QueryPerformanceCounter behaves improperly inside a virtual machine when /usepmtimer is used with some Windows HALs

Products

• VMware Desktop Hypervisor
• VMware vCenter Server
• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:

A Windows guest may experience these symptoms:

• QueryPerformanceCounter stays within a 4.7 second range, advancing at the correct rate for ~4.7 seconds, then jumping back 4.7 seconds
• Applications stop responding
• Negative ping times

Cause

When /usepmtimer is specified in boot.ini for Windows 2003 and Windows XP SMP HALs, QueryPerformanceCounter does not behave properly. Instead of advancing monotonically, it advances correctly for 4.7 seconds, then jumps backward 4.7 seconds, repeating this in a loop endlessly.

Resolution

This issue is resolved for Windows 2003 in vSphere 5.0 Update 1. However, the issue still persists in Windows XP.

To work around this issue, avoid specifying /usepmtimer in the boot.ini file when using Windows 2003 or Windows XP with an SMP HAL.

For more information on manually editing the boot.ini file, see Microsoft KB 323427, How to manually edit the Boot.ini file in a Windows Server 2003 environment.

Additional Information

For more information, see:

• Citrix article CTX121872

 

Note: The preceding links were correct as of June 21, 2013. If you find the link is broken, provide feedback and a VMware employee will update the link.

/usepmtimer が一部の Windows HAL とともに使用されている場合、QueryPerformanceCounter が仮想マシン内で誤った動作をする
将 /usepmtimer 与某些 Windows HAL 结合使用时，QueryPerformanceCounter 无法在虚拟机内正常工作