licence and prefer Hyper-V, I just want a fix for that bug as it wasn't there in the beginning.

register

Go ahead and get a MAC OS Server. They would never do anything this dumb.

Are you using Linux guest OS? If so then that might eat a large chunk of your resources if you don't install the IC & a Linux Kernel that support Para-virtualization. Our team used to have a lot of slowness with their Hyper-V when running Linux or Unix os's without using the IC. As SUSE Linux is the only one supported I was able to find a well documented procedure on how to fix it to speed up the guest performance and reduce it affect of killing the zero OS which is basically your workstation OS. If you are facing this you might want to look at:
http://www.virtualizationteam.com/microsoft/hyper-v/install-suse-linux-enterprise-10-sp1-component-integration-for-linux-on-hyper-v.html

The procedure is a bit long & really hope MS will automate it in the future. I hope that help, and still not sure what we have to do for other Linux & Unixes flavors.

Host:
Intel Quad Core Q9550, 8GB RAM
1xSATA, WD Caviar Blue, 250GB (for system and boot (C:))
2xSATA, WD Caviar Black, 1.5 TB (windows software RAID mirror in disk management), for machines
I don't have graphic card onboard, and after installing OS, I have removed graphic card.
Windows Server 2008 R2, RTM, 64bit, Standard

Guest:
Windows 7 RTM, 64bit, Professional
or Windows 7 RTM, 32bit, Professional
or Linux Debian 5.0.3, 64bit

A always work over RDP. (on host and on guests)

I don't see resource problems, nor cpu, nor hard disk, nor ram, nor network