Very laggy/choppy running/syncing of Bitcoin Core 0.19.1 on VMware Workstation 1

[scott.carter.2020]

I have recently installed VMware 15.5 on my PC and created a fresh Windows 10 virtual machine to host a fully-synced Bitcoin Core 0.19.1

Everything was super smooth until yesterday where the Bitcoin Core was so laggy/choppy and it was a serious hell to process and/or download new blocks.

The specs of the Host

CPU: AMD FX-9590 8-core RAM: 32 GB OS : Windows 10 Pro x64

The specs of the Guest

CPU: AMD FX-9590 8-core RAM: 28 GB OS : Windows 10 Pro x64

SVM Mode is Enabled in the BIOS and I have the (Virtualize Intel VT-x/EPT or AMD-V/RVI) enabled in the VM settings

[jackg]

Are you still in your initial sync (is there a bar at the bottom or something that tells you how many blocks are left)?

The chain always slows down as blocks become more full and bitcoin became more adopted (notably: 2013, 2015, 2017)  and doesn't really speed up after then. You may want to check how far your hard drive access speeds go too (by checking taskmanager).

[scott.carter.2020]

Are you still in your initial sync (is there a bar at the bottom or something that tells you how many blocks are left)?

The chain always slows down as blocks become more full and bitcoin became more adopted (notably: 2013, 2015, 2017)  and doesn't really speed up after then. You may want to check how far your hard drive access speeds go too (by checking taskmanager).

Are you still in your initial sync (is there a bar at the bottom or something that tells you how many blocks are left)?

Yes, I'm at Jan 22 2016 at 20.02%

The chain always slows down as blocks become more full and bitcoin became more adopted (notably: 2013, 2015, 2017)  and doesn't really speed up after then. You may want to check how far your hard drive access speeds go too (by checking taskmanager).

The (Write) reading is alternating between 0 KB/s and 1.1 MB/s, sometimes I get spikes like 9.2 MB/s but the average is extremely low

[jackg]

Yeah I seem to remember mine slowing down around 16.8% (I think was when I spotted it) so you're probably experiencing the same thing?

What's the estimated % increase per hour? If you can't see it now click the bar at the bottom and it should appear.

[scott.carter.2020]

Yeah I seem to remember mine slowing down around 16.8% (I think was when I spotted it) so you're probably experiencing the same thing?

What's the estimated % increase per hour? If you can't see it now click the bar at the bottom and it should appear.

0.11%

[BitMaxz]

~snip~

Can you try to check on the task manager then performance under your VMware and then check if your HDD reaches 100%.

Sometimes syncing process is due to HDD if you want to speed up the process switching to SSD can speed up the process.

Also editing or adding dbcache parameter on bitcoin.conf will also help to speed up the syncing process.

Check this article below.
- Sync with bitcoin-qt very slow (0,01%)

You can find the path of bitcoin.conf under this path %AppData%\Bitcoin\
Look for bitcoin.conf and open it with notepad and then add this parameter below sample.

Code:

dbcache=10000

Then restart after that check the ram usage on task manager if it still shows large space increase the dbcache higher than the sample settings above. Just don't increase the dbcache more than 14000(Base on your Vmware ram setup) because the PC will freeze or will hang. So reducing or increasing the dbcache depends on your memory usage.

[scott.carter.2020]

~snip~

Can you try to check on the task manager then performance under your VMware and then check if your HDD reaches 100%.

Sometimes syncing process is due to HDD if you want to speed up the process switching to SSD can speed up the process.

Also editing or adding dbcache parameter on bitcoin.conf will also help to speed up the syncing process.

Check this article below.
- Sync with bitcoin-qt very slow (0,01%)

You can find the path of bitcoin.conf under this path %AppData%\Bitcoin\
Look for bitcoin.conf and open it with notepad and then add this parameter below sample.

Code:

dbcache=10000

Then restart after that check the ram usage on task manager if it still shows large space increase the dbcache higher than the sample settings above. Just don't increase the dbcache more than 14000(Base on your Vmware ram setup) because the PC will freeze or will hang.

1. I can't find the bitcoin.conf file at the specified folder path

2. What do you mean by (below sample) ?

Thank you

[BitMaxz]

1. I can't find the bitcoin.conf file at the specified folder path

2. What do you mean by (below sample) ?

Thank you

Check this path %UserProfile%\AppData\Roaming\Bitcoin
Or open "start" >"run" (Or press windows key+R) and then type this or copy and paste this %APPDATA%\Bitcoin
It will open the Bitcoin folder and if you can't find any bitcoin.conf under that folder you can make your own or generate a config from here below.
- https://jlopp.github.io/bitcoin-core-config-generator/

Here's my sample config of bitcoin.conf generated from that tool

Code:

# Generated by https://jlopp.github.io/bitcoin-core-config-generator/

# This config should be placed in following path:
# %UserProfile%\AppData\Roaming\Bitcoin\bitcoin.conf

# [core]
# Set database cache size in megabytes; machines sync faster with a larger cache. Recommend setting as high as possible based upon machine's available RAM.
dbcache=10000


# [Sections]
# Most options automatically apply to mainnet, testnet, and regtest networks.
# If you want to confine an option to just one network, you should add it in the relevant section.
# EXCEPTIONS: The options addnode, connect, port, bind, rpcport, rpcbind and wallet
# only apply to mainnet unless they appear in the appropriate section below.

