Tips on Improving MED-V Workspace Application Performance

Article
06/13/2011

If you are still using MED-V version 1, UPGRADE! But, if you are unable to due to workflow or platform issues, here are some additional tips to improve application performance for your published MED-V guest applications.

Disable Unnecessary Services and startup programs:

Regardless of whether you are using MED-V v1 or MED-V v2, you will want to minimize unnecessary utilization inside the guest operating system.These can be done by disabling the services in the services MMC snap-in, the MSCONFIG.exe utility, or even through the AUTORUNS utility available here:

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb963902

Allocate Adequate Workspace Memory

Ensure enough memory has been allocated to the Virtual PC within the MED-V Workspace policy. I would recommend on a machine with more than 2GB of RAM on the host to allocate at least 512 MB to the VPC. Anything less will result in sub-optimal performance. If you are using MED-V V2, you may have found that you are limited to 2 GB of memory allocation for the virtual machine. You can remove this restriction by installing the Localization Update which fixes this issue. You download the MED-V v2 localization update here:

https://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=6590

Configure 16-bit Applications to run in their own memory Space

One popular application compatibility scenario for both MED-V v1 and v2 is the 16/64 appcompat scenario where companies still want to run 16-bit applications but also want to deploy 64-bit operating systems. MED-V is the only way to accomplish this seamlessly. However, it is recommended that when you do this, you create a batch file for 16-bit applications that leverage the internal START command as follows:

Start /separate <command>

This means the 16-bit application will run in its own separate underlying virtual DOS and Win16 machine (remember those?) Publish this batch file as the application.

Leverage another Physical Drive for the Virtual Machine

If using version 1.0, move the VHD to another hard drive (another spindle) on the host machine. The location of the MED-V images files on the local machine can be controlled during the installation and as well by making modifications after the installation.

C:\ProgramData\MED-V\Local\LocalSettings.xml

<LastImageStoreRootPath type="System.String">C:\MED-V Images\</LastImageStoreRootPath>

C:\ProgramData\MED-V\Profile\ProfileInfo.xml

<VmsFolder type="System.String">C:\MED-V Images\</VmsFolder>

The above are the defaults. The drive letter/directory and location can be adjusted after the fact (of course, a reboot will be required.

NOTE: This cannot be done for MED-V version 2.

CPU Utilization

If you are running MED-V version 1.0 and finding the application is generating heavy CPU utilization where the utilization is at or near 100 percent when running in seamless mode

OPTION 1: Remove the Frame Functionality from the workspace image. This cuts out a hooking function which could improve performance.

1. Publish a workspace command prompt using the "Applications" option in the workspace policy.

2. Start the workspace using an account with administrative privileges.

3. Launch the command prompt. Start Registry Editor from the command prompt.

4. Navigate to the following registry path:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Windows

5. Remove the KIDARO~3.DLL entry from the AppInits_DLLs value.

6. Restart the workspace and re-test the application.

NOTE: This will remove the frame functionality where the seamless application no longer has a colored frame surrounding it.

OPTION 2: Apply the ForceSimpleWindow Application Compatibility Fix to the application in the guest operating system.

If you option 1 is not desired due to the fact the painted frame is desired, you can apply an application compatibility fix using the Application Compatibility Toolkit (ACT.) Download the ACT from here:

https://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=24da89e9-b581-47b0-b45e-492dd6da2971

Install it and run the Compatibility Administrator (COMPATADMIN.EXE)