Advice Request Disable services and processes in a virtual machine

[shmu26]

I have a Windows 10 virtual machine without network connection or shared folders. The only contact it has with the "real" world is when I copy and paste text into and out of a program that runs inside the VM.
What's the best way to disable unneeded stuff in this VM, and what to disable?

 

[TairikuOkami]

For starters: Disable "Network Store Interface Service", that will disable the whole lot of dependencies. Uninstalling store and all apps would also cleanse processes a bit.

Get-AppxPackage -allusers | Remove-AppxPackage

 

[shmu26]

For starters: Disable "Network Store Interface Service", that will disable the whole lot of dependencies. Uninstalling store and all apps would also cleanse processes a bit.

Get-AppxPackage -allusers | Remove-AppxPackage

I opened an Admin command prompt and this is what I got:

C:\WINDOWS\system32>Get-AppxPackage -allusers | Remove-AppxPackage
'Get-AppxPackage' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.

Ah, never mind. It's a powershell script!

 

[ForgottenSeer 85179]

Why you want cripple down the system?

 

[shmu26]

Why you want cripple down the system?

I just want to speed it up a little, and minimize usage of shared system resources, since I only need it for very specific tasks and there is not much in the way of security risks.

 

[ForgottenSeer 85179]

I just want to speed it up a little, and minimize usage of shared system resources, since I only need it for very specific tasks and there is not much in the way of security risks.

This isn't how Windows nowadays work. It only starts services it needs.
Even started services doesn't mean they're active used.

I don't recommend that but disable any On Access AV will improve performance. Disabling network too.

 

[shmu26]

This isn't how Windows nowadays work. It only starts services it needs.
Even started services doesn't mean they're active used.

I don't recommend that but disable any On Access AV will improve performance. Disabling network too.

So you say disable Windows Defender by Group Policy?

 

[ForgottenSeer 85179]

So you say disable Windows Defender by Group Policy?

Yes. But only in your VM not your main OS.

 

[mazskolnieces]

I have a Windows 10 virtual machine without network connection or shared folders. The only contact it has with the "real" world is when I copy and paste text into and out of a program that runs inside the VM.
What's the best way to disable unneeded stuff in this VM, and what to disable?

You won't be able to noticeably speed up the VM by removing apps or disabling services. It is a VM CPU core\memory matter. If you're using VirtualBox or VMWare on old hardware (older than 3 years), then there's not much that you can do beyond assigning the maximum number of cores and memory, while not simultaneously using the host system outside the VM.

Removing all the UWP apps and disabling a bunch of services won't do a thing for you.

 

[TairikuOkami]

Removing all the UWP apps and disabling a bunch of services won't do a thing for you.

It lowered handles to ~12K for me, not to mention an overall responsiveness, like Calc starting for 1 sec vs 5 secs.

 

[shmu26]

I find that adding too many cores causes more latency, with Virtualbox. The sweet spot is two cores for a virtual machine. But VMware seems better at handling multiple cores. When on a Windows host, I prefer VMware.

 

[mazskolnieces]

I find that adding too many cores causes more latency, with Virtualbox. The sweet spot is two cores for a virtual machine. But VMware seems better at handling multiple cores. When on a Windows host, I prefer VMware.

Any more cores than the underlying hardware have will cause issues. If it is an older CPU, it can cause problems. If you assign the maximum possible cores that correspond to the real system hardware, then you shouldn't simultaneously use both the host and the VM.

It lowered handles to ~12K for me, not to mention an overall responsiveness, like Calc starting for 1 sec vs 5 secs.

I've tried. It never worked for me. Then again, I use all SSDs and VM tweaks essentially amount to no difference in the case of an SSD. At least for me any way.

Untweaked Windows 10 and a bare bones Linux distro such as Puppy linux boot up at the same speed on VirtualBox for me.

 

[shmu26]

Any more cores than the underlying hardware have will cause issues. If it is an older CPU, it can cause problems. If you assign the maximum possible cores that correspond to the real system hardware, then you shouldn't simultaneously use both the host and the VM.

I am talking about a host with 8 cores. If you assign 4 cores to the VM, the performance is often worse than if you assign 2 cores to the VM. This is with VirtualBox. The reason given on the Virtualbox forum is that the guest needs to constantly calculate which core(s) to use, and that slows it down.

 

[mazskolnieces]

I am talking about a host with 8 cores. If you assign 4 cores to the VM, the performance is often worse than if you assign 2 cores to the VM. This is with VirtualBox. The reason given on the Virtualbox forum is that the guest needs to constantly calculate which core(s) to use, and that slows it down.

I can't tell a difference between 2 cores or 4 cores and most activities on a 6 core Intel high-end system (with SSD). When compiling code, 4 cores is noticeably faster.

With VMs, they are notorious for odd behaviors across hardware and platforms. They (along with their updates) are the bane of admins. VMs on AMD hardware is an even greater mess than on Intel hardware.

On both VirtualBox and VMWare support forums, they're all volunteers - even the odd Oracle or VMWare employee that just might drop in and make a comment. I've found that 90+ % of the time, on the more nebulous issues the discussions end up being bunk.

However, I'm certain your experience it is what you describe it to be. Nothing is a surprise in IT.

 

[shmu26]

I can't tell a difference between 2 cores or 4 cores and most activities on a 6 core Intel high-end system (with SSD). When compiling code, 4 cores is noticeably faster.

If you are compiling code, I can understand why it works well for you. You are actually utilizing the CPU power to get your job done faster!
I run only light programs, so it's a different experience.

 

[mazskolnieces]

If you are compiling code, I can understand why it works well for you. You are actually utilizing the CPU power to get your job done faster!
I run only light programs, so it's a different experience.

Man, I don't know what to toll you about VMs. For example, on one build of VMWare Workstation Pro some Linux distros either don't work right at all or crawl. Then on the next release they work OK.

I think the Open Source community is better at reporting VirtualBox issues.

I know, for example, if you have a laptop system set on low power mode, then it can make your VMs crawl along like a snail. And it depends upon the system. So laptops cause this, others don't.

 

[Ink]

Build a custom Windows 10 ISO for the VM.