Ubuntu 10.04 Server on Hyper-V Server R2 has sluggish install and command line

hyper-vUbuntuubuntu-10.04

I've installed Ubuntu Server 10.04 (64 bit) on a Hyper-V Server R2. I've encountered two issues that I think are related:

  1. Very slow install
  2. Very slow command prompt

The text-mode installer goes through a series of text-based prompt windows. It takes 7-10 seconds for each of these windows to draw on the screen. The end result is that every time I answer a prompt and hit enter I wait for 15 seconds while the screen redraws line by line. I can literally see each line of text being drawn (like the old 300 baud modems days).

Once done installing, scrolling on the command line is super slow. For instance, if a simple command, like "ls", causes the screen to scroll, it will scroll very slowly.

This happens on a fresh install. The server functions as a LAMP server and an OpenSSH server, but that's it (I don't even have any Virtual Hosts set up yet). AND this only happens on the Virtual Machine console. I access the console through Hyper-V Manager and don't have this problem on any of my other Virtual Machines.

Also, this problem does NOT happen when accessing a shell through OpenSSH.

How can I improve this performance issue?

Best Answer

To work around this issue, you need to disable the frame buffer module: edit /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist-framebuffer.conf and add the following line:

blacklist vga16fb

Reboot and the console should be fine.

This solved the problem for me. I learned about it here: http://solyaris.wordpress.com/2010/05/01/ubuntu-10-04-on-intel-driver-and-server-frame-buffer/

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