Input lag on secondary machine with VMware Workstation Pro

from Stardock Forums

Multiplicity 3.57 significant input lag on remote/secondary machine in KVM mode with VMware Workstation Pro.

Primary Host OS: Windows 10 20H2 (build 19042.985)

Secondary Host OS:  Windows 10 20H2 (build 19042.985)

     -- Application incompatibility:  VMware Workstation Pro 16.1.2 (build 17966106)

 

When Multiplicity 3.57 is running on the secondary machine, there is a lag of at least 4 seconds when navigating from the primary host to the secondary host (with virtual machines running) and attempting any sort of input... keyboard or mouse.  When multiplicity is unloaded, there is no lag on the secondary machine.  This was not an issue until 3.57 was installed. 

 

Edit: Moved to new thread, original post found here:

https://forums.stardock.com/503946/multiplicity-357-release-issue-report-thread

multiplicity
21,118 views 21 replies
Reply #1 from Stardock Forums Top

Sean,

My initial assessment may have been off.  The issue is NOT resolved by turning off clipboard sharing.  I even restarted Multiplicity on both primary and secondary machines.  I also did not see high CPU utilization during the issues of input lag. 

What I did notice, however, is that if Multiplicity loads before VMware, everything seems to work has they have previously.  But, I saw that both VMware guests briefly went to a "not responding" state.  After that, the lag was persistent until I restarted VMware. 

I hope this helps.

Thanks for your time!

Reply #2 from Stardock Forums Top

Are there any updates on this issue? I'm experiencing something similar.
Secondary machine is a Win8.1x64 host running VMWare Workstation 16.2.1
Primary machine is W10x64

When I try to access the VMs (guest machines) on the secondary, VMWare goes not responding or is otherwise inaccessible for a variable period of time. As soon as I unload Multiplicity on the secondary, the VMs are immediately accessible.


Additionally, having troubles with clipboard. I can share text from secondary to primary, but when I try to share text from primary to secondary, I get the spinning circle, and the paste from primary to secondary fails.

This was happening with 3.57
I downgraded to 3.55 to see if the behavior would improve. It did not.

Multiplicity - Control multiple PCs using one keyboard and mouse
Reply #3 from Stardock Forums Top

So to be clear on the environment...

Two real PCs, one a Multiplicity (MP) Primary, the 2nd an MP Secondary.

The Secondary has VM instances running on it.  No 'lag' when using the actual real Secondary PC, only when interacting with the VM window running on it.

Is that an accurate description of the issue? 

Quoting tetonbob, reply 2

When I try to access the VMs (guest machines) on the secondary, VMWare goes not responding or is otherwise inaccessible for a variable period of time. As soon as I unload Multiplicity on the secondary, the VMs are immediately accessible.
End of tetonbob's quote

If you do the same, tetonbob:

Quoting sarge338, reply 1

My initial assessment may have been off.  The issue is NOT resolved by turning off clipboard sharing. 
End of sarge338's quote

If you disable clipboard sharing, is there any change?

Sean Drohan
Stardock Product Lifecycle Manager

 

Reply #4 from Stardock Forums Top

Quoting sdRohan, reply 3

So to be clear on the environment...


Two real PCs, one a Multiplicity (MP) Primary, the 2nd an MP Secondary.

The Secondary has VM instances running on it.  No 'lag' when using the actual real Secondary PC, only when interacting with the VM window running on it.


Is that an accurate description of the issue? 


Quoting tetonbob,
reply 2

When I try to access the VMs (guest machines) on the secondary, VMWare goes not responding or is otherwise inaccessible for a variable period of time. As soon as I unload Multiplicity on the secondary, the VMs are immediately accessible.



If you do the same, tetonbob:


Quoting sarge338,
reply 1

My initial assessment may have been off.  The issue is NOT resolved by turning off clipboard sharing. 



If you disable clipboard sharing, is there any change?

Sean Drohan
Stardock Product Lifecycle Manager

 

End of sdRohan's quote

 

Thanks for the reply Sean. Spot on for environment and issue. No change if I disable clipboard sharing.

Reply #5 from Stardock Forums Top

Quoting tetonbob, reply 4

Thanks for the reply Sean. Spot on for environment and issue. No change if I disable clipboard sharing.
End of tetonbob's quote

Ok, so its just when using the VM window instance, no log on the actual Secondary PC.

Are you using KVM connections to connect to the Secondary PC or Seamless?

If the VM freshly run or are apps \ intensive processes running?

Sean Drohan
Stardock Product Lifecycle Manager

Reply #6 from Stardock Forums Top

Quoting sdRohan, reply 5


Quoting tetonbob,
reply 4

Thanks for the reply Sean. Spot on for environment and issue. No change if I disable clipboard sharing.



Ok, so its just when using the VM window instance, no log on the actual Secondary PC.

Are you using KVM connections to connect to the Secondary PC or Seamless?

If the VM freshly run or are apps \ intensive processes running?

Sean Drohan
Stardock Product Lifecycle Manager

End of sdRohan's quote

 

Yes, the main issue is when attempting to mouse click into the running VM. If I am not using the VMs, there's no lag between primary and secondary, aside from the paste issue from primary to secondary which I mentioned as well. That paste issue is regardless of VM use.

Typically Seamless, because I run multiple monitors on the secondary and want a clear view into both at the same time (I'm often running multiple VMs for various tasks, and I have 2 VMWare windows open, one on each monitor). I think I did try with KVM before. I just rechecked and the issue is still present in KVM mode also.

