Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 on VMWare ESX – How to reduce base load

vmware-esxiwindows 8windows-8.1

I just installed two new virtual machines with Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 on our VMWare ESXi 5.1 Server and noticed a base load of about 800 Mhz without the machine doing actual work.

Now I wonder how one can reduce this to a minimum (e.g. my Linux fileserver has a minimum load of 6-10 Mhz, and Windows 2003 one of 40 Mhz). Believing Microsoft designed this OS to also run on mobile devices, there must be switches that stop the system from doing useless stuff. Any ideas?

Best Answer

There's a fling that might help you: VMware OS Optimization Tool

The VMware OS Optimization Tool helps optimize Windows 7/8/2008/2012 systems for use with VMware Horizon View. The optimization tool includes customizable templates to enable or disable Windows system services and features, per VMware recommendations and best practices, across multiple systems. Since most Windows system services are enabled by default, the optimization tool can be used to easily disable unnecessary services and features to improve performance.

As Reality Extractor points out these optimizations apply even if you run it on ESXi without View.

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