# Options only for mainnet
[main]

# Options only for testnet
[test]

# Options only for regtest
[regtest]

You can copy this config since I am basing on your ram memory. Reducing or increasing can affect the syncing process and memory usage as what I said above.

Or just make your own bitcoin.conf(using notepad and save as bitcoin.conf) and only put this "dbcache=10000" inside the bitcoin.conf. restart the syncing process(reopen the bitcoin core)

[HCP]

The specs of the Host
CPU: AMD FX-9590 8-core RAM: 32 GB OS : Windows 10 Pro x64

The specs of the Guest
CPU: AMD FX-9590 8-core RAM: 28 GB OS : Windows 10 Pro x64

So you gave your VM all the cores?

You might want to knock it back a core or three to give your host some breathing space...

[scott.carter.2020]

I would like to thank all of you for helping me out.

I've created a bitcoin.conf file with the following input

dbcache=10000
banscore=10
listen=0

and adjusted the vm specs to a be more reasonable.

Everything was fine, but every time I start the Bitcoin Core, it take a hell load of time until it starts downloading the blocks, even after I've finished the initial bootstrap, as if you are forcing a car to move after letting a few guys give it a push.

This is on the VM and the main PC (host).

[LoyceMobile]

Have your tried giving less ram to your guest os, so there's more left for your host?

[scott.carter.2020]

Everything was fine, but every time I start the Bitcoin Core, it take a hell load of time until it starts downloading the blocks, even after I've finished the initial bootstrap, as if you are forcing a car to move after letting a few guys give it a push.

This is on the VM and the main PC (host).

It's normal if you either :
1. Store the blockchain files on HDD
2. The HDD also used to store guest or/and host OS
3. Use shared folder feature, which is known to be slow. Source : https://superuser.com/q/1025864

Could it be also that the HDD is failing ?

Have your tried giving less ram to your guest os, so there's more left for your host?

I'm not running the bitcoin core on the guest and host on the same time.

[DaCryptoRaccoon]

1. I can't find the bitcoin.conf file at the specified folder path

2. What do you mean by (below sample) ?

Thank you

Check this path %UserProfile%\AppData\Roaming\Bitcoin
Or open "start" >"run" (Or press windows key+R) and then type this or copy and paste this %APPDATA%\Bitcoin
It will open the Bitcoin folder and if you can't find any bitcoin.conf under that folder you can make your own or generate a config from here below.
- https://jlopp.github.io/bitcoin-core-config-generator/

Here's my sample config of bitcoin.conf generated from that tool

Code:

# Generated by https://jlopp.github.io/bitcoin-core-config-generator/

# This config should be placed in following path:
# %UserProfile%\AppData\Roaming\Bitcoin\bitcoin.conf

# [core]
# Set database cache size in megabytes; machines sync faster with a larger cache. Recommend setting as high as possible based upon machine's available RAM.
dbcache=10000


# [Sections]
# Most options automatically apply to mainnet, testnet, and regtest networks.
# If you want to confine an option to just one network, you should add it in the relevant section.
# EXCEPTIONS: The options addnode, connect, port, bind, rpcport, rpcbind and wallet
# only apply to mainnet unless they appear in the appropriate section below.

# Options only for mainnet
[main]

# Options only for testnet
[test]

# Options only for regtest
[regtest]

You can copy this config since I am basing on your ram memory. Reducing or increasing can affect the syncing process and memory usage as what I said above.

Or just make your own bitcoin.conf(using notepad and save as bitcoin.conf) and only put this "dbcache=10000" inside the bitcoin.conf. restart the syncing process(reopen the bitcoin core)

The above config generator is a fantastic resource thank you for sharing that I had been looking for something like this for some time now really help's to speed up config changes and gives a good overview on what each setting is.

Thanks

[HCP]

Everything was fine, but every time I start the Bitcoin Core, it take a hell load of time until it starts downloading the blocks, even after I've finished the initial bootstrap, as if you are forcing a car to move after letting a few guys give it a push.

Can you be a bit more specific on what exactly "a hell load of time" is? For some people, given their setups/hardware, this could be 30 seconds... for others 10 minutes.

Also, is this once the GUI is nicely loaded and the main wallet window is open? If so, it might be a network issue. Check the "network" icon in the bottom right corner:


If it isn't showing any 'bold' black dots/lines, you're not connected to any peers (and can't receive any blocks etc)...

you can also check "Window -> Information" and check the "Network section" to see how many connections you have:



and also you can see the 'speed' of those peer connections using "Window -> Peers" and look at the ping times.

[BitMaxz]

Could it be also that the HDD is failing ?

Why not monitor the PC on task manager under the performance tab to find which one is getting high usage when starting Bitcoin core?

It must look like this


Open the task manager first before you start the Bitcoin core and check the performance of CPU, Memory, and disk if which one has high usage.

If the disk reaches 90-100% usage when starting the Bitcoin core then the HDD is the reason why it is slowing down. The solution to this is to switch on SSD this is the only solution that I heard solve this issue.