The VMs are not doing much intensive work when I first try to click into them.
And after some variable time, I can click around in the VM. But once the mouse comes out of the VM and I try again to access the VM, it's the same lag or not responding.

Reply #7 from Stardock Forums Top

Quoting tetonbob, reply 2

Additionally, having troubles with clipboard. I can share text from secondary to primary, but when I try to share text from primary to secondary, I get the spinning circle, and the paste from primary to secondary fails.
End of tetonbob's quote

Quoting tetonbob, reply 6

Yes, the main issue is when attempting to mouse click into the running VM. If I am not using the VMs, there's no lag between primary and secondary, aside from the paste issue from primary to secondary which I mentioned as well. That paste issue is regardless of VM use.
End of tetonbob's quote

Quoting Neil, reply 39

A spinning circle like that and failure to copy from primary to secondary means your primary computer firewall is stopping the connection for clipboard from working.
End of Neil's quote

This could be the root of all your issues.

Please see, in particular, the PortFix batch file:

https://forums.stardock.com/486104/multiplicity-support-faq#cantcopy

Sean Drohan
Stardock Product Lifecycle Manager

 

 

Reply #8 from Stardock Forums Top

I'll try again, though I'm pretty sure I tried that before posting. I've also tried with firewall off on both primary and secondary with no improvement in behavior.

Reply #9 from Stardock Forums Top

Still no joy.
I shut down both machines.
I started both machines.
I disabled firewall on both machines.
I tried copy/paste of text from primary to secondary. It failed
I tried a copy/paste of text from secondary to primary. It's still fine as before.
I re-enabled firewall on both machines and ran the MPPortfix.bat
I tried copy/paste of text from primary to secondary. It failed
I tried a copy/paste of text from secondary to primary. It's still fine as before.

There's something about this particular machine I have as primary, but I can't figure out what.
I may try using a different machine as primary and see how that behaves.

Is there any process dump or logs I can obtain for developers to review?

Reply #10 from Stardock Forums Top

Quoting tetonbob, reply 9

Still no joy.
I shut down both machines.
I started both machines.
I disabled firewall on both machines.
I tried copy/paste of text from primary to secondary. It failed
I tried a copy/paste of text from secondary to primary. It's still fine as before.
I re-enabled firewall on both machines and ran the MPPortfix.bat
I tried copy/paste of text from primary to secondary. It failed
I tried a copy/paste of text from secondary to primary. It's still fine as before.

There's something about this particular machine I have as primary, but I can't figure out what.
I may try using a different machine as primary and see how that behaves.

Is there any process dump or logs I can obtain for developers to review?
End of tetonbob's quote

I trust these tests did not involve the VMs at all?  If they were not involved, good, I want to work on this issue 1st.

If you do a clean boot on each PC, making sure to do the firewall tests under it (them being off) after, does it work then?

https://forums.stardock.com/486104/multiplicity-support-faq#cleanboot

Sean Drohan
Stardock Product Lifecycle Manager

Reply #11 from Stardock Forums Top

Right, no VMs involved in that last test. I'll try the clean boot steps and report back.

Reply #12 from Stardock Forums Top

Sad to say that even using new admin accounts, clean boot, firewall off, the issue is still happening.

Reply #13 from Stardock Forums Top

Quoting tetonbob, reply 12

Sad to say that even using new admin accounts, clean boot, firewall off, the issue is still happening.
End of tetonbob's quote

The clean boot is not just the service shutdown, it's also done under the new Windows admin account(s) - was that done here?

Sean Drohan
Stardock Product Lifecycle Manager

Reply #14 from Stardock Forums Top

Yes.

Reply #16 from Stardock Forums Top

In all my years working on MP, I have never seen this not be traced back to (some form of) a firewall issue - either managed by Windows itself or 3rd party app. 

That said, if you have Windows shared clipboard enabled on either PC, please shut it off and try again.

https://www.askdavetaylor.com/how-to-share-windows-clipboard-history-across-pcs/

Sean Drohan
Stardock Product Lifecycle Manager

 

Reply #17 from Stardock Forums Top

Shared clipboard is not enabled.

Reply #18 from Stardock Forums Top

Quoting tetonbob, reply 17

Shared clipboard is not enabled.
End of tetonbob's quote

Then I am at a loss, tenobob...

Sean Drohan
Stardock Product Lifecycle Manager

Reply #19 from Stardock Forums Top

Hi Sean. It may be too early to claim success but I recently uninstalled and reinstalled Multiplicity and one thing which happened was, when I accessed the UI, it threw a notification that my ethernet connection was public rather than private, and that could cause issues in behavior.

I'm honestly not sure if it's been that way all along, or a recent change caused that. Regardless, I've changed that connection to private, and as of now, the issues of not being able to copy/paste from primary to secondary, and the issue of lag/not responding when accessing a VM on the secondary, from the primary, both seem to be resolved.

 

 

 

Reply #20 from Stardock Forums Top

Quoting tetonbob, reply 19

I'm honestly not sure if it's been that way all along, or a recent change caused that. Regardless, I've changed that connection to private, and as of now, the issues of not being able to copy/paste from primary to secondary, and the issue of lag/not responding when accessing a VM on the secondary, from the primary, both seem to be resolved.
End of tetonbob's quote

That is fantastic news, tetonbob, ty for sharing.

Sean Drohan
Stardock Product Lifecycle Manager

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Reply #21 from Stardock Forums Top

My pleasure, thanks for your help. I've been working all day with this now, and it's behaved as expected since I made that change to the ethernet settings. I do consider my case resolved.